Buzz

Citizen Effect making connections via social networks

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Earlier this year, Dan Morrison of Citizen Effect introduced himself in Model D. Now read up on his group's progress in HuffPost Detroit. An excerpt:

So what did all this work on Twitter get us? A good but not ridiculous list of 831 Twitter followers? Actually, a hell of a lot more than that. First, a launch week that made it feel like we were a much larger operation than we are (which has its ups and downs). We had two articles in the Detroit Free Press, air time on WDET, a feature on Model D, two invitations to blog on Huffington Post Detroit, blog posts on Positive Detroit, Xconomy, Detroit Half Full, The Detroit Hub, and others. Most important, social media allowed us to get physical. Over 200 people came out for our happy hour and nearly 200 people inquired about how to be a Citizen Philanthropist for Detroit4Detroit. Not bad for a few social media hacks.

Read the rest of the story here.

Twitter event on placemaking draws crowd on the web

Economics of Place Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Buzzing around the web with frequent stops at the Economics of Place has its rewards. Look what we found this time: a pretty high-level panel on placemaking that took place on Twitter. An excerpt:

Panelists Nate Berg from The Atlantic Cities, Diana Lind from Next American City, Ethan Kent (who was sitting in for Kathy Madden) from the Project for Public Spaces, and Dan Gilmartin from the Michigan Municipal League offered some tangible best practices and placemaking examples, as well as some insight into how placemaking can become an entirely new mindset and approach for economic development.

That's just a bit of it. Read more here.

Pewabic Pottery ages well, hits 109 mark this Saturday

Pewabic Pottery Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Looked what dropped in our laps just as we were going to digital press on Monday: an invite to an anniversary celebration at historic Pewabic Pottery, which turns 109 years young this Saturday, March 10.

There will a special birthday party event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend the free celebration, which will feature complimentary guided tours, demonstrations, birthday cake, refreshments and hourly door prize giveaways.

Guided tours will begin at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. and will feature a first look at the nonprofit’s new history tour plaques, which were purchased through funding from the Michigan Humanities Council and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. In addition, guests will have a chance to see the pottery’s recently restored 105-year-old historic chimney.

For more info go here.

Brooklyn is so last year; now Detroit might be the new Austin

Culturemap Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Guess what? There is a new round of urban hipster-centric comparisons that includes Detroit in the conversation. This time the standard of cool is Austin, not Brooklyn, and cities like Asheville, Chattanooga, Burlington and, of course, Detroit are in on the chase. Or so says Culturemap.

It's not horrible. Read it here.

Bizarre Foods' five top moments in Detroit

Travel Channel Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Andrew Zimmern came to Detroit for a recent episode of Bizarre Foods, which airs on the Travel Channel. He visited some of our best soul kitchens, hung out with the Mower Gang, had ghost pepper pizza on Bangladesh Avenue and went to Dearborn to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

That guy puts some crazy stuff in his mouth. Check out the results here.

Public Enemy lined up as Movement headliner

Resident Advisor Tuesday, February 21, 2012

For its seventh year producing the Movement Festival, Paxahau has plucked a diverse cast of headliners: including Chicago house icon Lil Louis on Saturday, May 26, rap legends Public Enemy on Sunday, May 27 (in their debut appearance at the festival) and Detroit native Jeff Mills, performing under an old moniker, The Wizard, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28.

Check out the first round of announcements, listed on Resident Advisor, here. There will be more to come.

Curbed checks out Detroit Soup's two-year anniversary bash

Curbed Detroit Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Nice to see Curbed Detroit's Sarah Cox (who authors Model D's 'Imported to Detroit' series) getting out on the town and reporting from some of the city's most unique party spaces. Like this one in the former Jam Handy building on East Grand Blvd, which hosted the recent two-year anniversary of Detroit Soup. Take it away, Sarah:

"Detroit's totally cornered the market on that unfinished, do-we-even-have-a-permit-to-be-here look for big events. And we love it! Why wait til renovations are done to show off a structure? Hell, most places look best stripped down (we love these brick walls!), so bring on the space heaters." She even waxes for half a sentence on our own Next Big Thing event last October at the David Whitney Building.

Read the whole piece here.

What, it's Paczki Day already?

Hamtramck Review Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Yup, as you read this, if you are reading on the day we publish, it is indeed Paczki Day, Detroit's version of Mardri Gras. This pre-Lenten celebration is also known as Fat Tuesday, the last day for Catholics to go nuts before trimming their diets for about six weeks (ending on Easter Sunday).

Hamtramck, whose population was once overwhelmingly Polish Catholic, is party central for Paczki Day. We recommend you just hit the town running, get a few dozen berry-filled paczki at local bakeries like New Palace and New Martha Washington or at markets like Srodek's, Bozek's, Stan's or Polish Market. Then find a party at just about any bar in town; or hip retailers like Detroit Threads and Lo & Behold, which will be rolling out DJs and bands.

Behold this, from the Hamtramck Review.

Model D publisher Claire Nelson takes on prosperity agenda on WJR

Michigan Municipal League Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Michigan Prosperity Agenda is a monthly radio show that challenges listeners to help make Michigan a better place to live, work and play by creating vibrant local communities.

This month's show aired on News/Talk 760 WJR and was co-hosted by executive director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League Dan Gilmartin and our own Claire Nelson, publisher of Model D. Part of the discussion was on Nelson's recent More Sexiness in the City piece.

Find the show archived here.

Urban Times calls for city solutions to help citizens across the globe

Urban Times Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Self-described Optimistic Forward Thinking Online Magazine Urban Times got it so right when it generated this original response to smart cities. There's a lot of good info to be gleaned from this piece by Sascha Haselmayer for anyone interested in solutions to urban issues impacting every global citizen. Hear that Detroiters?

Check it out here.

Detroit has an app for that

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Retaining talent is one of the reasons Nathan Hughes started Detroit Labs, which employs more than 15 people at its M@dison Building HQ downtown.

This hub of online creativity is part of the growing App Economy, including some nice growth spurts coming out of Detroit, and is featured in this story in HuffPost Detroit. Read it here.

Detroit City Futbol organizers buy semi-pro club

Detroit News Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Two years ago, Sean Mann started a city soccer league -- the Detroit City Futbol League -- which drew 1,000 spectators to some games on Belle in the summer of 2011. That success has led 31-year-old Mann and partners Dave Dwaihy, Todd Kropp, Ben Steffans and Alex Wright to buy the rights to form a semi-professional soccer team representing Detroit.

Read all about it here.

Eastern Market reinventing itself with more than food

Detroit News Tuesday, February 07, 2012

The Detroit News reports: "A $3.9 million upgrade has begun of Eastern Market's Shed 5, which is the heart of the market's plant and flower business. The upgrades will include a commercial-grade kitchen aimed at upstart local food producers.

"Among the entrants in the farmer's market area are a self-described hacker space, a letterpress storefront and an art gallery. Plans are under way to build a community kitchen aimed at small-scale food entrepreneurs, and construction of a 40,000-square-foot fish farm inside a former city sewage facility may begin soon."

More, we say, more, more, more. Read the rest of the article here.

Black Male Engagement (BME) winners announced

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Ten black men in Detroit -- and 10 more in Philadelphia -- are receiving grants valued at $5,000 to $40,000 for community projects as part of the Black Male Engagement (BME) program launched last August by the Knight and Open Society foundations.

Detroit's leadership award winners include a mentor, a lawyer, former prisoners who now teach literacy and media skills, an LGBT rights activist, entrepreneurs, and one comeback kid. That's a strong list.

Read the whole story here.

'9 Businesses' highlights indie Detroit entrepreneurship

Vimeo Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Screened last week at Eastern Market's Signal Return, the short film 9 Businesses aims to give a taste of how small business energy can help catalyze, revitalize and inspire neighborhood life.

Need some inspiration? Watch this.

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