Third Installment in NPT’s Original Documentary Series Explores Nashville’s Growing Latin American populations

For Immediate Release

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – May 20, 2009 – For as long as it has existed, people have been drawn to America as a place of rebirth, where they can exchange hard work for a new life, prosperity and hope. Traditionally, immigrants have relocated to large cities, with an abundance of jobs and a long history of immigration. But in the last few decades, a shifting economy has meant smaller, mid-sized cities like Nashville have seen unprecedented growth in their foreign-born populations.           

In Nashville, the Latin American, or Hispanic, community has grown 800% in the last 15 years. NPT offers viewers a chance to see the city through this community’s eyes with NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS: HABLAMOS ESPAÑOL, premiering on Friday, May 29, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. on NPT-Channel 8. The documentary is the third installment in NPT’s four-part NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS series.

“The big difference with this documentary and previous ones in our series,” said producer Will Pedigo, “is that the experience of Latin American immigrants in Nashville is extremely diverse, coming from many countries, for different reasons and through different paths. What they found in Nashville in the late nineties was a welcoming city, with ample jobs associated with the commercial and residential boom and in Nashville’s growing service economy.”

New documentary explores the changing face of Nashville through the early part of the 20th Century

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- May 18, 2009 -- The story of how a replica of the Parthenon came to reside in Centennial Park is well known to Nashvillians, both natives and transplants alike. Temporarily erected to celebrate Tennessee's Centennial in 1897, in what was then West Side Park, the people of Nashville fell in love with the structure. When the Tennessee Centennial Exposition ended in October of that year, after 1.8 million guests passed through its gates, public outcry demanded the temporary Parthenon remain -- and it did -- until a permanent version could be built.

It's a good story, made even better when illustrated by photographs of the original Parthenon and its many visitors during the Centennial Exposition. Nashville Public Television tells that story, and many more, in NASHVILLE: THE 20TH CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHS (VOLUME 1), which premieres on Thursday, June 4 at 7:00 p.m. Central on NPT-Channel 8. It will be rebroadcast on Sunday, June 7 at 9:00 a.m.

Peppered with interviews from a variety of Nashville historians, and photographs from the archives of the Tennessean, the Tennessee State Library Archives, the Library of Congress and more, NASHVILLE: THE 20TH CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHS (VOLUME 1) traces what Nashville looked like from 1900 to the beginning of World War II.  From the opening of Union Station to the gathering of shoppers at the Public Square near the courthouse; from the stylish dress of Nashville's citizens to the opening of the Arcade; and from the importance of the electric street car in the city to the influx of industry during World War I, the documentary explores the swiftly changing face of the city during the first four decades of the century.

In this weekly podcast, program manager Justin Harvey and media relations manager Joe Pagetta take 10-15 minutes to discuss the broadcast highlights for the upcoming NPT primetime schedule. Loose and casual, informative and tangential, you’ll find out what’s on and a little behind what’s on. Each podcast also includes a song snippet from an artist appearing on our air that week.

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