news & recent appearances
March 10, 2023
Chris Pine and Regé-Jean Page Win Over ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Fans SXSW Premiere
The high point of the Q&A came when Rochelle Riley, director of arts and culture for the city of Detroit, asked the filmmakers if their decision to cast “gorgeous men” in the film was a “revenge of the nerds kind of thing.”
March 10, 2023
Students to Shine in the Spotlight During Detroit Public Schools Community District’s “An Evening of Fine Arts” at the Fox Theatre May 18
More than 200 middle and high school fine and performing arts students will showcase their immense talent during a public event at the historic Fox Theatre for the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s (DPSCD) “An Evening of Fine Arts,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18.
February 17, 2023
Detroit seeks artists to create 200 murals to honor rich history of city’s neighborhoods
The Motor City is coming back. After the USA Today declared Detroit to be the fourth best citiy for street art, they decided to do something to increase that ranking. Now they’re looking for artists to create 200 murals. To get involved email Detroitace@detroitmi.gov.
February 7, 2023
Ten Detroit arts groups get $23M in multiple grants to boost digital presence
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced this week a sweeping round of grants totaling $23 million, all devoted toward the digital future of the arts in Detroit. The investment includes multiyear grants to 10 Detroit arts organizations.
February 1, 2023
Detroit Partners to Commemorate Black History
“Mayor Mike Duggan has made clear that it is our duty as public servants to ensure opportunities for all residents to have everything they need to thrive in work, education and joy,” said Rochelle Riley, the city’s Director of Arts and Culture. “That includes ensuring that we embrace the cultural diversity of Detroit.”
January 18, 2023
Detroit takes control of freeway litter cleanup from state
Mayor Mike Duggan thinks the city can clean up its littered, overgrown freeways better than the state. We’re about to find out if Duggan is right — Michigan agreed to let the city take control of freeway cleanup for $650,000 a year, a Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson tells Axios.
December 26, 2022
Detroit unveils 30-foot-tall Kwanzaa Kinara in Campus Martius
The city’s third cultural monument was unveiled Monday in the heart of downtown as gatherers celebrated the beginning of Kwanzaa. A 30-foot-tall Kwanzaa Kinara was displayed in Campus Martius to honor the seven-day celebration of African American culture and heritage that will continue through Sunday.
December 8, 2022
Detroit is getting the world’s largest Kwanzaa kinara
Originally Posted on the Root
Which Slave Sailed Himself to Freedom?
Just before dawn on May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls and a crew composed of fellow slaves, in the absence of the white captain and his two mates, slipped a cotton steamer off the dock, picked up family members at a rendezvous point, then slowly navigated their way through the harbor.
November 29, 2022
Detroit turns to tech to enhance its vibrant art scene
October 29, 2022
Detroit launches effort and an app to document all of city’s murals
October 27, 2022
Elite street art: Detroit wants to become ‘the Mural City’
“My work is about who monuments are made to, who can be revered and who gets to be remembered,” Cortez said during a Friday bus tour of Detroit murals. “They (artists) do famous people and whatever, but my experience growing up where I grew up, these are my famous people. These are people who impacted their communities, who people know and love.”
October 28, 2022
Detroit on a mission to build ‘largest library of street art anywhere on the planet’
Earlier this year, USA Today ranked Detroit No. 4 in the country for the best street art, with the Grand River Creative Corridor standing out with nearly 100 murals between Rosa Parks Boulevard and Warren Avenue. Philadelphia ranked third, Cincinnati second and Oklahoma City was ranked first.
Detroit has set its sights higher.
October 28, 2022
New app offers guided tours of Detroit’s murals
New app, CANVS, offers guided tours around the city to see Detroit’s murals.
October 27, 2022
Detroit to launch mural map, app hoping to become No. 1 in nation for street art
Just weeks after being recognized by USA Today for beautiful murals, the City of Detroit announced a new effort to draw attention to these works of art.
The Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (ACE) announced they will launch a new mural map and an app to accompany it. Organizers said the app will allow residents and tourists to use their smartphones in front of any of the city’s murals to identify the artist.
October 25, 2022
City of Detroit To Celebrate City Historian’s Anniversary with First Annual Detroit History Lecture
The City’s first Official Historian, Jamon Jordan, will give his first annual lecture at Gordon Park, at the corner of Rosa Parks and Clairmont, site of where the ’67 rebellion began. The public and media are invited to hear Jordan, who was appointed by Mayor Mike Duggan on October 25, 2021, talk about his tenure and hundreds of history tours and lectures he has given over the past year.
October 24, 2022
Talking about Detroit solely in terms of loss and decay is a mistake
Talking about Detroit solely in terms of loss and wreckage and decay is a mistake. And we have to stop it. We must stop charting Detroit’s progress by measuring it from its lowest point, the 1967 rebellion borne of decades of discrimination and centuries of mistreatment.
October 19, 2022
How to help document Detroit’s murals
Detroit is looking for people to find and capture photos of artwork around the city. Learn more: https://detroitmi.gov/news/do-you-want-be-mural-hunter
October 14, 2022
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law launches Arts & Entertainment Law Clinic
The Arts & Entertainment Law Clinic expands the Detroit Mercy School of Law clinical program. The clinic aligns with the institution’s Jesuit and Mercy traditions through a focus on service learning, providing access to justice and efforts to educate the complete lawyer.
October 14, 2022
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law launches Arts & Entertainment Law Clinic
The new clinic enhances the culture richness of Detroit by providing pro bono legal services to artists such as musicians, independent filmmakers, and photographers, among others. Combined with existing patent and trademark clinical programs, the Arts & Entertainment Clinic provides students access to a comprehensive intellectual property law practice experience.
October 10, 2022
Detroit Eight Mile Wall, once used to segregate Blacks and whites, gets historical dedication
That wall from Eight Mile Road to Pembroke Avenue, built in 1941, was used to segregate Black and white neighborhoods. It allowed a white developer to get home loans from the Federal Housing Administration that were not available to Black people due to redlining.
October 10, 2022
Detroit ACE Partners with U-D Mercy to Offer Legal Advice to Artists, and More
In addition to the legal services, the clinic also is partnering with Detroit ACE on special workshops and programs designed to help creatives protect their products and performances. It continues Detroit ACE’s commitment to treat members of the city’s creative workforce as small businesses. Detroit ACE offered a year of free entrepreneurship and business training last year thanks to the Kresge Foundation.
October 4, 2022
Detroit Sculptor to Build Statue Honoring Tuskegee Airman Alexander Jefferson
Detroit’s own Tuskegee Airman Alexander Jefferson is being honored with a statue of his likeness in Rouge Park.
After a month-long search for an artist worthy of the task, the Detroit office of Arts, Culture, and Entrepreneurship chose local sculptor Austen Brantley to build the monument. It’s a full circle moment — a Black Detroiter being called on to salute another Black Detroiter with a public work of art.
September 29, 2022
Detroit Opera Director Names to TIME List of 100 Emerging Leaders
Last summer, the New York Times posed the question, “Is the future of American opera unfolding in Detroit?”
This week, TIME responded with a ringing affirmation.
“To see the most innovative opera company in America, visit Motor City,” reads the magazine’s assessment. “Yuval Sharon has long used unconventional settings in unexpected ways, but now, as the artistic director of the Detroit Opera, he is breaking new ground.”
From the archives
Inequalities in education between white and Black chidren
Mackinac Island, MI
In 2018, Rochelle joined in on a panel at a major business conference in Mackinac Island MI. The topic was the inequitable education between white and Black children in Michigan. Watch below.
August 24, 2022
“Floating Citadel” Sculpture by Scott Hocking Unveiled at Huntington Place, and More
“Great cities have great public art and Detroit is gaining a national reputation for its murals and other forms of beauty we are creating across our city,” says Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “We are fortunate to have this beautiful new work by internationally acclaimed artist Scott Hocking to add to our public collection and to welcome visitors to Huntington Place, which has its own great collection of art to explore and enjoy.”
August 17, 2022
Detroit Issues Open Call for an Artist To Create Statue To Honor Tuskegee Airmen
The Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (Detroit ACE) has issued an open call for an artist to create a statue honoring the late Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson, whose service as a Tuskegee Airmen helped win World War II. He died in June at age 100.
The statue, made possible by the generosity of Cynthia and Edsel B. Ford II on behalf of the Henry Ford II Fund, will anchor the new Jefferson Plaza at Rouge Park where Jefferson flew model airplanes as a boy.
July 27, 2022
Spirit of Detroit transforming alleys into art
The Motor City is known for manufacturing cars. If you’ve traveled throughout various neighborhoods, you could certainly believe it is the city of murals based on the incredible building art found in the nooks and crannies throughout Detroit’s communities.
So cue that creativity regarding neighborhood alleys, like the one Zachary Heard lives near.
July 27, 2022
Detroit aims to transform alleys
The city of Detroit wants to transform alleys across five neighborhoods into walkable galleries of local art. Detroit City Council approved $3 million for the project through the American Rescue Plan Act, and it is receiving financial support from the Ford Foundation, said Rochelle Riley, the city’s arts and culture director.
July 27, 2022
Detroit ACE, residents to revitalize city alleys
“Alleys in our city for years have been havens for illegal dumping and overgrowth and we’re steadily changing that,” said Mayor Duggan. “Activating neighborhood alleys in this creative way is going to help turn them into real community assets and attractions.”
July 27, 2022
Duggan and Detroit ACE announce Arts Alleys
The project, called the Arts Alley Initiative, is funded with $3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) approved by Detroit City Council. The Arts Alleys project, which is part of Mayor Duggan’s “Blight to Beauty” campaign, is also supported by the Ford Foundation. The Art Alleys project is being conducted first as a pilot for possible future neighborhood alley activations by residents in neighborhoods throughout the city.
July 25, 2022
Detroit honors seven Tony Award winners, nominees
It’s been a huge year for Detroiters on Broadway and the city is celebrating. On Sunday afternoon, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan honored seven Detroit natives for their contributions to theater at a special press conference and event called “Broadway Comes Home to Detroit.” Held at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, it coincided with the Black Theatre Network holding its annual conference in Detroit this week.
July 8, 2022
City of Detroit seeks artist to paint mural at Farwell Rec Center
The Detroit ACE has announced an open call for an artist or collaborative team for a mural project on the Farwell Recreation Center to honor community heroes and to provide an opportunity for the community to heal from the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 29, 2022
Focusing on Freedom of Artists with Detroit ACE
The first project the department set out to create was a census to determine the amount of creatives in the city in order to find support for them. They then launched a website to promote new and emerging art around the city. It was then that they set out to honor the history of Detroit’s lost neighborhoods.
June 25, 2022
Tuskegee Airman, lifelong Detroiter Alexander Jefferson dies at 100
Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, World War II prisoner of war and lifelong Detroiter, died Wednesday. The Tuskegee Airmen were the nation’s first African American military pilots, and Jefferson was among the first to escort bombers in WWII.
Detroit Ace partners with Motor City Sings on community songwriting project
Motor City Sings is currently searching for Detroit-based singer/songwriters, lyricists, and music producers who identify as Black/African American to join our summer artists collective for Boa Me: A Community Songwriting Project.
Mighty Real/Queer Detroit art exhibition is a ‘community defining ourselves’
June 1, 2022
Now, Burton is shining a light on queer identity, art and culture — and hoping young gay people will see themselves reflected — as curator and artistic director of a massive new exhibit that opens this week in galleries across Detroit and some suburbs.
Where to celebrate Pride 2022 in metro Detroit
June 1, 2022
Pride feels a little bit different this year. For the last two summers, Pride has been modified to adjust to the ever-changing climate of the pandemic. Well, outside is back open and there are a lot of reasons to celebrate. While June might be Pride month, the celebrations are not limited to just those 30 days. They stretch across three months — meaning everyone can dance and celebrate their authentic selves all summer long.
Detroit Murals Can Soon be Accessed with an App
May 13, 2022
Detroit Arts, Culture, and Entrepreneurship (ACE) announced it is partnering with CANVS, an art technology company, to identify all the art on the city’s walls. The ACE initiative will both identify all the murals to honor some of the city’s best artists who are transforming the city with color and beauty and launch an app that will allow residents and tourists to use their smartphones to identify the mural and artist in front of them.
New app identifies and tracks murals around Detroit
May 12, 2022
Ever seen a mural in Detroit and wished you knew who painted it? There’s an app for that. The Detroit Office of Arts, Culture, & Entrepreneurship is partnering with art technology company CANVS to create a digital map of murals around the city, with photos and bios of the artists who painted them. The map will be featured on ACE’s website as well as the CANVS Street Art app.
Detroit celebrates 16 artists and patrons with Ace honors
April 12, 2022
Presented by Mayor Mike Duggan, the Mayor’s speech was named the State of the Arts, where he and the Director of Arts and Culture, Rochelle Riley, acknowledge the immense talents that come out of Detroit.
Detroit-area children become Black historical icons
March 11, 2022
Black History Month may be behind us, but Detroit is keeping the celebration going.
Parents and children are invited to participate in an upcoming art exhibition showcasing children depicting icons of Black history.
Symphony Orchestra
neighborhood performance
February 17, 2022
Typically, patrons see Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians play at Orchestra Hall in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood. On Feb. 9, the show is taking place in St. Hedwig Catholic Church.
Collective Will Launch Public Arts Campus
February 14, 2022
Detroit is nearly unrivaled as a music town, at least when you count its contributions to musical history, from jazz, soul and Motown to punk, techno, garage rock and beyond.
For music entrepreneurs, Detroit is fertile soil
February 7, 2022
Detroit is nearly unrivaled as a music town, at least when you count its contributions to musical history, from jazz, soul and Motown to punk, techno, garage rock and beyond.
Detroiters take over a Broadway theater, celebrating the Motor City
February 6, 2022Detroiters have been taking over the stages of Broadway in New York this season, and at one show Friday night, a Detroit audience stole the spotlight, too.
Broadway shows boast record number of Detroiters
February 1, 2022
Mayor Mike Duggan will make his Broadway debut Friday when he joins New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a red carpet celebration of Detroit’s influence on theater.
African Bead Museum founder Olayami Dabls named 2022 Kresge Eminent Artist
January 27, 2022
Olayami Dabls is the Kresge Eminent Artist for 2022. The award, presented by the Kresge Foundation, includes $50,000 in recognition of lifetime achievements in the arts and contributions to metro Detroit culture.
Get Down and Dirty Talking Art
January 19, 2022
WJZZ’s Debbie LaPratt and Colibri The Artist talk with Rochelle about Detroit’s arts and culture, the impact of Covid-19, her book The Burden, the impacts of slavery, the intersection of arts, civic engagement, and the economy – and so much more.
Committed to serve: MLK Day events planned throughout
January 12, 2022“Fight what he fought and died for and just use his birthday as a day to recommit yourself to being what he was,” said Riley, who will be part of an MLK Day celebration this year at the Detroit Historical Museum.
November 15, 2021
Lt. Col. Jefferson will forever be etched in the city’s history for his noble service
“You were a boy who grew into a young man who have become a decorated pilot, and again, I say this with all seriousness, who helped save the world,” said Rochelle Riley, Detroit ACE Director.
Kresge Foundation among first annual City of Detroit arts and culture honorees
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan commemorated International Artist Day this week with an announcement of the inaugural Detroit ACE Honors, which salute achievement by artists and arts patrons who have contributed more than 25 years of service to the Detroit arts and culture scene.
A ceremony, to be held in January, will present each honoree with a Detroit ACE medal of excellence. The event will also unveil the members of the Detroit Council of the Arts, who will choose recipients in subsequent years.
New Arts Complex Aims to Build Community in Detroit
“If we knew how the gallery world worked, I don’t know that we would have jumped into it,” said JJ Curis, who, with her husband, Anthony Curis, founded an art gallery, the Library Street Collective, in 2012, in a once-derelict alleyway. But she feels their naïveté going into that first venture may have allowed them to conduct future business with an unconventional mind-set.
Mayor Press Conference Detroit ACE Honors
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggin on local ACE honors for International Artist Day.
Duggan appoints Detroit’s first historian to highlight African Americans’ contributions to the city
Mayor Mike Duggan on Monday announced the appointment of Jamon Jordan, an educator and history tour guide, to serve as the city’s first historian, an honorary position intended to highlight Detroit’s unique and compelling story.
In Conversation with Rochelle Riley at Browseabout Books
Rochelle Riley in conversation at Browseabout Books of Rehoboth Beach, DE for this virtual event.
Critical Conversations: World Afro Day
Examining art and creativity’s role in healing the community during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic
New Healing Memorial at TCF Center creates space to reflect, remember
A blank wall in Detroit’s TCF Center is a now a large scale art installation dedicated to loss and healing amid COVID-19 — one pouch at a time.
The installation, called the Healing Memorial, was unveiled Tuesday on the third floor of TCF’s north end near the intersection of Congress and Washington.
Healing Memorial at TCF Center memorializes COVID victims
Young readers see Black icons as children like them in ‘That They Lived’
Heroes spur all children toward greatness. A new book introduces youngsters to inspiring lives in Black history. “That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World,” by Rochelle Riley and Cristi Smith-Jones (Wayne State University Press, Feb. 2021, 160 pp. $16.99), highlights achievements rooted in perseverance and love of humanity.
New Headstone for Rock and Roll Hall of Famer James Jamerson
Rochelle joined family and friends to unveil a new headstone at the grave of James Jamerson, named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest bass player of all time. One of Motown’s Funk Brothers, Jamerson played on almost all of Motown’s hits in the 1960s and early 70s. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
City of Detroit Pays Tribute to Aaliyah
Historical marker commemorates Detroit’s late, great Black Bottom neighborhood
Detroit’s Former Black Bottom Neighborhood Gets Historical Marker
NWS Presents: An Evening with Rochelle Riley
Evita of Nomadness Travel Tribe interviews Rochelle Riley; celebrating been-ups and start-ups
NWS Presents: An Evening with Imbolo Mbue
Rochelle appears at the Northwest African-American Museum
Detroit ACE: Source Booksellers
Witness to History: Les Payne and the search for Malcolm X
Detroit Arts Culture and Entrepreneurship Official Discusses Art Healing Society and Her New Book
A Zoom Talk with Rochelle Riley
African Americans that Changed the World”
Pages Bookshop Virtually Presents Rochelle Riley
Ferndale Library Podcast Interview with Rochelle Riley
New Kids Book By Former Free Press Columnist Highlights Accomplishments Of Black Americans
That They Lived: African Americans That Changed The World
Rochelle Riley interviews Elizabeth Atkins, Stephanie Williams on telling black stories
Detroit Kicks off a Yearlong Celebration of Arts and Culture With Black History Month Programs
City of Detroit showcases artists as kickoff to Black History Month
Stand for Something: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Panel Discussion
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Author Talk
How Do I Do That? with Rochelle Riley and Lisa Sauve
Women in #Activism
Rochelle Riley, Director of Arts & Culture for the City of Detroit
Columnist Rochelle Riley: On Race, Journalism, and Healing
Former Dallas Morning News Writer Reflects on Race in Latest Book
Former Dallas Morning News Writer Reflects on Race in Latest Book
Views On The Pandemic From 3 Swing States
May 10, 2020 | npr.org
NPR’s Don Gonyea discusses how the pandemic has affected politics in three battleground states — Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — with Charles Franklin, Salena Zito and Rochelle Riley.
Rochelle Riley’s acceptance speech for NC Media and Journalism Hall of Fame
Apr 23, 2019 | Detroit Free Press
The North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of North Carolina inducted the Free Press’ Rochelle Riley. Watch her speech.
Rochelle Riley, ‘The Burden’
Nov 13, 2018
Columnist Rochelle Riley spoke at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books on a panel about race in America.
PRESS COVERAGE
How Do You Mourn a Pandemic? See How Artists Around The World Are Building Monuments to Those Who Died of COVID-19
March 12, 2021 | artnet
As the world continues to battle the spread of disease, artists and architects are helping memorialize those we lost.
10 Women Innovating Local Government
March 8, 2021 | John Hopkins University
Whether it’s addressing the many crises of the global pandemic or tackling preexisting challenges, female city leaders have been key to developing, executing, and scaling up some of the most impactful innovations of the past year.
In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating 10 women who’ve made big strides for their communities.
‘Black Bottom Saints’ playing cards to celebrate Detroit’s Black culture, history
February 27, 2021 | The Detroit News
New York Times best-selling author Alice Randall announced that the images of icons with Detroit ties will be featured in a set of playing cards called “Black Bottom Saints,” named after her latest book.
Randall joined Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the city’s Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship Director Rochelle Riley for a virtual presentation Saturday afternoon.
Detroit launches Undefeated, a yearlong effort to celebrate arts and culture
February 11, 2021 | Detroit Free Press
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the city’s Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (ACE) have launched a creative initiative titled Undefeated, which is being billed as “a yearlong celebration of Detroit arts and culture.”
Children portray icons like Aretha Franklin and Frederick Douglass in new photo book
February 10, 2021 | Detroit Free Press
There is a wonderful close-up photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking from a podium, holding on to it firmly as if he is leaning in to the enormous task ahead.
In the new book “That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World,” that photo is paired with a portrait of Rochelle Riley’s grandson, Caleb, then 8, who is wearing a similar suit and tie and copying the civil rights icon’s pose with an intensity beyond his years.
That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World by Rochelle Riley and Cristi Smith-Jones
February 1, 2021 | Wayne State University Press
In February 2017, Rochelle Riley was reading Twitter posts and came across a series of black-and-white photos of four-year-old Lola dressed up as different African American women who had made history. Rochelle was immediately smitten. She was so proud to see this little girl so powerfully honor the struggle and achievement of women several decades her senior. Rochelle reached out to Lola’s mom, Cristi Smith-Jones, and asked to pair her writing with Smith-Jones’s incredible photographs for a book. The goal? To teach children on the cusp of adolescence that they could be anything they aspired to be, that every famous person was once a child who, in some cases, overcame great obstacles to achieve.
Award-winning journalist writes book about African Americans who changed the world
February 1, 2021 | The Oakland Press
Riley came up with the idea in February 2017 when, scrolling through Twitter, she saw a series of photos of then 5-year-old Lola Jones recreating historical photographs – like Rosa Parks’ mug shot. Riley reached out to Lola’s mother, Cristi Smith-Jones, and asked to feature her photos in a book she was writing.
In an interview with CNN, Smith-Jones said, “Since it’s a heavy topic, we wanted to find a way to make learning about black history fun for (Lola). … Her ability to emulate them is uncanny.”
As Rochelle Riley leaves the Free Press, readers lament losing her fierce voice
May 19, 2019 | Detroit Free Press
For two decades, Rochelle Riley’s words have made things happen, and for about half of that time, as a Free Press columnist, she told stories, exposed truths and stimulated action.
“I am proud to be a journalist,” Riley said during her induction into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina. “I am leaving the newsroom behind — I’m in my last month of work at the Free Press — but, I will never give up that mission, and none of us should.”
Racism, Discrimination And Calling The Police On Black People
July 19, 2018 | nprillinois.org
Disturbing stories this summer about white people calling the police on black people for cutting the grass or using the swimming pool. Guests Rochelle Riley with Paul Butler, professor of law at Georgetown University and author of “Chokehold: Policing Black Men.” (@LawProfButler) and Steven Brown, associate at the Urban Institute, doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard University. (@KregSteven).