Independent Banker - June 2021 - 59

the Creative Arts, which displays
at its downtown Fredericksburg,
Va., branch.
The art inside Studio Bank
" If you're standing in the lobby,
doing some banking, you're going to
see artwork, " Hicks says. " If you're
meeting with someone in an office,
you're going to see artwork. If you're
heading down the hallway to meet
with someone else, you're going to
see artwork. "
The branches feature various
media, from photography to oil
paintings, and even feature pottery
and sculpture in their windows to
catch the attention of passersby.
Most of the works on display are
available to purchase, and so far
they've done brisk business. Before
the pandemic, the branches hosted
receptions celebrating each new
show, inviting artists to talk about
their works, which is something
they hope to return to soon.
Empowering local creators
Some community banks make art
part of their brand. Since it was
founded in 2018, $434 million-asset
Studio Bank in Nashville, Tenn.,
has been making waves for its
welcoming and arty persona themed
around " creators. " With its playful
French bulldog mascot and art-filled
website, it cuts a dashing figure in
the banking world.
" When you think about human
beings ... what makes us uniquely
human is the capacity to create
something from nothing. And so,
our role as bankers is, we say, to
empower creators with resources, "
says cofounder and chief experience
officer April Britt.
Nashville isn't called Music City
for nothing. The world's country
music capital is a famously creative
hub, and Studio Bank wanted to
create a space that matched that
spirit. " When you walk in, there's
great music playing [and] there are
big murals on the walls, " she says.
" There's someone greeting you
Roughly three years ago,
Nashville, Tenn.-based
photographer and curator
Ashley Bergeron was
asked to choose the art
for newly formed Studio
Bank. She, too, was in the
throes of launching her
own business, Studio 208.
" [The Studio Bank team]
really took a huge leap of
faith in me and our local
creative community to fill
their space with beauty, "
she says.
But fill it they did,
starting with three large
interior murals. The first
was a community painting
overseen by artists and
sisters Jade and Saphire
Carter, who created
an outline of the bank's French bulldog logo, which the team
members filled paint-by-numbers style.
For the other two murals, artist Beth Inglish interviewed the
Ashley
Bergeron
team and created an abstract image across a wall depicting their
stories, complete with bridges and road bumps. Street artist Tess
Davies spray-painted the conference room for a work inspired by
the structure of cells and featuring drips of paint.
" It's funny, " Bergeron says, " because some of the more analytical
minds, they always laugh whenever they have a board group
meeting. They always put their backs to the mural because their
analytical minds want to straighten out all the drips. "
To fill Studio Bank's offices, Bergeron brought in her entire
inventory and asked the team to pick their top three favorite
pieces each, then matched a piece to each office. " It was a really
neat process, because everybody has such different opinions of
what they love about art, but we brought in such diverse pieces
that they were all really able to be happy, " she says.
The past few months have been challenging for Bergeron,
whose downtown Nashville studio was severely damaged in the
Dec. 25, 2020, car bombing, but she credits her work with Studio
Bank with building her confidence.
" Yes, I run a company, " she says, " but I'm just a sensitive human
soul that really, really wants to do wonderful things in the world.
And I've always had this big vision, and I can see the other side of
all my dreams. I just don't necessarily know how to get there. And
[Studio Bank] gave me a stepping stone. "
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Independent Banker - June 2021

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