Stamps creates Brightmoor maker space in Detroit
The U-M Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) launched a campaign through the Michigan-based crowdfunding platform Patronicity to help transform a vacant 3,200-square-foot building on the Detroit Community Schools campus into the Brightmoor Maker Space, a place for youth and adults to build their creative making skills and incubate business ideas.
The Stamps School’s partnership with the MEDC follows an endorsement from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which awarded the Stamps School a two-year $100,000 matching grant for the project as part of the prestigious Knight Arts Challenge program in Detroit.
“This funding will allow us to officially move forward with our plans to provide a much-needed physical space that will expand the impact of our ongoing arts programming in the Brightmoor community,” said Gunalan Nadarajan, dean of the Stamps School.
“Stamps is committed to being a part of the re-imagining of Detroit that is underway across the city, and fostering the role of creative making in that revitalization.”
– Gunalan Nadarajan, dean of the Stamps School
Nadarajan said that over the past five years, Stamps students, faculty and staff have been working actively with the Brightmoor community, developing strong arts programming with Detroit Community Schools (a K-12 charter school) and community organizations such as Brightmoor Alliance and Neighbors Building Brightmoor.
“Stamps is committed to being a part of the re-imagining of Detroit that is underway across the city, and fostering the role of creative making in that revitalization,” Nadarajan said.
When the Patronicity crowdfunding goal of $25,000 was met by July 10, the match from
MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places program activated an initial $50,000 Knight Arts Challenge Grant to launch Brightmoor’s first year of active programming.
Funds collected for the Brightmoor Maker Space were used to repair and update the vacant building, purchase equipment and work tools, and develop community resources and programs to support skills-building, creativity and entrepreneurship.
