MSU's The Ave brings cultural exhibit to Michigan Avenue

The Ave project started with a conversation among community partners centered on an interesting fact. 

 

“The Mid-Michigan area has the same number of arts organizations per capita as Seattle,” says The Ave project leader and academic specialist for MSU’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities Vincent Delgado. ”That’s something that is not well known.”

 

That notable statistic came from an economic development report, and the parties chatting over how to leverage the most economic benefit from the area’s rich cultural community included MSU, LEAP and the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. What developed for the conversation was The Ave. 

 

The pilot project brings a collection of stories and placards along Michigan Avenue that include telephone numbers to call and QR codes that passersby can use to see and hear cultural stories about Lansing. These placards were made by MSU students who spent a semester seeking out local stories and finding a new way to tell them. Students in semesters to follow will add to the 8 current placards. 
 

According to Delgado, The Ave project is about sharing the stories of Lansing’s cultural community, but it’s also about connecting students to that side of the city. 

 

Nearly 100 partners and students are already involved in The Ave, and the project has been funded with support from the City of Lansing Arts and Cultural Grant Program, funded and administered through the Lansing Economic Development Corp., with assistance from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, as well as in-kind support from MSU. Future plans for the pilot program, should it continue, include expanding into other areas of the city.