On a clear and crisp late summer night last Saturday, I was treated to a spectacular collaborative performance by The Hinterlands Ensemble and Power House Productions. The event was one of many that took place in numerous venues over the weekend as part of MicroFest USA: Detroit, which was put on by the Network of […]

Just in case you missed my previous post, the Network of Ensemble Theaters is hosting MicroFest USA: Detroit, which starts tonight and runs through the weekend. The schedule offers a variety of multi-disciplinary performances happening in numerous locations and at all hours, which means there’s something for everyone to enjoy and get involved in. Don’t […]

I sure hope you don’t have any plans for this coming weekend, because the Network of Ensemble Theaters is hosting MicroFest USA: Detroit from August 17-19. The action-packed weekend begins with an opening reception at Art Effect Gallery at 6:30 p.m. with a performance by the poet and Detroit native Jessica Care Moore. But that […]

In light of the recent passage of a millage to raise funds for the cash-strapped Detroit Institute of Arts (a Knight Arts grantee), I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what the DIA meant to me when I was considering moving to Detroit from New York. Although it’s not quite accurate […]

On a recent bike ride through the city I was floored to happen upon MBAD’s African Bead Museum, and the complex art installation called “Iron Teaching Rocks How to Rust” that sprawls throughout the adjacent field. Built by 2011 Kresge Fellow Olayami Dabls, it is easily one of the finest and most successful art installations […]

Last night I had the pleasure of being a part of Open Hack Night at OmniCorpDetroit. Taking place the first and third Thursdays of each month, Open Hack Night invites all who are curious and interested to have a look at the inner workings of a space devoted to the projects of various makers, doers, […]

The Detroit Institute of Art (a Knight Arts grantee) recently hosted The Nana Projects’s “Alonzo’s Lullaby“ as part of the museum’s Family Sunday programming. It was a very unique shadow puppet performance, as well as a technical feat, performed by three puppeteers (aka lanterneers) using three overhead projectors and cutouts made of plastic and acrylic […]

On Wednesday, July 25, Heavy Feather Review brought a literary reading featuring both poets and novelists to Leopold’s Books. The standing room-only event, called “Big Smoke,” featured nine area readers, including Heather Abner, Matt Bell, Russell Brakefield, Francine J Harris, Sean Kilpatrick, Tom McCartan, Robert James Russell, Jeremy Schmall (the author of this post) and Jennifer […]

Last Saturday, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (a Knight Arts grantee) hosted a performance by their first-ever Artist-in-Residence, The Hinterlands Ensemble. The performance (a brief excerpt is available for viewing here) was a culmination of the group’s six week summer residency at MOCAD, which involved a variety of workshops and training sessions that were […]

Few would argue with the notion that war is evil. Some may claim it as a necessary evil, but the qualifier hardly helps. If anything, that it’s necessary makes it all the more terrifying, because that means it is an essential part of our humanity. History would appear to verify this, and even in today’s […]