EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 5:30–7:30 p.m. March 27, 2015

PLACE: The Carr Center, 311 East Grand River Ave., Detroit

EVENT: “Natives and Pioneers: A Panel Discussion Exploring Art & Gentrification”

As part of an ongoing collaboration with the Carr Cultural Arts Center in Detroit, the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design will host a panel discussion exploring the topic of art and gentrification.

The event, free to the public, is held in conjunction with an online series on this topic created through a partnership between the Stamps School and the arts and culture journal Infinite Mile.

With an emerging narrative of an ascending “new Detroit,” it seems relevant to pose questions concerning the relationship between art and gentrification. To posit art and artists as merely a trojan horse for development ignores that some artists engage in work that impacts the city in socially beneficial and integrated ways.

As in most community building work, two groups, native and pioneers, are working towards similar goals. Yet the platforms, megaphones and resources may be very different. How does the work of artists integrate into the fabric of gentrification? How can/do natives and pioneers work together and when do they clash? At the end of the day, is there short-term and long-term space for both?

Also in discussion: Does art inherently support gentrification? Does art have a role in countering gentrification? Art quite often receives critique for supporting and/or inducing gentrification. But behind gentrification are also a number of different actors connected tangentially if not directly to the production of art. The various actors include but are not limited to policymakers, urban planners, architects, businesses and developers.

Participants include organizer Nick Tobier of the Stamps School, moderator Francis Grunow of New Solutions Group and panelists Rick Lowe of Houston-based Project Row Houses, Michael Forsyth of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation’s Revolve Detroit, Richard Hosey of Detroit-based Hosey Development, former art critic Rebecca Mazzei of Trinosophes and writer Marsha Music.

SPONSOR: U-M Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design

INFORMATION: myumi.ch/65gyL