Detroit Month of Design returns for its 13th edition September 1-30. The open call to participate in this year’s festival runs Tuesday, February 14th through Sunday, April 2, 2023 and offers numerous ways to get involved. Creatives are invited to submit ideas for experiences that appeal to both local and global audiences. This year, we are continuing to explore the theme “United by Design” because it is too complex and important given current events.
Detroit Month of Design is produced by Design Core Detroit, an economic development non-profit organization housed within the College for Creative Studies. The festival was established in 2011 to connect creatives, introduce them to new markets and consumers, expose Detroit’s design aesthetic to worldwide audiences, and highlight the reason why Detroit is the first and only UNESCO City of Design in the United States.
Taking place throughout the City of Detroit and online, the festival features a balanced combination of virtual, outdoor, and indoor experiences. Key program elements include a mix of sponsored, independently-produced, and Design Core signature events that range from exhibitions, installations, product launches, lectures, panel discussions, tours, workshops and more. In 2022, the festival featured 175+ creatives, 80+ events, and engaged 50,000 attendees in various Detroit neighborhoods throughout the month.
Throughout the year, we organize and host events, programs, and presentations to educate, advocate for, or promote members of the Detroit Design Network.
During the Month of Design, we deliver 3 of these signature events, i.e. the festival Kickoff celebration, Design Jam, and Eastern Market After Dark.
Event attendees join us for these events to make connections, promote their creative endeavors, discover new clients, and learn about new projects or products in their community.
We are always looking for new spaces, talent, design ambassadors, and partners for our signature events. If you are interested or you’d like to get involved, please contact us.
Are you a creative, organization or company that would like to organize an event?
We are calling all creatives, artists, designers, curators, innovators, activists and community organizers to propose ideas to participate in the 13th Edition of the Detroit Month of Design. Festival events are independently managed, funded and produced by the event organizer. We invite you to showcase the latest works and ideas coming out of your studio!
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Do you have a venue that you would like to open for an independently managed event?
Sometimes organizers submit great ideas for an installation, talk or an experience but they need a venue. If you own or manage a space that you’d like to activate with Detroit Month of Design programming, we want to hear from you! Detroit Month of Design events are independently managed, funded and produced by the event organizer. Venue hosts are asked to open their space in-kind and the event organizer is responsible for the rest.
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Detroit Month of Design sponsorship not only delivers marketing impact, but also aligns brands with the region’s largest design celebration and with Detroit’s UNESCO City of Design initiative. Design Core offers valuable support and guidance to develop a custom program in alignment with your 2023 company goals.
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Design Core volunteers are true advocates of Detroit design and help us put on memorable events in September and year round. Volunteering for Design Core puts you in the middle of one of the country’s largest and most dynamic design experiences. Whether you’re a design enthusiast or creative professional we can help you connect while having social impact.
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Applications will be reviewed by a diverse curatorial committee and selected based on the following criteria: creativity, story, collaboration, feasibility, economic and/or social impact, and inclusive design.
The 2023 curatorial committee includes the following local and national designers, business owners, and influencers.:
Abir Ali is a multidisciplinary designer that centers the social, cultural, artistic and economic vitality of people and communities. She began her career as an affordable housing architect in Chicago and co-founded the furniture design studio, Ali Sandifer. Her work expanded to support people and placemaking through philanthropy, advocating for the built environment, arts, and entrepreneurship. Abir has conceptualized and stewarded small investments with big impact from $500,000 to $5 million in public grantmaking initiatives with the Hudson-Webber Foundation, New Economy Initiative and the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. She also directs strategies for architecture and public art in real estate, notably leading the activation of the historic Fisher Building to incorporate accessible opportunities for creatives. Abir is currently working on a book focused on the lives of Generation Z in 2020.
Abir serves on a variety of boards including Women of Banglatown, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), Signal-Return, the Michigan Central Curatorial Advisory, and the Artspace Immersion Advisory. She is a sought after juror, critic, and panelist, contributing to discourse around design as a social practice. Ali is a native Detroiter and first-generation Pakistani and Lebanese American.
Brandon Hodges is the Principal and Founder of TRIBE Development, based in Detroit, MI. Brandon formed TRIBE with the explicit goal of creating more dignified and accessible opportunities for residents and emerging entrepreneurs in Detroit’s community development ecosystem. In addition to his passion for real estate, Brandon is an avid painter and understands the transformative nature of the arts and their intersection with economic development. By intentionally infusing arts and culture into the real estate development process, TRIBE creates commercial opportunities and exposure for emerging creatives and beautiful built environments for residents and communities.
With over 12 years of experience in real estate finance and development, Brandon employs a creative, yet data driven approach to his community development practice. As a champion for small businesses he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the BUILD Institute, a Detroit-based non-profit focused on entrepreneurial training and education. Brandon also serves as a teaching assistant for Building Community Value’s “Better Buildings Better Blocks” real estate class.
Brandon received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar and his Masters of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He and his wife reside in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood of Detroit.
Charles Garnett has worked in the auto industry since the late ‘90s. As part of General Motors Advanced Vehicle Development, Charlie works to engineer future vehicle architectures from the ground up with a human-centered approach. Charlie’s primary focus as Total Vehicle Integration Manager is to support the GM Accessibility Center of Excellence, finding innovative solutions to ensure access to independent transportation for people with a full spectrum of disabilities. Charlie holds a Masters in Automotive Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Indiana University. He chairs a weekly forum entitled “Zero Barriers” where GM employees gather to discuss accessibility, often drawing on lived experience. The team operates by the principle of Nothing About Us Without Us, working with employee resource groups, community groups, and a global panel to fuel inclusive design. Charlie is a fan of old school hip hop and runs a 5K every Saturday at Livonia parkrun.
For the past 20 years, Donna has dedicated her skills as a designer and project manager to develop marketing and promotional materials for urban libraries and non-profits. She has been a graphic/web designer for Detroit Public Library and Houston Public Library systems and brand manager and consultant for Houston Public Library. She attended Western Michigan University in the College of Engineering and also attended the College for Creative Studies as a Graphic Communications major. She is the founder of DMJStudio, a creative studio that focuses on narratives that matter to us as women, people of color, urban dwellers and global citizens. The studio is devoted to developing art projects and events that closes gaps between community and culture through public art, exhibits, film, and social collaboration. The studio’s desire is to make art and culture accessible everywhere and to everyone. To ensure DMJStudio events and projects are free, Donna works and provides branding and project management services to cultural and non-profit institutions and individuals. Some of her recent projects include, In Pursuit of Hope, a film on the 1967 Rebellion in Detroit, Posters on Politics, an exhibition of posters from around the world, Souls of Black Folk, a local group exhibition of works by Detroit artists on the life and legacy of W.E.B. DuBois and YOU Belong, the inaugural exhibition at Chroma Detroit. She has helped curate and support several exhibits at Norwest Gallery and considers it her art home away from home. In 2020, DMJStudio began an initiative to support women in the arts and created an online gallery, Women Works Art Gallery and in 2022, Donna Jackson was named President of Women’s Caucus for Art, where she works to expand the organization to more emerging artists and more artists of color.
For more information visit:
Elizabeth E. Mays is the CEO of MAYS Multimedia (3rd generation legacy business established in 1946 late grandfather J. Caulton Mays, journalist and Tuskegee Airman.) and is the Chief Publishing Consultant at Valley Publishing Group both located in Detroit Michigan. Elizabeth is also co-founder and the Editor-In-Chief of Entrepreneur & Executive Magazine and MyBookOnSale.us.
Elizabeth has published & printed over 1 million books, catalogs & magazines, since she took over her family business in 2011.
Elizabeth has worked with authors, writers, creatives, historians, editors and institutions from around the world to publish literary works, ranging from novels, children’s books, poetry, biographies, cookbooks, photobooks and more. Elizabeth has traveled globally to speak on entrepreneurship and publishing, specifically throughout North Africa at the Austin Cairo Entrepreneurship Program; the American Center in the U.S. Embassy – Cairo, Egypt; Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transportation; and Notting Hill College – Egypt.
She has been documented in over 50 published articles written on her leadership (digital & print), spoken on dozens of podcast & radio interviews, 10+ award ceremony presentations along with one of Detroit’s most prestigious, Spirit of Detroit Award under the administration of Mayor Mike Duggan. Elizabeth sits on several corporate boards, art & financial committees and advises local metro Detroit based institutions and organizations.
During her personal free time, Elizabeth is writing cook & children’s books, spending quality time with family & friends, social networking, roller skating, researching design, print and marketing trends, attending concerts, studying, attending art galleries & exhibitions and mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs & college students (as interns) exploring her surrounding beloved city, Detroit.
To learn more about Elizabeth visit her website www.msmays.com
The tale of an unconventional storyteller is bound to be.. well.. a little unconventional. From college dropout to Chief Storyteller of Detroit (the city he was born and raised in), Eric Thomas has yet to follow the typical path.
Currently Chief Storyteller for the City of Detroit (a Mayor Appointee position in the city government focused on content, digital, and brand), a TEDx Speaker, entrepreneur, published writer, narrative strategist, and a Crain’s 20 in their 20’s Awardee.
Before his mayoral appointment, he worked with dozens of businesses and organizations to develop their brands, connect to their markets, and tell their stories as co-founder of Saga, a storytelling agency. The agency serviced solopreneurs, small businesses, museums, nonprofits, corporations, and municipalities. This diverse array of clients helped Eric develop an understanding of how stories can work to scale, build, and maintain an audience.
Additionally, his writing has appeared in the Financial Times, Detroit Free Press, and Hour Magazine. Excerpts from his work and speaking have been cited in the New York Times, AdWeek, and Economist, and he has a few of the most-read LinkedIn Blogs on the platform on topics ranging from Media and Marketing to Diversity and Economic Development in underserved communities.
From community colleges to MIT, Digital Conferences to regional chambers, intimate workshops to corporate retreats – the goal has been the same: Connect the big picture to the human experience.
Once described as “Seth Godin meets Cornel West with a little P.T. Barnum thrown in for showmanship” by Jeff Degraff, Dean of Innovation for the University of Michigan, you can be sure that any time Eric engages with your organization, his unique blend of cultural insight, historical context, and future-focused storytelling will captivate, inspire, and most importantly, evolve an audience’s perspective.
The tale of an unconventional storyteller is bound to be.. well.. a little unconventional. From college dropout to Chief Storyteller of Detroit (the city he was born and raised in), Eric Thomas has yet to follow the typical path.
Currently Chief Storyteller for the City of Detroit (a Mayor Appointee position in the city government focused on content, digital, and brand), a TEDx Speaker, entrepreneur, published writer, narrative strategist, and a Crain’s 20 in their 20’s Awardee.
Before his mayoral appointment, he worked with dozens of businesses and organizations to develop their brands, connect to their markets, and tell their stories as co-founder of Saga, a storytelling agency. The agency serviced solopreneurs, small businesses, museums, nonprofits, corporations, and municipalities. This diverse array of clients helped Eric develop an understanding of how stories can work to scale, build, and maintain an audience.
Additionally, his writing has appeared in the Financial Times, Detroit Free Press, and Hour Magazine. Excerpts from his work and speaking have been cited in the New York Times, AdWeek, and Economist, and he has a few of the most-read LinkedIn Blogs on the platform on topics ranging from Media and Marketing to Diversity and Economic Development in underserved communities.
From community colleges to MIT, Digital Conferences to regional chambers, intimate workshops to corporate retreats – the goal has been the same: Connect the big picture to the human experience.
Once described as “Seth Godin meets Cornel West with a little P.T. Barnum thrown in for showmanship” by Jeff Degraff, Dean of Innovation for the University of Michigan, you can be sure that any time Eric engages with your organization, his unique blend of cultural insight, historical context, and future-focused storytelling will captivate, inspire, and most importantly, evolve an audience’s perspective.
As manager of DTE’s Neighborhood Revitalization team, Jay leads and executes strategy for major corporate citizenship programs including large-scale neighborhood transformation, public space and greenway activation, small business engagement, economic and workforce development, and digital inclusion projects and programs directly in Detroit neighborhoods. As a life-long Detroiter, Jay is passionate about the city’s success and is inspired by the opportunities his work provides to identify the intersections between public and private interests to help solve systemic inequity issues and ultimately serve the needs of residents, local businesses and future leaders.
Leah Rutt (she/they) is a Detroit-based creative leader working in consulting, artist development and curation. As an advocate for equity in the arts, Rutt’s work is rooted in the understanding that art wields the power to subvert belief systems, expand the depth of communication, and materialize revolutionary ideas.
With a decade of experience working in the arts, Rutt focuses her skills and access towards the projects, vision and growth of value-aligned artists committed to challenging harmful systems and centering deep community relationships in their practice.
Rutt has managed the execution of large scale exhibitions, events, acquisitions and murals for clients including the ACLU, Footlocker, the City of Detroit, Bedrock, Eastern Market Corporation, Paxahau, Vans and has independently managed artists studios throughout the city of Detroit.
Rutt currently works as Director of Operations for Library Street Collective in Detroit, MI where they specialize in connectivity, space activation and thought partnership, bringing transformative artistic visions to life in service of a more regenerative future.
Paulina Petkoski is an entrepreneur, fashion designer and stylist from Detroit, Michigan. She is Co-founder of PLAYGROUND DETROIT, an art gallery and creative talent agency that provides creative entrepreneurs with resources, professional guidance and strategies to accelerate their careers. She is also an adjunct professor at the College for Creative Studies in the Fashion Design department. Petkoski has her Associate and Bachelor of Fine Arts in International Fashion Design from Polimoda International Institute of Design in Florence, Italy and Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. While in New York City, she worked for design houses including Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Pamela Roland and Rachel Roy. She has served as a New York Foundation of the Arts Immigrant Artist Mentor, previous visual artist panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtPrize Judge, and previous Keynote Speaker during the Detroit Design Festival.
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