Organization behind first City-sponsored Arts Alley receives $1M state grant for new project

• State Sen. Mary Cavanagh presents $1 million check to Detroit Blight Busters to help renovate the Sunflower Arts Center next to Art Alley 

Artist Village and Detroit Blight Busters got a big boost recently at the opening of the first of nine, City-sponsored Arts Alleys across Detroit when State Sen. Mary Cavanagh presented them with $1 million from the State of Michigan.

The money will be used to help develop the Sunflower Arts Center on the alley. The former Woolworth department store was vacant for more than 30 years into a mixed-use community arts center for commercial, visual and performing arts. The facility will provide several retail spaces, a venue for live entertainment, a diner along with affordable work/live space for artists and other creative businesses and individuals.

“It’s an honor to help craft a budget that supports diverse communities like ours,” said Cavanagh, D-Sixth District. “Detroit is a testament to Michigan history and the cultures of so many who have called it home. Its preservation and beautification reflect on all of us. Securing the funding for this program is central to that, and I’m grateful to everyone who is a part of this wonderful revitalization.”

The Arts Alley initiative is part of the mayor’s Blight to Beauty programming to make Detroit more beautiful for current residents and more attractive for future residents.

Former Deputy Mayor and now Interim Police Chief Todd Bettison, who attended the opening, gave a shout-out to all Detroit residents who make Detroit what it is.

"When you think about an iconic city like the city of Detroit, what is it that makes this special?  It is the history. It’s the culture. It is the people and art that represents the people," he said.

District 1 Councilman James Tate agreed.

"It’s only fitting that the first of Detroit’s Arts Alleys has been installed within the footprint of Artist Village and Detroit Blight Busters—two pillars of cultural and neighborhood revitalization that have served Old Redford for decades,” Tate said. “Since Artist Village’s founding, it has been a vibrant, creative hub that celebrates art and community, while Blight Busters has led the charge in restoring and uplifting our neighborhoods… one block at a time.”

The estimated total development cost for the Sunflower Center is about $5 million. Blight Busters has secured a $1 million private gift and is seeking state and federal funding as well as philanthropic support for the rest.

Once complete, the 20,000-square-foot, two-story development will include a 3,000-square foot space for special events and performing arts, ground-floor retail spaces, a diner and seven residential units.

The development, located at 21728 Grand River Avenue will complement the 30,000 square foot Artist Village, the recently renovated Pace Medical facility and the new affordable, 48-unit apartment building scheduled to begin construction one block away.

City Director of Arts and Culture Rochelle Riley said she hopes that Sen. Cavanagh’s work will inspire other leaders, both corporate and public, to embrace ways to support Detroit’s creative workforces and economies, two of the best in the nation.

The Arts Alley Initiative is funded with $5.4 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds designated solely for neighborhood beautification. The project also is supported by the Kresge and Ford foundations.

The Arts Alleys project builds on work already done by community groups and neighborhood associations who have activated alleys with art and creativity. The Artist Village alley, which has been programming its alley for three decades, is one. Another is The Alley Project created by Erik Paul Howard in Southwest Detroit that offers a network of programs to facilitate creative processes and positive youth-adult partnerships.

ACE is collaborating with neighbors and other stakeholders to develop designs to overhaul a City-sponsored alley in each of nine neighborhoods by offering revitalization, mitigating localized flooding through low-cost stormwater management strategies, creating opportunities for the creative workforce and highlighting neighborhood creativity.

These transformations are bringing new surfacing, landscaping and amenities, while partnering together with local artists and residents to imbue these improvements with a sense of history, beauty and imagination.