Detroit ACE announces four new Arts Alleys locations across City

The Office of Detroit Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurism (ACE), alongside City officials and neighborhood leaders, announced four new Arts Alley locations at a press event in the North End.

The alleys, which are being designed and redeveloped into unique community gathering spaces and centers of activity, are part of Mayor Mike Duggan's Blight to Beauty initiative.

The new locations are: 

• The North End Alley ,the first Agri-Arts alley, which is connected to the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm and is in partnership with Oakland Avenue Artists Coalition. It is funded partly by the Knight Foundation.
• The Alkebu-lan Village Alley, featuring the Burrell Trail in northeast Detroit. It celebrates the organization that was founded in 1978 to offer kids martial arts training but has expanded to offer fitness, leadership training, visual and performing arts, homework assistance, youth entrepreneurship training and community service. The alley will adjoin a new community farmer’s market featuring fresh fruit, vegetables and handmade goods by local artisans. The Burrell Trail honors Quartez and Cortez Burrell, two brothers and Alkebu-lan Village youth who died in a devastating house fire in 2015. Rochelle Riley wrote about them in 2015. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/02/09/detroit-cristo-rey-student-dies-fire/23152179/
• The Bailey Park Alley is in the heart of the historic McDougall-Hunt neighborhood. It will build upon work done by the Bailey Park Neighborhood Development Corporation and the McDougall Hunt Neighborhood Association. Longtime resident Katrina Watkins and a strong cadre of McDougall Hunt residents have envisioned the alley as part of a new community park that will be equal parts museum, art gallery and front porch oral history.
• The Yellow Brick Road Alley, in Jefferson Chalmers. It is the 10-year dream of Detroit native Victoria Thomas and her neighbors who wanted a safe place for kids to learn African American history and to ride their bikes after a young neighbor was killed in a tragic accident. The alley will feature history panels and murals and adjoin the Phillis Wheatley library, which operates out of a neighbor’s backyard.

The new alleys join Phase I alleys being built in the Old Redford, Schulze, Jefferson Chalmers, Northwest Goldberg and Southwest Detroit neighborhoods. Construction on the Phase I alleys is expected to begin this summer. The Arts Alley Initiative’s objectives are to:

• Spur neighborhood revitalization
• Mitigate localized flooding through low-cost stormwater management strategies
• Create opportunities for the creative workforce
• Highlight neighborhood creativity

For more information, visit the Detroit ACE webpage at Detroit Arts, Culture, & Entrepreneurship | (detroitmi.gov).