As Detroit Flounders, Its Art Scene Flourishes Around Art Museum
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Courtney Balestier
MICHIGAN---How Detroit’s bankruptcy will affect cultural life, and the 20 million tourists who visit the metro region a year, remains to be seen. The bankruptcy has added an odd layer onto what has become a thriving, albeit complicated, local art scene. Artists have flocked to cheap rents and have converted shuttered storefronts and abandoned buildings into studio spaces and galleries as private money has poured into the local art scene. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation began a $19.25-million commitment to local arts projects last fall, the Kresge Foundation has awarded annual fellowships to artists since 2009, and Red Bull opened its first domestic House of Art, an emerging-artist incubator, here in May 2012. Several suburban galleries have moved back to the city, and arts hubs are solidifying. A notable one is Midtown, home to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, as well as galleries like the Butcher’s Daughter, Re:View, and the N’Namdi center. [link]
By Courtney Balestier
MICHIGAN---How Detroit’s bankruptcy will affect cultural life, and the 20 million tourists who visit the metro region a year, remains to be seen. The bankruptcy has added an odd layer onto what has become a thriving, albeit complicated, local art scene. Artists have flocked to cheap rents and have converted shuttered storefronts and abandoned buildings into studio spaces and galleries as private money has poured into the local art scene. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation began a $19.25-million commitment to local arts projects last fall, the Kresge Foundation has awarded annual fellowships to artists since 2009, and Red Bull opened its first domestic House of Art, an emerging-artist incubator, here in May 2012. Several suburban galleries have moved back to the city, and arts hubs are solidifying. A notable one is Midtown, home to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, as well as galleries like the Butcher’s Daughter, Re:View, and the N’Namdi center. [link]
