For Carl Goines its all about the arts. A native Metro Detroiter, he's a founder, Co-Director and board member of Detroit's 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios. He'll be writing about what it takes to keep a non-profit arts organization going in Michigan.
Post No 1: 555
Posted By: Carl Goines
Posted: 9/11/2008
I've been commuting into Detroit for the past four years, whenever I have a free day or a few free hours after work. Somehow I manage to make it 3 or 4 times per week and if I can't I'm online planning, networking, and brainstorming ways to further develop 555. When I make it downtown I spend my time volunteering at 555, making sculpture, and meeting ridiculously creative and talented people. I'm surprised every day by the situations and conversations I find myself in, I had always envisioned my art career being spent laboring away in my private studio tucked away in the wilderness. I can't imagine how disconnected and unaware I would have become.
I grew up knowing little to nothing about Detroit. Most of my family moved out of the city and only paid attention to the sad updates the local news provided. As I became aware of the good things going on in Detroit I was struck by the raw potential, it became clear that Detroit was the next step in my career as an artist and for 555.
I have the opportunity to direct an arts organization whose mission is to further enrich and diversify cultural life in the greater Metro-Detroit area by facilitating the development of emerging artists providing exhibition/installation space, workspace, and developing programs for the visual and performing arts. I now have a chance to blog about the work that it takes to sustain an alternative arts organization. I would like to share in the next couple of posts our challenges facing gentrification and development, the programs and resources that 555 provides, and the future plans for the organization in Detroit.