After a long and snowy Detroit Winter, the arts community is welcoming Spring with an important pair of events that will celebrate local talent and inspire dialogue about the region’s future: The inaugural Art X Detroit is a sprawling visual, performing, and literary arts festival taking place April 6-10 at more than 12 locations throughout Midtown.  From Rust Belt to Artist Belt III (April 6-7) is a conference about the power of creative communities to help transform post-industrial Rust Belt cities.

Art X Detroit will feature newly commissioned works by Kresge Foundation Eminent Artists and Artist Fellows across a remarkable range of disciplines:  installation, dance, sculpture, literature, painting, video, photography, and music.  There’s so much to experience, from the unveiling of a new permanent public sculpture to a multimedia performance about Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo’s work in Detroit; from a concert that sounds like “Rube Goldberg collaborating with a drunken Briano Eno” (!) to a dance meant to introduce metro-Detroit to the roots of flamenco. And it’s all free!  Check out this page for biographies of the diverse artists, short video profiles, and enticing descriptions of more than 30 individual projects.

Just down the street from the festival, From Rust Belt to Artist Belt III will be inspiring attendees at the College for Creative Studies‘ Taubman Center for Design Education.  Detroit’s the second city to host this biannual conference, after Cleveland in 2007 and 2009.  I asked Matthew Clayson, the director of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center (the conference’s lead organizer) what its goals are.  “Our primary objective…is to lay the foundation for a sustained dialogue for developing a healthy ‘Creative Supply Chain’ between fine and performing artists, creative producers, prototypers and advanced manufacturers in Detroit and in other Rust Belt communities,” he said.  Take a look at the schedule to get a more specific sense of what’s up for discussion and who’ll be presenting.

When I asked who from the community should attend the conference, Clayson said, “The fine and performing artist; the industrial, graphic, interior or advertising designer; leadership from creative sector businesses; community development leaders; the visionary thinker seeking to transform the relationship between prototypers, advanced manufacturers, designers and artists.” Sound like you? Register here.

Detroit’s changing as surely as the season, and the dynamic local arts community is an integral part of that change.  Whether you participate in the conference, attend the festival, or both, come celebrate the city and experience its transformation.

Art X Detroit takes place April 6 – 10 at various locations around Midtown. Admission to all events is free. Opening reception on April 6 from 5:30 – 11 pm at MOCAD, 4454 Woodward Ave. RSVP (by March 31): [email protected] or (313) 420-6000. From Rust Belt to Artist Belt III takes place April 6 – 7 at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education. All-access registration costs $55 until March 21, $80 after.