On Saturday, February 21, 2026, the team at Michigan Fashion Week held the Sustainable Fashion Experience Showcase as the finale to a series of events focused on earth-friendly practices of the Detroit-based designers and connoisseurs...
Ashley Cook and E-Man Bates
February 28, 2026
Detroit has never been a stranger to innovation, our most iconic sound is proof. The heartbeat of Detroit and one of our most legendary and current soundtracks, welcome to Techno City -- from the perspective of a few DJs on the scene.
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
February 27, 2026
Margaret Atwood walked onstage at the Detroit Opera House on January 26, 2026 like someone who has lived several lives and written several more. Her latest book is a memoir, Book of Lives, where she talks hair alongside other existential questions. Her hair, once compared to Medusa’s, has long fed the myth of the witchy, unhinged woman writer—someone more likely to end up like Virginia Woolf than to be sitting upon a white sofa in downtown Detroit at 85, taking the train from Toronto to dodge winter-flight chaos.
Aisha Sarwari
February 23, 2026
Respectful, collaborative relationships with the people of other cultures—especially when engaging in anthropological studies—has become an expectation across the globe since the onset of a growing movement called New Animism. This can be seen here in Detroit through the close collaboration between the curators of the DIA and an advisory council of contemporary Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi artists working across the Great Lakes Region.
Ashley Cook
February 16, 2026
Driving rear wheel drive in a blizzard is an elite level of fun. You kind of just spin around fishtailing and pretending like it’s a movie. Except the stakes don’t exist because the roads are empty and I’m running from nobody...
Michael Hirsch
January 26, 2026
Last fall, Detroit Salon, a new city-wide arts initiative, flew 26 Detroit and Metro Detroit-based artists to France for Paris Art Week 2025. They were part of a cohort of 31 artists and 5 fashion designers whose work was selected for exhibition in three prestigious Parisian venues: the Hôtel de Talleyrand (October 21-23), the Grand Palais (October 24-26), and the Palais de Tokyo (October 18-November 9)...
Roopa Chauhan
January 22, 2026
The next phase of art is in tech. Ashanti Africana is the creative director and lead designer behind Naaz Lab — an experimental creative lab creating immersive, interactive art experiences meant to be felt, explored, and experienced...
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
January 19, 2026
About one week ago, the “King of the West Side”—aka DJ Sussex Smooth The Selector—joined WeeGee Tha Hustla, DJ Culinary, and Street Certified DJs to throw the Paid Artist Showcase Winter Bash featuring over 25 artists from Detroit and around the USA...
Ashley Cook and E-Man Bates
January 16, 2026
I know Hunter House, Greene’s, Little Bros., and Telway; these are all staples in and around Detroit. They all look the same, built in the middle of the 20th century. White tile boxes with white tile interiors, usually some stools with chrome accents attached to the ground and the smell of grease and grilled onions giving olfactoringus to my nose.
Michael Hirsch
December 29, 2025
Subgenre--Black Business, Mind Theirs: Christmas is not late, you are! But we got you covered with a shopping guide for those on CPT, shop local Black-businesses for your last-minute gifts that will really make someone smile!
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
December 22, 2025
On Sunday, December 7th, Detroit Opera will inaugurate their 25/26 season with the premiere of Highways and Valleys: Two American Love Stories. This production brings two one-act operas into a conversation that explores life on the margins of mid-century America. Highway 1 USA, written in 1941 by the “dean of African American composers” William Grant Still, and Down in the Valley written in 1945 by German-American Jewish immigrant Kurt Weill, use the medium of the love story as a vehicle to showcase the lifestyles and aesthetics of Americana within the world of mainstream opera.
Ashley Cook
December 2, 2025
Darting around the concourse after the first time out I spotted The Coop, an outpost serving up chicken tenders brought to you by the lovely people over at Tyson. How complicated could it be, eh? Chicken tenders are delicious and simple, just keep frying 'em up assembly line style and serving 'em out, right? No. Of course not. Things can’t be so simple.
Michael Hirsch
November 27, 2025
(313) 669-8413, Call the Scene AKA Detroit Now + Then is a monthly column discussing the Black community and black culture that made this city and keeps the city going. Today, they present the story of Charles Brooks Jr. and No Block Left Behind!
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
November 24, 2025
.png "MeltdownMeals.PolishVillageCafe")
I’ve Friendzoned multiple Hinge matches just to have someone to get brunch with. So dining alone at Hamtramck’s Polish Village wasn’t something out of the ordinary. When I went down the basement stairs, I was skeptical, but immediately upon entering the dining room, I was converted. Twinkling lights and stained glass painted the room with a soothing bath of color. The notes of the Bill Evans Trio being played over the soundsystem dropped into the honey texture of the room like ice cubes plunking into a glass of Wiśniówka (Polish cherry liqueur)...
Michael Hirsch
October 30, 2025
Joumana Joumana Joumana. Blessed are the billboard gods of Detroit, lining our skies with their faces and their promises of redemption. Joumana Kayrouz has long been an exciting face to gaze upon as we drive down the Lodge, drive home from the airport, or drive down the Boulevard. She’s always watching and we love it. Beloved bar venue Old Miami has shown their love for Joumana two years in a row by throwing the fabulous party House of 1000 Joumanas...
Sage Sherlock
October 13, 2025
On May 17th 2025, College for Creative Studies celebrated the 100th anniversary of its student exhibition with over three thousand works of art on view across both campuses. The wide range of disciplines showcased throughout the event represents one hundred and nineteen years of evolution; what began as a curriculum with only basic classes in drawing, design, and woodcarving now offers BFA, BA, MFA, MA and MPS degree programs in over a dozen different disciplines as well as precollege & continuing education training, and certifications in Art Education. The story of CCS offers insight into the development of art schools in the United States—particularly in relation to industrial manufacturing—and reveals the adaptation and innovation that was required to stay open, even through Detroit’s most tumultuous years...
Ashley Cook
October 6, 2025
The first time I went to Louie’s Ham and Corned Beef was the summer going into freshman year of high school– and subsequently every weekend after that until I graduated. Due to some 8th grade delinquency issues, the courts ordered me to complete 40 hours of community service which my mother insisted I complete in their entirety at Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project...
Michael Hirsch
September 29, 2025
A small space with an even smaller menu, Chenin calls itself a “small wine bar” and that is as true as it gets. I doubt the place could fit more than 14 full-sized adults at a time and the fact that it doesn’t accept reservations means it maintains a frenetic friction that alludes to a bustling tabagie in Paris...
Michael Hirsch
August 28, 2025
Old Yeller turned ten years old this summer, and a couple of weeks ago, they threw their fourth annual Underwater Clown Rodeo. I had the opportunity to interview Alyssa and Kristen about their experience as tenants, property owners, and community leaders in Detroit who have transformed their home into a safe space for creative freedom and expression...
Ashley Cook
August 25, 2025
This month is the first run of Lavender Morin's first original production titled, "People You Do Drugs With." Read about this sold-out show...
Sage Sherlock
August 13, 2025
I can’t figure out what I want to say about this place. It was one of the first places I was craving in Detroit when I got back from 4 months of traveling across Asia and South America where I was eating some of the indisputably best street food in the world and I would safely put Gloria’s amongst their ranks...
Michael Hirsch
July 21, 2025
From the beginning, Detroit Techno music has been deconstructing sounds, and blending human and technology into creative hybrid entities. This movement of sonic samples quickly grew to include re-purposed spaces, signage and lights. Although this cultural genre, born in Detroit from abandonment and innovation, has evolved to incorporate sophisticated techniques to light the stages and dancefloors, many have figured out ways to keep the DIY spirit alive...
Ashley Cook
June 7, 2025
/cosipromosmall.jpg "MozartInTheD.RoopaChauhan")
What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to love? Can robots feel the way humans feel? Will machines and artificial intelligence surpass us? At Detroit Opera, on April 5th, 11th, and 13th, 2025, Yuval Sharon’s unconventional re-imagining of Così fan tutte explored answers to these questions and delighted audiences in the process...
Roopa Chauhan
May 19, 2025
You don’t need to be hyper-informed about Star Wars to enjoy Space Dive. The mandatory costumes, the mercantile market with all Star Wars related handcrafted items, and the themed drinks and grub is a feast for the senses!
Sage Sherlock
May 8, 2025
It’s hard not to feel lucky to exist early in a musical genre’s timeline. With the birth of techno occurring almost half a century ago, we as clubbers and fans of techno have a rare opportunity to engage with this genre’s pioneers, many of whom are still among us. However, as most discussions about techno history tend to center on the musicians and DJs behind the decks, we often overlook the larger forces that shape the culture; it’s time to shift our attention to the dancers, the voyeurs, the bartenders, the door attendants, the designers – all techno enthusiasts who play a crucial role in sustaining and evolving the scene...
Tara Shafa
April 14, 2025
Niki Williams is a photographer known for his dreamlike depictions of everyday life. In his photos we encounter humans in their daily pursuits, their everyday rituals, daily routines, celebrations and with their loved ones. Within Wheel is Niki William’s first photo-book. Most of the images were taken while he was living in Detroit, Michigan. Here, we present an interview with the artist about this work and his experience as a photographer currently working between Michigan and California.
A conversation with Niki Williams
January 13, 2025
Corrosion has come to define this place that was once the center of the Industrial Revolution in the US, with its metals now tarnished by extreme neglect and its communities plagued by disinvestment. Detroit, Michigan and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania flourished as engines of technical innovation in America before waves of economic abandonment left them jobless. Curator Kemuel Benyehudah’s newest exhibition Echoes from the Rust spotlights artists from these two cities, whose work touches on engineering, manual labor, and community as foundations of their blue-collar culture.
Ashley Cook
January 2, 2025
The city is full of multi-talented ladies, and this photo series is dedicated to them all!
tearyeyed
December 30, 2024
The Tuskegee Airmen earned the nickname as the Red Tail Angels for fighting fascists in the skies of World War II. They flew hundreds of patrol, escort and attack missions for the Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces, and were recorded as the fleet with one of the lowest casualty counts of all of the United States pilots. They were recognizable as a team because of the red tails of their planes, and because they were segregated from all of the other pilots for being primarily African American.
Ashley Cook
November 11, 2024
Mr. Spotless celebrates it's fourth Halloween as Detroit's first haunted car wash. Here, Runner Magazine interviews Fathel Salha, who came up with the idea to start this spooky seasonal attraction at his family's buisness...
An Interview with Fathel Salha
October 23, 2024
Ghanaian American author Esinam Bediako has been honored for her debut novel Blood on the Brain, set to launch in September of 2024 in Brooklyn, New York. Born and raised in Metro-Detroit, Bediako’s story of a young woman, Akosua, who is also a Ghanaian American from Detroit, highlights challenges of growing into adulthood in the United States...
An interview with Esinam Bediako
September 9, 2024
Hamtramck, Michigan is the home of a few different ceramic studios, with the newest one being Porcelinen. Vanessa Beard has been working as a ceramicist for many years, officially starting her business in 2019, and opening a storefront and studio in 2022...
An interview with Vanessa Beard
August 26, 2024
business, culture
Setting foot into The Barbershop’s larval form on May 24th, I was met with the remnants of what once was, surely, a barbershop. The faded pink walls, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and large basins of granite counter-top which served as pedestals for chemical innovations destined to become groundwater. Despite this tragic beauty, I knew it all had to go, as I was there to meet with founder Jack Jacket to discuss possibilities for the soon-to-be gallery’s first show...
Jackson Gifford
August 19, 2024
Powerful emotional and musical undercurrents will draw audiences into this 21st century American opera by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. The production originated with director Tom Morris in Edinburgh in 2019. The 2024 version is an international co-production of Opera Ventures, Scottish Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Adelaide Festival, and Théatre National de l’Opéra Comique. Diana Wyenn directs this revival, which opened on Saturday, April 6th at the Detroit Opera House...
Roopa Chauhan
April 12, 2024
Yuval Sharon directed the Detroit Opera’s production of John Cage’s avant-garde musical concept, Europera’s 3 & 4, which took place on March 8-10, 2024 at the iconic Gem Theater...
Roopa Chauhan
March 28, 2024
Social theorists around the world acknowledge Detroit as a complex place that was once built as a “utopian vision of the future” and now exists as utopia’s perfect antithesis. The city’s time-line has followed the devolution of many cities depicted in science-fiction tales, giving rise to cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on a future of advanced technological and scientific accomplishments...
Ashley Cook
February 19, 2024
Delray Beyond Isolation is the story of the quiet loudness on the margins of total existence and economic chaos. A story that speaks of the indestructible spirit and the eternal search for inspiration that facilitates survival...
Karpov
November 6, 2023
The Detroit Opera House opened its season on October 7, 2023 with an original co-production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly bringing fresh voices and viewpoints to a timeless classic...
Roopa Chauhan
October 30, 2023
In Beatrice’s time stewarding Arnold’s, the city of Detroit was re-narrativized at least 10 times, from all sides. It was a wild time to be alive in the world, and a wild world to be trying to make sense within, especially as a young artist...
Beatrice Von Rague Schleyer and Mïï Gunn
October 16, 2023
August 11 marked the world premiere of ‘round midnight // i got it bad (and that ain’t good) by Detroit-based playwright and poet will street. The production is a semi-autobiographical semi-love-story told eagerly by the main character and narrator whose name is Elijah Eddleman...
Ashley Cook
August 23, 2023
August 11 marked the world premiere of ‘round midnight // i got it bad (and that ain’t good) by Detroit-based playwright and poet will street. The production is a semi-autobiographical semi-love-story told eagerly by the main character and narrator whose name is Elijah Eddleman...
Ashley Cook
August 23, 2023
A series of photographs taken at Hart Plaza during Movement 2023
Marissa Jezak
June 5, 2023
The Figure Club of Detroit provides the opportunity to sculpt from life...
An interview with Heather Anger and Rich Wiquist
January 30, 2023
The suburbs of River Rouge are situated between the Marathon oil refinery and the highly industrialized Zug Island located on the Detroit River; this makes the area one of the most polluted zip codes in the country...
Samuel Gulliver
November 21, 2022
On September 23, 2022, the exhibition With a Flick of a Tale opened at Loner, an unconventional exhibition space in Paris located in the attic above the apartment of Gilles Jacot, who directs and curates for the space. As a collaborative project between Linda Voorwinde and Ashley Cook, the show served as a recollection of a series of chaotic events in Detroit and Hamtramck that happened 5 years ago in 2017...
Linda Voorwinde and Ashley Cook
October 27, 2022
culture
At Hearse Fest, one of the largest gatherings of funeral car aficionados in the country, one thing is clear, death is coming for us all. When it shows up, with its cold glare and hungry scythe, you might finally get to catch a ride...
Niki Williams
October 17, 2022
A series of photographs taken on Belle Isle during the Detroit Kite Festival...
Daniel Ribar
September 12, 2022
A series of photographs taken at Hart Plaza in Detroit during Movement Electronic Music Festival 2022
Daniel Ribar
July 18, 2022
The history of art in Detroit encompasses the story of C-Pop, an exhibition space that started when Michael Lask responded to Rick Manore's ad in The Metro Times about old concert posters...
Michael Lask and Rick Manore, narrated by Ashley Cook
April 18, 2022
The heydays of the auto industry certainly led to Detroit being recognized as the Motor City. At that point, a new term called Fordism took over the world, which eventually led to the most recent one, which may not yet be completely known and defined - Detroitism...
Katarina Dačić
December 13, 2021
business, culture
Planet Ant Theatre is a true survivor and no stranger to the many obstacles that face a non-profit community of creatives striving toward a common goal. After more than 25 years in operation, the Ant boasts the longest running improv comedy show in the Detroit area...
Matthew Copeland
November 8, 2021
After a cloudy day of avoiding potholes, driving at sunset while everything glows orange is a necessary meditation. Driving around in a city this big introduces techniques and etiquette specific to the neighborhoods—learning when to roll through the lights or maintain speed while someone is stood in the turning lane is part of demonstrating respect for the areas passed through. Detroiters made the cars, and they make the rules too. Enjoy the view while it lasts and stay reckless...
Amelia Gillis
January 11, 2021