Internet is like water, says Violeta Ramirez in Spanish. “It’s that important.” But three years ago, her tap ran dry. In Southwest Detroit, where high rates of poverty persist, it’s not surprising that residents are struggling to pay for internet.
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This week the City of Detroit painted over a powerful community-supported mural that was transforming a local viaduct into a memorial for 8-year-old Laura Fernandez who passed away in August.
Inside Southwest Detroit is proud to be back to present a small series of short films at this year’s SW Fest! Join us on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at the historic Senate Theater, starting at 1:20 PM on the indoor stage.
For decades, Mary has welcomed fellow artists into Detroit’s arts spaces, guided children in valuing their creative potential, and facilitated artistic works and sessions throughout the community. Her enduring dedication and influence, even without expectation of payment, inspired Rosado to nominate her.
Inside Southwest Detroit is proud to present a small series of short films at this year’s SW Fest at Senate Theater on Saturday, August 19, 2023. This set offers three short films. Each film highlights storytelling about, in, or relevant to Southwest Detroit and/or features contributions by local filmmakers.
The Creative Connections project will stimulate economic and creative capital through the deployment of high-speed broadband infrastructure as well as the construction and renovation of four indoor and outdoor community spaces where residents build businesses, develop and nurture creative and entrepreneurial networks, and non-profits provide programming focused on community, youth, art and culture.
In Southwest Detroit our residents are strong and engaged. For each other and in community. They are not only in service of their own interests. They are in solidarity in fights against a system that routinely prioritizes money over human wellness when making decisions about what is important. But what exactly does it mean to be in solidarity?
Zoë Villegas shares reflections on finding a place in the ceremony, economy, and celebration of Valentine’s Day growing up in Detroit. Erik Paul Howard illustrates her musings with photographs from the places and rituals her reflections are rooted in.
Local artist Freddy Diaz spends his final days at the house where he grew up with the family.
First Latin American Baptist church in Southwest Detroit hosted its final service on the corner of Fort St and Dragoon this week as demolition crews razed nearby structures across the street.
As you may or may not know Phoenix Academy, located at 7735 Lane Street, is closing its doors at the end of this school year due to low enrollment, according to the EAA (Education Achievement Authority of Michigan).
For the past several months residents, businesses, and organizations have been working to discover and prioritize the overwhelming issue that has resulted from the concentration of open, vacant properties on Carson Street.
The corners on Elsmere from Avis to Mandale have been at varying stages of disrepair for some time. For the last 3 years open, empty, and burning structures have contributed to the blight and seem to have helped fuel illegal and even violent activity in the area.
A tradition that started as a way to bring together young people in Southwest Detroit can be touted as "Dream Cruise: Southwest Detroit Style.” Hundreds of people gathered to see the showcased lowriders at the annual Blessing of the Lowriders event.
Rebel Diaz, SubVerso, Invincible, Motor City Rockerz, DPress and more gathered at Clark Park to an audience of about 100 spectators to perform a free live concert in solidarity with the youth from the Southwest Detroit Freedom School.
Via Crucis is a long standing tradition of the Catholic Church. Each year on Easter weekend St. Gabriel's parish in Southwest Detroit hosts an elaborate presentation of the stations.
Marching bands filled the streets with familiar sounds. Horses pranced by. Candy flew from cars and floats. And young people from the community sported everything from signs with messages to the latest fashions from local shops.
There are some simple things that we can do to embrace the safety and sense of community that we do have access to. Experiencing these together with others creates and strengthens relationships that we can tap in to improve the quality of our experience in our community tomorrow.
Cars line up on West Vernor. Horns beep and bass shakes the neighborhood through the early night. People wave flags out of car windows. These are just a few signs that the Cinco de Mayo parade in Southwest Detroit is on its way.
If Southwest Detroit were a food, what would it be? Take your pick: pierogi filled with potato and cheese, tamales brimming with shredded pork, cheese-filled papusas or doughy gnocci topped with pesto? If food represents anything, it is culture—and Southwest Detroit is blessed with that in spades.
Through the use of sunlight, plants, and a bit of chemistry, the young artists created their own lumen prints and cyanotypes, turning everyday objects into beautiful compositions.
After completing the "Art of Storytelling Through the Smartphone" workshop with Anthony Valadez, students had the opportunity to see their work come to life on the big screen. Their shorts premiered together as a 6m29s short film at the historic Senate Theater during Southwest Detroit’s annual SW Fest.
Houston-based DJ Rosez, with Salvadoran roots, brought her passion for music and community to Inside Southwest Detroit as part of the Porch On TAP artist residency.
In the workshop "Art of Storytelling Through the Smartphone," PoTAP resident artist Anthony Valadez taught local students how to create powerful films starting with what they already have—their stories and their smartphones.
Tune in to Sounds For Plant Lovers, Volume 35 on Mixcloud to hear the young student DJs guest host alongside Anthony Valadez and share their personal soundtracks and stories.
Anthony Valadez, a DJ, cultural strategist, and storyteller from Los Angeles, was welcomed as the artist-in-residence for the Porch On TAP workshop series at Inside Southwest Detroit. Valadez is supporting youth to express themselves creatively using music, storytelling, and filmmaking.
This summer, eight young photographers joined the internship program at Inside Southwest Detroit, learning technical and creative photography skills while honoring the community's past and shaping its future.
Aurora Trotter models action and exploration and encourages students to experience dance physically before judging if it's for them or not... Developing a daily practice is a way to kind of automate the things we’re passionate about. In dance we can teach our bodies how to be, how to act, and what to do when we ask it to.
Creativity took center stage as Andre Moore led handmade zine-making workshops based on simple collaging and book assembly approaches for elementary and middle school youth at The Alley Project.
In her first-ever writing workshop, Samantha introduced the concept of "constrained writing," explaining how limitations or rules can ignite creativity. Rules and constraints can be powerful tools for channeling creative expression, especially for youth. Parameters can serve as guiding lights.
Recreational critique can help to generate excitement, instead of fear, around feedback: "Rather than fearing the red pen, or having an anxiety around what's going to be said about it, imagine being able to wait in excited anticipation for what is going to be given to you, by your peers…”
The days are getting shorter (and more damp) and that is part of why we value our annual mid-fall gathering as one of the last opportunities to connect before wintering as a community. This year we celebrated on Dia de Los Muertos with a showcase of art from Porch on TAP residency with Mark Tucker with student-made luminaries, snacks, and some music.
Students from Escuela Avancemos visited The Alley Project as a way for participants from this summer’s Photo 101 to share about their experiences with their friends, explore TAP, and learn about ways that photography is changing people’s lives in their community.
Camilla Cantu is a musician and independent artist from Southwest Detroit. She believes in developing spaces in the Detroit community that uplift other women artists through mentorship, relationship building, and providing resources for up-and-coming creatives.
The PoTAP residency with Mark Tucker is being celebrated through weekly workshops ahead of Dia de Los Muertos at The Alley Project. This year students will be able to show off their works at an outdoor showcase at The Alley Project.
For years The Alley Project has welcomed Rebel Nell to visit and to learn histories as layered as the paint they will work with. They eventually select surfaces and harvest paint from the alley, among other places, to make jewelry with. This year, the youth get to join in as they learn how to make their own jewelry.
Mark Tucker is an artist born in Vermont, living in Michigan, whose current creative work revolves around community collaborations making large-scale public art sculptures, theater sets, and unique outdoor spectacles celebrating the Arts as a catalyst for creative community engagement.
A handful of creatives from around the neighborhood have come together to share time and space with Demaciiio for some basics in aerosol, oil paint, and mural planning.
Almost 10 years ago we were introduced to Amy and Diana, business partners, who were starting a company that made jewelry from decayed, flaking paint of local murals. Now, we are honored that Rebel Nell has joined us at The Alley Project for a residency where youth and neighbors will be able to learn how to make their own jewelry, Rebel Nell style, from start to finish!
DeMaciiio is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Southwest Detroit. He believes painting is a way to explore yourself while building with others and that art is evolutionary.
This summer Inside Southwest Detroit is working with Escuela Avancemos to offer Photo 101 to their summer program students… they are learning about photography and creative process as a “license to see”—to engage, document, and create in liberatory ways.
The #RemoteAllyProject was a way for youth to process what they were going through as their school year was abruptly interrupted and they were forced into isolation by the COVID-19 pandemic. Come visit the outdoor exhibition in person between November 18 - January 31 in front of Michigan Central Depot at Michigan Avenue and Vernor Hwy.
We know that you need Wi-Fi access, and you need it now. That’s why the Equitable Internet Initiative (Eii) of Southwest Detroit is in the process of installing public hotspots at different locations around the community.
We made a zine together. In community. And we sold (out) a zine together. In community. Alana Rodriguez offered her store, Mama Coo’s Boutique on Trumbull and Bagley, to host a release party for the limited edition run of ‘The Southwest Detroiter’.
The project, a special limited edition run of The Southwest Detroiter featuring Zoë Villegas’s ‘Standing In The Shadows of Love’ with photographs by Erik Paul Howard, was hand-assembled during Gabriela Baginski’s weekly Photo Arts sessions at La Sirena Studio on The Alley Project.
Gabriela Baginski facilitated portrait sessions together with mentee Pedro Aguilera at Detroit Southwest Pride’s annual Southwest Detroit Community Christmas Party at Grace In Action this year. Each family photographed received prints of their portraits on the spot to commemorate the holiday and the spirit of giving.
This year Detroit Southwest Pride’s annual Christmas Party, at Grace In Action on Lawndale, saw more than 100 attendees of all ages show up to celebrate the season and one another with music, food, and a variety of gifts for the community, from the community.
Inside Southwest Detroit’s programming and places are made possible through the sharing of time, talents, treasures by our partner artists, neighbors, and sponsors and the generous support of these foundations.
8869 Avis is a portal for neighbors to the wider world of art and culture. It transformed an empty building and lots into a Plaza and Market space where residents connect with each other socially and artistically. Participatory design instructed decision-making for development and design. Our celebrated arts-led, place-based development was four years from idea to completion.
See the Design+Build Process Here
'Solidarity: First Your Liberation And Then Mine' was produced for Inside Southwest Detroit, co-directed by Karen Cardenas and Erik Paul Howard, and centers 40 days of solidarity and movement building in Detroit following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department amid national uprisings in support of #BlackLivesMatter and the introduction of the Breathe Act led by Movement for Black Lives' policy agenda.