Austin Chamber delegation visits Spark to discuss education
Kim Chaudoin |
When a delegation of 96 representatives of the Austin (Texas) Chamber of Commerce visited Music City as part of an InterCity Visit hosted by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce recently, the group made a stop at Lipscomb’s Spark downtown location to discuss a topic important to both cities — education.
Spark provided an appropriate setting for the discussion as Lipscomb University’s satellite facility, located in the heart of downtown Nashville, and home of its College of Leadership & Public Service.
“Our mission is to serve as a resource for leadership development and corporate learning in Middle Tennessee,” said Deborah Watts, executive director of Spark. “We value our community partnerships, such as those with the Nashville Chamber, and were honored to host a portion of their visit with delegates from the Austin Chamber. Our location and innovative meeting space are ideal for convening collaborative dialogue and providing solutions for organizations of all sizes and needs.”
Organizers for the three-day event discovered Spark on a planning and site visit to Nashville earlier this year.
“We toured the Spark event space a few months prior to our annual InterCity Visit and we knew right away that we would find a way to include their space on our three-day Nashville whirlwind,” said Sarah LeNoir, Austin Chamber director of operations and investor relations. “The staff anticipated every need we had which made our event a great success and made my job all the easier. We were impressed with the seamless technology and event execution. This was one of the easiest partners I have ever worked with and I am so glad we were fortunate enough to host one of our educational sessions at Spark. The space is modernly beautiful and I cannot recommend them enough.”
The K-12 and higher education session that took place at Spark on the afternoon of Oct. 18 featured Jason Seay, senior director of outreach for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, and Rena Hall, vice president of education initiatives for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The InterCity Visit began on Oct. 17 and concluded Oct. 19. While in Nashville, the delegation discussed a variety of topics in addition to education including affordability, infrastructure, inclusion and innovation, addressing homelessness, health care, regionalism, workforce issues and air services among others. They visited a number of iconic venues including the Tennessee State Museum, Ryman Auditorium, Tech Hill Commons, Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville International Airport.