Vanderbilt University Medical Staff Invited to 2021 ACM Awards Vaccinated healthcare workers will be special guests at the 2021 ACM Awards. Staff from Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center have been invited to attend the awards show in person this year. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACM Awards would invite a large crowd of artists, their loved ones and teams, media members and country music fans to attend the annual awards show. The 2020 ACM Awards went forward in September — five months later than usual — without an audience due to pandemic-related restrictions on large gatherings, but on Sunday night (April 18), it'll be a "small audience" of doctors, nurses and other staff from Vanderbilt, according to Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside.