In 1995, artist Red Grooms created the Tennessee Foxtrot Carousel, a working carousel featuring 36 figures from Tennessee history, installed at the base of Nashville's Broadway. After financial troubles forced its closure in 2003, the Tennessee State Museum acquired and dismantled it in 2004, storing it for years. Though the museum moved to a new $160 million building in 2018, the carousel remained in storage. Now, the museum has issued a request for information seeking partners to restore and operate the carousel, as reported by the New York Times.
This matters because the carousel is a significant piece of public art blending Pop art with local heritage, and its restoration would reconnect the community with a beloved cultural landmark. The museum's call for proposals signals a renewed commitment to preserving Grooms' work, but questions remain about funding, display format, and whether the figures should be restored or duplicated. The outcome could set a precedent for how complex, large-scale public artworks are revived after decades in storage.