The Hyper Interactive Hip Hop Carnival – A Detroit Collaboration from DETROIT LIVES! on Vimeo.

More than 5,000 people came out to see last fall’s Interactive Hip-Hop Carnival in Detroit, a visual and aural spectacle that combined b-boy dancers in lights, island-inspired Mardi Gras costumes and music, a dancing crowd and more.Related Link

Knight Arts Challenge Detroit

What the organizers want everyone to remember though is the backstory of how it all came together.

“I really want people, when they look at this project, to really see how they can come together, and how they can collaborate,” said Piper Carter, of 5e Gallery, who put on the performance at Detroit’s festival of lights Dlectricity, along with the Mt. Elliott Makerspace and Caribbean Mardi Gras Production, with funding from the Knight Arts Challenge.

“I think that’s emblematic of how Detroit will move forward. It’s not going to be one group organizing things,” said Jeff Sturges of the makerspace. “It is going to be a beautiful amalgamation of people’s ideas and initiatives and intentions that will make this city very different from any other.”

Learn more and get a taste of the carnival in the above video.

Marika Lynch is a communications consultant for Knight Foundation.