Detroit’s Black-led mural festival BLKOUT Walls is fast approaching. In the lead-up to the festival’s highly anticipated return this September, the City of Detroit and Philadelphia will host a National Street Art Summit with art leaders from around the country on Friday, Sept. 8.
Detroit and Philadelphia topped USA Today’s 2023 list of "10 cities you must visit to see incredible street art", with Philadelphia coming in at No. 1 and Detroit at No. 5. Detroit painter Sydney G. James and her BLKOUT Walls festival, featuring mostly artists of color, no doubt played a role in Detroit’s ranking.
The National Street Art Summit will bring artists and leaders from each of the 10 cities on the USA Today list to the Wayne County Community College District’s Curtis L. Ivery Downtown Campus for a conversation about the rising mural movement in the U.S. James is the summit’s special guest.
An entrepreneurial workshop for students and emerging artists will take place the day before the summit, and a mural tour of Detroit is slated for the day after. The student workshop is by invitation only but the summit is free and open to the public.
“Murals, as an art form, are not just being accepted, but are being celebrated in America,” said Rochelle Riley, Detroit’s director of Arts and Culture. “We are thrilled to partner with Mural Arts Philadelphia to continue to make the creative arts a part of any conversation about what is making cities better and more beautiful.”
The summit is being held in conjunction with BLKOUT Walls from Sept. 7-17, where artists will paint live murals throughout the North End neighborhood and Highland Park. James created the festival in 2021, and 2023 marks the event’s second installment.
More information is available on Eventbrite.
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