There is a strip of Charlotte Avenue that’s reminiscent of the old-time Nashville avant-garde. It’s flanked on one side by Richland Park, its library and the Sylvan Park neighborhood; on the other side there’s The Nations. The unassuming stretch seems curiously untouched by the developers who have otherwise drastically altered this sector of West Nashville. The largest location of local physical-media mainstay Great Escape is in a shopping center on the Nations side. Between 48th Avenue North and 50th Avenue North, there’s a trio of secondhand and vintage stores, a tattoo shop and Rhino Booksellers. Betty’s Grill, the local watering hole just off Charlotte on 49th, has long played an important role in Nashville music as a safe haven for trout-masked replicants and other musical freakazoids too weird to get gigs at your average bar. 

And in a nook on 48th Avenue, tucked between an alleyway and office space, is a cinder-block box of a building, likely unnoticed by passers by. One person didtake notice and immediately spotted the potential. 

“I’ve always wanted to have a little place like this,” says Sylvan Park resident Linda Parrott, smiling as she looks around Random Sample. The founder of the mixed-use art space recalls driving past the one-story brick cube back in 2021 and immediately circling the block for a second look. After a little investigation, Parrott learned the property had gone up for rent two days before.

“It seems like it was meant to be,” says Parrott. “I was enthused that it was on this strip [of Charlotte] especially. I love how all these buildings are kind of weird — grandfathered in — for the most part.”

Sitting across from her are Random Sample’s two assistant directors, Andie Billheimer and Ivy Welsh. Surrounded by Spectre, an exhibition of masks created by artist Nicole Tatum, Parrott explains the vision for Random Sample. 

“I really wanted to fill the void of approachable, small DIY,” she says. “We primarilywant to be a visual arts space. I do photography and videography, and I do play music as well.” 

That involvement in various parts of Nashville art and music is something Parrott — who played with too-short-lived punks Depression Breakfast, and whom you might have seen recently with Ornament — shares with her colleagues. Billheimer makes improvisational music as well as their eerie experimental art-pop project Body Electric. Welsh runs Renascence Books, a literature dealer and small-press publisher run out of a room just off the main gallery in the building. 

Each member of the trio makes art for its own sake. They explain that the organization wants to be a launching point and a vehicle for new artists of all stripes, working with those who may not have access to more established spaces for such things. 

“It’s also the first time we have done anything like this too,” says Billheimer, “so it’s like DIY on both receiving ends — between the gallery and the artist.” Where their inexperience could be perceived as a hindrance, they’ve used it to their advantage by being adventurous in a way that has quickly made the space a vital part of our arts scenes. Random Sample has hosted raves, clothing swaps with Children of Compost and readings with the Nashville Radical Library — the sorts of events that build up communities but which often get overlooked by more established arts venues. Local and out-of-town musical talent has found a home in the space as well, from Nashville multi-instrumentalist and composer Robbie Hunsinger to Portland, Ore., synth minimalists Casual Decay, Colorado percussionist extraordinaire Sean Hamilton and imaginative Irish improv musicians Bonk.

Random Sample is a labor of love, and Billheimer notes that its mission is close to the hearts of all involved. “[We wanted] a place where people can come and do things that we really haven’t been seeing around town as much as we’d like,” Billheimer says. “Especially on this side of town.”

“I think it’s important to emphasize the fact that having a show in thisspace is connecting visual artists and musicians,” says Welsh. “Because it’s two great scenes, and it’s not incorporated enough. Every month we have a different [visual art exhibit] up. And all the musicians that come in here go, ‘What is this?!’” 

During November, the exhibit hanging in the gallery is Big Feelings, consisting of new work by Nashville muralist and illustrator Andie Peach. The gang also has a two-part linoleum-block-printing event — organized by artist Christie Verona and cleverly dubbed Block Party — in which folks of all experience levels will make prints that will be shown in the gallery following an opening reception on Dec. 9.

What makes Random Sample such a special place in the community is its fearlessly open approach. It is a rarity in Nashville that brings together ambient composers, video expressionists, poets and social activists. 

“It’s like a little box,” Parrott says. “If you can dream it, we can make it happen.”