Kresge Foundation invests $8.8M in local artists

The Kresge Foundation has funded Kresge Arts in Detroit, an $8.8 million program that will award fellowships to Detroit artists and provide operating support to arts and cultural organizations in the Tri-County area.

There are three categories of money in the Kresge Arts in Detroit pot:

• Kresge Artist Fellowships will be awarded to individual artists that live and work in metro Detroit. Eighteen awards of $25,000 will be made to visual, performing and literary artists.
• The annual Kresge Eminent Artist Award will award a $50,000 prize to one exceptional artist a year in recognition of longstanding achievements and contributions.
• Kresge Arts Support will provide unrestricted operating support to arts and cultural organizations with the goal of strengthening their long-term sustainability.

"We see as a great influx of confidence and resources into the community," says Michelle Perron, the director of Kresge Arts in Detroit, which will be adminstered by the College for Creative Studies.

Perron sees the entire program as one that will bolster the image of the Detoit arts community and thus help to maintain and attract talent. "I really think this is going to help change the narrative about Detroit to to the outside world," she says. "It will help to make people in other cities, on the coasts, see that we're serious about our growth and potential."

Kresge Arts Support is in its second year of a three-year commitment; the Artist Fellowship and Eminent Artist Award are funded through 2010. Kresge Foundation president Rip Rapson has said that the Arts in Detroit initiative does not preclude the funding of other, additional investments in the Detroit arts community.

ArtServe Michigan will offer professional development services to the artist fellows, which will be selected by an independent panel of artists and arts professionals. CCS will be hosting information sessions for interested applicants. For more information, visit www.kresgeartsindetroit.org.

Source: Michelle Perron, CCS and Kresge Arts in Detroit
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh