ARTS IN THE D.
CURRENT NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES
DEYA and Connect Detroit’s Detroit Partnership for Arts Education want to congratulate our partners The Children’s Foundation of Michigan and the Detroit Creativity Project on their youth arts fundraising event “The Coney” this Saturday at “The Coney” at The Detroit Opera House.
We are proud to be working together with them towards the shared goal of equitable and abundant access to the arts for all Detroit youth.
In the DEYA-commissioned (Kresge Foundation and Connect Detroit supported) White Paper:
“Youth Arts as Civic Infrastructure: A Detroit Opportunity and Call for Action” The Coney and the other Children’s Foundation youth arts support are listed on page 20.
Page 20
“Youth arts sectorwide long-term funding: The Children’s Foundation of Michigan has launched several sectorwide youth arts funding initiatives, such as the Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts Fund and Youth Arts by Prescription, in partnership with Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, as well as the Launch Awards micro-grant program for Detroit young artists with Gardner White Furniture and Connect Detroit. In collaboration with Detroit Creativity Project, the Children’s Foundation has launched a new annual event, The Coney, which will provide funds to support organizations serving Detroit youth and providing arts education and creative youth development opportunities, while seeding an Endowed Fund for Youth Arts, the first youth arts endowment in Detroit history.”
Youth Arts as Civic Infrastructure | Detroit White Paper
Also, as an exploratory committee member of the Detroit Partnership for Arts Education, Children’s Foundation CEO Andrew Stein was quoted in a Metro Times article on the Detroit Partnership for Arts Education “Unique Partnership Aims to Bring Arts Access to Every Detroit Child, Regardless of Wealth”
“This partnership makes a lot of sense to us because it brings together a very diverse set of leaders who all share a common hope for the community, which is access to the arts in a permanent way,” Stein says. “Kids need art and ways to express themselves creatively. I think most people believe that. It’s about how we ensure that and make it happen.”
Please support “The Coney” this Saturday! If you can’t be there, please contribute or bid on their silent auction!
FORWARD TOGETHER of Detroit Excellence – and ACCESS – in Youth Arts!
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Detroit Harmony’s commitment to collecting and sharing information about summer arts opportunities is rooted in a simple but important goal: ensuring that families and young people are aware of the wide range of creative programs available throughout the Detroit area. By bringing this information together in one place, Detroit Harmony hopes to make it easier for parents, caregivers, and youth to discover opportunities that match their interests, talents, and aspirations.
This effort is also intended to strengthen and support the broader youth arts ecosystem by helping programs reach more students and increasing participation in arts learning experiences across the city. Detroit Harmony believes that access to the arts can foster creativity, confidence, connection, and personal growth, and hopes this resource will encourage families and community members to explore, share, and engage with the many enriching opportunities available to Detroit youth.
DEYA partnered with GDYT and Heritage Works to host a Summer Arts Job Fair for Detroit Youth on April 18th, 2026, at Artist Village Detroit from 10 am-2:30. . More than 200 young people from across the city attended the Job Fair, where they were able to meet with representatives of 14 organizations providing arts-related summer jobs. These sites included Heritage Works, TeMaTe Dance Institute, Shakespeare in Detroit, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, and the ten sites for the Heritage Works-DEYA Summer Arts Employment Training (SAET) program: ArtLab J, Detroit City Dance, Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, Jit Masters, LSODance, Live Coal, Mint Artist Guild, Motor City Street Dance Academy, Que Blackout Youth Theater, and WISE Partnership.
At the Job Fair, young people ages 14-17 and young adults ages 18-24 got to meet organizations providing job information, and some were able to participate in on-site interviews!
The summer jobs being offered involved employment training in the arts/creative industries, and job readiness in areas including:
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Dance (All Styles including Detroit Jit and Street Dance)
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Visual Art (Painting, Drawing, etc.)
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Technical Theater and Music Production
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Mentoring Young Children in Art and Dance
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“Youth Voice” Spoken Word and Phot
Because of the job fair, over 600 Detroit young people signed up to be considered for summer jobs. While GDYT was able to provide only 200 spots for SAET this year, the interest generated by the Job Fair is leading to an initiative to raise additional funds to create more jobs next summer. If you are interested in donating to help more Detroit youth get summer jobs in the arts, please reach out to DEYA's Executive Director, Nafeesah Symonette, at nafeesah@deyayoutharts.com.
In The News:
