#andrew bender

[sivartis]

Countdown Photo Set - 12 days!!

September 24th, 2013 Season 2 Prequel Episode release and Season 2 Kickstarter launch www.TheInspector.tv

[detroitdance-blog]

LA Times: Detroit "evolving" into a haven for artists

By Andrew Bender, Special to the Los Angeles Times (Photo: Wally Skalij)

November 13, 2011

Reporting from Detroit—

"Where you headed?" asked the cheerful driver of the rental-car shuttle at the Detroit airport. "Detroit!" I answered, equally cheerfully. "Southfield, Birmingham or Rochester?" he asked, referring to well-to-do northern suburbs. PHOTOS: Detroit's artistic side "No, Detroit," I responded. Silence, then a shrug as if to say, "Suit yourself." Many Americans — even many Michiganders — see Detroit as a place to be feared: impoverished, decimated and down-and-out depressing. Sure enough, my drive into the city center took me past what a friend calls "desolation porn": eerie shells of onetime factories, warehouses, shops and office buildings, and block after block of overgrown lots that used to be comfortable working-class neighborhoods. During my visit, the local newspaper reported coyote sightings in the city. Yet Detroit is evolving, not unlike late 1990s downtown Los Angeles. Cheap rents and an urban pioneering spirit are attracting young artists, and new restaurants, nightspots and even urban farms are serving this growing community and its hipster fans. It's still the early days, but change is palpable, even to the casual visitor.

The article is extremely limiting as the national media still paints this picture of what art in Detroit looks like.  It's much more diverse and inclusive.  Of course we know about the major institutions and "hipsteresque" hotspots; however, the author deliberately made a choice to only include the visual arts, exclude the contributions of African-American, Arab American, and Latino American cultural organizations and institutions many of which are the largest in the nation, and continue the the same "Detroit went the hell and is coming back story."  Though I appreciate his attempt to "bring everyone on board with Detroit", I think the piece is shortsighted and truly comes from a "visitors" perspective.  There's nothing wrong with that but do you think this strengthens Detroit's current state of affairs? What do you think?