Detroit has seen more than its share of crises, but crisis breeds innovation and Detroit’s Black and Latinx creativity and ingenuity is unparalleled in the United States.
Detroit is definitely complicated with its history and headline-making challenges but it also has people, places and projects that create joy and inspiration everyday. On this learning journey a small group of like-minded participants will be taken around the city by Detroit experts, Jeanette Pierce and Glen Hendricks, who will provide context and local insight into Detroit's Black and Latinx neighborhoods, small businesses and community projects. You’ll also meet residents and local leaders who are coming up with innovative solutions to the challenges the city faces. This immersive experience will help both Detroit newcomers and veterans understand how Detroit’s history shaped where we are today, connect with what’s happening now and be inspired to apply lessons learned from Detroit within your own community.
We will stay at the Siren Hotel that occupies the former Wurlitzer Building, a landmark, 47,060 square foot, 13-story building. This 13-story building once housed the famous Wurlitzer Co., that made pianos, organs, jukeboxes, radios and instruments and also housed a music school. The architecture style is “Renaissance Revival” and it originally opened in December 1926, Today, this hotel sits in one of the best locations in the city and is part of the ongoing downtown Detroit renaissance.
Draft Itinerary
Friday, 8 April 2022
4:45 PM: board van in front of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport’s bus / taxi / ride share loading area
5:00 PM: board van at the MDOT Beltline Ave and I-196 Park-and-Drive (free parking)
5 PM - 8 PM: Drive to Detroit (~2.5 hours)
8 PM: check in at the Siren Hotel
8:30 PM Welcome Drink & Dinner (included) at the nearby San Morello Restaurant (High End Italian)
Saturday, April 9th:
before 9 AM: breakfast on your own
Detroit expert storytellers Jeannette Pierce and Glen Hendricks will join us for the day
9 AM - 11 AM: Downtown/Eastern Market Design & Entrepreneurship Tour
Highlights include Belt Alley/Z Garage, Lafayette Park, Guardian Building
Speak with Diana, owner, Viva La Vida Imports
11:00 AM - 1 PM: Lunch, Shopping, Exploring on your own in Eastern Market
1:00 PM - 3:30 PM: Neighborhood Design and Entrepreneurship Tour
Spot Lite/1xRun HQ - Speak with owners Roula David and/or Robert Guzman
Avenue of Fashion stop at Good Cakes and Bakes - Speak with owner April Anderson
Cass and Canfield Design District Shops with stops at Hugh & Source Booksellers to speak with the owners Joe and Janet.
Other highlights include: Blkout Murals, Fisher Building,
3:30 PM - 6 PM: Free Time (Museums, Rest, Shopping)
6 PM - 8 PM: Dinner at Baobab Fare -(included) Detroit Free Press’ #1 new restaurant of 2021 and speak with owner Mamba Hamissi
8 PM - 10 PM: Live Music at Cliff Bell’s, Bert’s or Baker’s Keyboard Lounge (Optional)
Sunday, April 10th:
before 9 AM: breakfast on your own & hotel check out
9 AM: board van in front of The Siren Hotel, travel home to Grand Rapids
12 PM: Drop off at Gerald R. Ford International Airport’s bus / taxi / ride share loading area and at the MDOT Park-and-drive at Beltline Ave and I-196 — END OF TOUR EXPERIENCE
More Details about key highlights:
● Avenue of Fashion is the hub for Black retail businesses in Detroit and has long been the heart of the design & apparel industry in the city. Retailers, wholesale buyers, designers, stylists, students, shoppers, and residents all converge on this historic avenue to this day. In the last few years, Livernois has seen renewed and innovative efforts to strengthen it's businesses, accessibility, and presence as the heart of Northwest Detroit.
● Eastern Market - A local food district with more than 250 independent vendors and merchants processing, wholesaling, and retailing food. This six-block public market has been feeding Detroit since 1891 and is leading the conversation around urban agriculture and food businesses role in economic development.Additionally, though art has always been a part of the market’s identity, Eastern Market has taken on an even more prominent role in Detroit’s public art scene with the addition of 150 murals as part of the Murals in the Market project. As well as many art galleries and artist spaces including Signal Return and Division Street Gallery.
Approximately twenty murals were produced in the inaugural BLAKOUT Walls Festival in and adjacent to Detroit’s North End adding to an historic art and culture presence in the neighborhood. The goal of founders, Sydney G. James, Thomas “Detour” Evans, and Max Sansing is to seed arts-based economic development, or creative economy, within the North End community and provide paid opportunities for artists of color to be featured as part of an inclusive mural festival.
So much more than a bakery, GCB was the first new business to open on the historic Avenue of Fashion in years and is now a community meeting space that offers small business classes and is an example for other entrepreneurs in the city. Bill Clinton and Oprah have sought her out because of her work in the kitchen and the community.
● Library Street Collective, The Z-Garage and Belt
“The Z” parking garage is quite possibly the coolest parking garage in the world. It is a 10-floor, 535,000-square-foot space that includes original works from 27 international street artists. The Belt (the alley between the two sections) features murals and rotating art by more than a dozen local, national and international artists.
● Mies van der Rohe’s Lafayette Park
During the 1960's, Lafayette Park was Detroit's most modern neighborhood. Constructed between 1956 and 1959, Lafayette Park contains the largest collection of buildings designed by renowned German architect, Mies van der Rohe, in the world. In addition to the Mies architecture, the neighborhood also contains other examples of post-modern architecture constructed into the 1960's, all surrounding the grassy green "plaisance" or Park. Today, Lafayette Park's proximity to Eastern Market, Downtown, the Dequindre Cut, as well as new residential construction projects, such as Ducharme Place, have made it an incredibly desirable place to live.
Spot Lite Detroit is nothing short of amazing. It is a bar, coffee shop, community space, art gallery, music venue all located inside a beautifully rehabbed industrial building that is also headquarters to the world-renowned 1xRUN. 1xRUN (one-time run) curates the award-winning Murals in the Market Festival, is the world's leading publisher of fine art editions and is the online destination for original art with more than 1,300 editions since 2010.
● Viva La Vida Imports - Owners Diana and Paola work directly with Mexican artisans promoting Fair Trade with every sale they make. They personally choose every treasure they find along the way which allows them to support artists from their home country and celebrate the Mexican culture that means so much to them.
INCLUDED:
Round Trip Transport beginning and ending at the Gerald Ford International Airport (Grand Rapids, MI) or MDOT lot at Beltline Ave and I-196 in Grand Rapids
2 nights accommodation at The Siren Hotel in downtown Detroit
2 dinners (one drink included)
All admissions and guided tours as described in the itinerary
NOT INCLUDED:
Personal expenses
Meals, beverages, and activities not indicated
Travel insurance (cancellation/interruption, delay, baggage, accident & medical)
Driver gratuity not included
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
$1,200 per person (double occupancy)
Your travel insurance reimburses in case of cancellation for covered reasons
The total in-Michigan portion cost of this experience (lodging, transportation, meals, guides, entrance fees, etc) is $1,200 per guest (double occupancy). Single travelers wishing to have their own room please inquire about additional cost and availability.
The minimum number of participants is 8, and the maximum number of participants is 14.
* itinerary subject to change according to unforeseen circumstances / opportunities.
