For Immediate Release
March 17, 2022
Contact: Lisa Sherman Luna, lisa@tnimmigrant.org, 646-584-5281
Following setbacks due to pandemic, TIRRC officially launches new Eloisa Salazar Event Center
As the COVID-19 pandemic stabilizes in Tennessee, TIRRC will begin to open its doors to the public for event rentals at their vibrant Antioch neighborhood home
Where: TIRRC Headquarters, 3310 Ezell Rd., Nashville, TN 37211
What: Media tours and interviews with Executive Director, Lisa Sherman Luna
When: Monday, March 21st at 9:00am and 3:00pm
NASHVILLE - TIRRC is excited to officially launch the Eloisa Salazar Event Center, a state-of-the-art 2,970 square foot event venue designed for community gatherings and celebrations with a capacity for 375 people. As a standout new event space in Antioch, the Eloisa Salazar Event Center is available for booking private event rentals, including weddings, quinceañeras, parties, meetings, conferences, and concerts. TIRRC will open its books for private event rentals beginning Monday, March 21st, 2022. The Eloisa Salazar Event Center is made possible through the generosity of the Mike Curb Foundation.
The organization recently closed its Tennessee is Home capital campaign debt-free, raising $2.9 million since 2019 despite the pandemic. The new event rental center will serve as a revenue-generating asset to fuel the organization’s powerful work of organizing immigrant and refugee communities. TIRRC’s new 7,000 square foot home serves as a vital community hub and unique event space in the heart of immigrant and refugee communities.
In addition to the Eloisa Salazar Event Center, TIRRC’s headquarters features:
Nashville’s second soccer mini-pitch created in partnership with Nashville Soccer Club and Ingram Charities;
Several amenities including TIRRC’s catering kitchen, moveable furniture, small meeting rooms, retractable garage doors for indoor/outdoor events, and a recommended vendor list of immigrant and refugee-owned businesses;
TIRRC’s classroom for meetings and small gatherings outfitted with hybrid meeting technology;
The Frist Foundation Community Gardens, a community playground in memory of Thomas Rayson with support from the HCA Healthcare Foundation, and 13 pieces of art by 11 different artists.
Lisa Sherman Luna, Executive Director of TIRRC, said: “We are thrilled to open the Eloisa Salazar Event Center for rentals and look forward to hosting community events, creating memories during special celebrations, and convening our neighbors and communities for learning and dreaming.
We founded this social enterprise to support immigrant and refugee vendors and to showcase Tennessee's cultural diversity with a colorful, innovative, and welcoming event space in Nashville. Our unique event space showcases incredible artwork from local immigrant and refugee artists and truly encompasses what it means to build a space where we can all belong and thrive.
When we launched this campaign in 2019, we never imagined the challenges that lay ahead of us - but thanks to the generous support of our community, we're ready to launch the next phase of our new home that will fuel our powerful work for years to come. We thank the 500 donors and the Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation for making a generous gift that helped successfully close our capital campaign. We are eternally grateful for all the support over the years that made a successful capital campaign and this beautiful community space possible."
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TIRRC is a statewide, immigrant and refugee-led collaboration whose mission is to empower immigrants and refugees throughout Tennessee to develop a unified voice, defend their rights, and create an atmosphere in which they are recognized as positive contributors to the state. Since its founding in 2001, TIRRC has worked to develop immigrant leadership, build the capacity of its immigrant-led member organizations, help immigrant community members understand and engage in the civic process, and educate the public about policies that would better promote integration of new immigrants and facilitate their full participation in US society. In just a few years TIRRC has grown from a grassroots network of community leaders into one of the most diverse and effective coalitions of its kind, a model for emerging immigrant rights organizations in the Southeast and throughout the United States.