Oh, the irony! Nonprofit displaces artists in Detroit to fight gentrification

A nonprofit opposed to gentrification has displaced artists to make way for a new headquarters in Detroit’s Grand River Creative Corridor.

Allied Media Projects bought the Grand River Creative Corridor headquarters, forcing the eviction of artists who had rented inexpensive studio space, Bridge magazine first reported Tuesday.

Ironically, the goal of the building at 4731 Grand River Ave. is to “remediate the impact of gentrification at a minimum and resist the structures that perpetuate gentrification,” Jenny Lee, executive director of Allied Media Projects, told Bridge.

Allied Media Projects describes itself as a cultivator of “media for liberation” and works to “dismantle supremacist systems as they operate upon us and within us.”

Derek Weaver, who launched the Grand River Creative Corridor, said he sold the building because the city has increased fees and regulations, making it “extremely difficult to own property in Detroit now.”

Lee acknowledged the irony of displacing artists to fight gentrification.

“It sucks that our vision has to come at the cost of artists who have used and loved that space,” Lee said. “There’s no way around it. It absolutely sucks.”

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