Access Music City
By 2034, Nashville will be the most accessible city in the world, for the people who live here, work here, visit here, and belong here.
You're Welcome.
This work has roots. The program started in 2004 as Access Nashville at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. A mother and son, both wheelchair users, were coming to Nashville for medical appointments and couldn't find reliable information about which restaurants they could get into. Empower Tennessee took on the program in 2013 and renamed it Access Music City in 2015. More than 500 Nashville venues have been assessed since the work began. In 2026, we're rebuilding and scaling it for the decade ahead.
Nashville, described clearly.
Access Music City is a program of Empower Tennessee, Middle Tennessee's Center for Independent Living. We gather honest, detailed accessibility information about Nashville's restaurants, venues, hotels, and attractions, so people with disabilities can choose where to go with confidence. We host gatherings at Nashville venues, so the welcome isn't just described, it's lived. And we're building toward a Nashville where accessibility isn't a separate conversation, it's part of how businesses operate, hire, and lead.
The timeline is real.
In 2034, Nashville hosts the Special Olympics USA Games. Thousands of athletes, families, and visitors will arrive expecting a city that welcomes them. The accessibility infrastructure they'll rely on is the infrastructure Nashville is building now.
2034 sounds far off. It isn't.
Find Your Way in.
Access Music City works because different people show up to it differently. Pick the door that fits you.
Search the BluePath directory for Nashville restaurants, hotels, and attractions, with the accessibility details you need to plan with confidence. Find upcoming Access Music City Evenings on our events page.
Get an honest BluePath listing for your space. Welcome more guests. Be part of Nashville's accessibility transformation.
Train on BluePath. Assess Nashville venues. Help build an accessible city that lasts.
Come spend an evening with us.
Access Music City Evenings are gatherings at Nashville venues that welcome the full disability community. Some are free and hosted by Empower Tennessee. Some are partner events where a Nashville venue shares a ticketed evening with our stakeholder community. Museums, performance spaces, galleries, restaurants. Come as you are.
Empower Tennessee runs Access Music City. These partners make the work possible.
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Empower Tennessee
Middle Tennessee's Center for Independent Living, led by and for people with disabilities. We run Access Music City: recruiting and training volunteers, coordinating assessments, and keeping the work connected to the disability community it serves.
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BluePath
The accessibility assessment platform we use. BluePath hosts the public directory of Nashville's assessed venues and provides the assessment standards our volunteers use.
Find accessible places in Nashville.
Search the BluePath directory for Nashville restaurants, hotels, and attractions, with detailed accessibility information.
Get in touch.
All Access Music City questions, volunteer, business, or general, go to one inbox.
Email: amc@empowertn.org