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TEDxDetroit announces 2011 conference

TEDxDetroit Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Local catalysts, entrepreneurs and thinkers -- TEDxDetroit is looking for you.

The date's been confirmed for this annual conference on positive ideas and creativity, in which speakers are allotted just a few minutes to share their story. It's all going down Wednesday, Sept. 28, in Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.

Applications are required to attend, and a $26 donation provides admission and lunch.

Find out more here -- and click here to watch our favorite moment from TEDxDetroit 2010, a performance by the late-departed David Blair.

Good Girls go to the White House

MLive.com Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes owner Torya Blanchard was brutally honest when she was asked how to find start-up capital at a White House event celebrating young entrepreneurs this week -- cash in your 401(k).

Blanchard, along with ePrize founder Josh Linkner, represented Detroit at the White House's Champions of Change panel discussion last week. And true to those who know her, she was characteristically blunt about the realities of small business entrepreneurship.

Excerpt:

Her eyes wide open advocacy is indispensable if entrepreneurship is expected to boost Detroit's fortunes long-term. Otherwise, we'll end up with a bunch of disillusioned Pilates instructors ready to hang it up after six months. Whatever else, Torya Blanchard will be doing her thing long after fair weather boosters move on to the next fun thing to save Detroit. Ideally, when that new shiny silver bullet captures our collective attention like the squirrels we are, she won't be the last entrepreneur standing.

Read more here.

Downtown Detroit fights back

Washington Times Tuesday, August 23, 2011

There's plenty good going on in Detroit right now, summarized in a recent article from the Washington Times. Whole Foods, the Live Midtown housing incentives and recent population growth in young professionals, well-covered, all receive their due. What's new is an interview with Nate Forbes, managing partner of Troy's Somerset Collection, which has opened the CityLoft retail venture in the downtown Woodward corridor. Forbes touts both the city's public-private partnerships and current leaders for creating an atmosphere that supports new businesses and entrepreneurs.

Excerpt:

"Of course Detroit has a lot of geography � it's a large city. There's no telling how long it will take, but you have to start off in small chunks. You have a lot of businesses moving to the area that will spawn other investments � hotels, retail, restaurants. It's one block at a time, but when you go down there now, you feel a renewed energy."

More to read here.

Fast Company takes a bite of Detroit SOUP

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

What can a shared meal of soup teach us about brand loyalty and market growth? Plenty. At Detroit SOUP, a monthly shared dinner where participants pay $5 to hear new ideas from the community before voting funds to the crowd favorite, democracy and community concern are the buzzwords. A new article from Fast Company calls SOUP an example for companies, not just concerned citizens; noting the co-creativity spawned by having the right guests to dinner, so to speak, is the future of crowdsourcing.

Excerpt:

Back in Michigan, Detroit SOUP co-founder Kate Daughdrill is putting these principles into practice: "We're figuring out how to engage civically, how to be engaged citizens," she explains. "We've been excited to create this practical experience in democracy. Brands that embrace this mindset will experience deeper engagement, richer collaboration on innovation opportunities and the gratification of shared value creation.

Sample the article here.

New doc: Detroit in Overdrive

The Discovery Channel Tuesday, August 09, 2011

The Discovery Channel's new miniseries, Detroit in Overdrive, appearing on Planet Green, digs in deep. While familiar faces like Motor City Denim's Joe Faris and Kid Rock get their due, this vid searches out the "tangible faces behind those big buildings" for the three-part special, which originally aired Aug. 4. That means Maria's Comida, the Sphinx Organization and CCS student and designer Veronika Scott are among the long list of the city's community members and do-gooders sharing the spotlight with Detroit's superstars. We like it.

Excerpt:

The Russell Industrial center functions as a community space for artists, craftspeople, and small businesses. Edith Floyd stands up for what she believes in by building an urban garden where abandoned houses once stood. Last, Kristyn Koth and Malik Muqaribu feed Detroiters in their 1956 Airstream, the Pink Flamingo, bringing fresh organic food to Detroiters in a unique mobile food truck, spearheading a local food movement.

Find out more about Detroit in Overdrive here.

Detroit is the new ... Detroit!

7STOPS Magazine Tuesday, August 09, 2011

We're still trying to track down the origin of the Detroit-Brooklyn comparison. Perhaps it was Patti Smith's urging for punk kids to live the true rock & roll lifestyle, or a recent NYT article comparing Detroit's nightlife and entrepreneurs to that of a burgeoning Brooklyn. While the analogy's gained steam outside our borders, this new essay posits a new sort of regrowth in Detroit -- one based as much on building community as building cool.

Excerpt:

And while this most recent wave of media attention is refreshing considering the post-apocalyptic alternative, to suggest that Detroit is the new Brooklyn misses the point entirely. Detroit will never be what Brooklyn is. But at the risk of sounding like the girl who didn't get asked to prom telling us that she "didn't really want to go anyhow," I don't think that the people that make Detroit exciting are looking to recreate Brooklyn; they're looking to revitalize the city they love. They aren't attracted to an anonymous blank slate, but to joining a community committed to doing good in a big city.

Here's to doing it our way. Read more here.

Thrive Detroit makes "budding micropreneurs" of city's homeless

Kiva Detroit Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Give a hungry man a dollar, and it won't go far. Employ a homeless person as a self-starting entrepreneur selling newspapers on the streets for a dollar, and there's potential to change a life.

One of Kiva Detroit's crowdsourcing ventures is Delphia Simmons' Thrive Detroit, which aims to help the less fortunate by giving them the chance to work for a living. The city's homeless and vulnerably-housed can apply for jobs selling papers, while learning basic money management skills and launching their own business.

Check out the website here, and keep your eyes peeled for Thrive's streetwise salespeople this fall.

Young Broke & Beautiful: The new IFC series gets wild in the D

Independent Film Channel Tuesday, August 02, 2011

"Young, Broke & Beautiful" -- there's no way a TV show aiming for that demographic could pass up a night in our fair city. This intrepid series from the Independent Film Channel spotlights indie culture and creators across the nation. Their hour-long travelogue on the D makes friends with plenty of our favorite people and places, from the Imagination Station and DJ Kyle Hall to late-night parties and Coneys (natch).

Excerpt:

Stuart will pull the Scion into the most beautiful, broken down parking lot in the world. There's no doubt that all these YBB's will know where the dopest, most off the chain, unsanctioned warehouse party is happening, and Stuart will find himself closing down the night, partying with his people.

IFC will rerun the Detroit episode all week, beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m. Find out more about the channel's tour Detroit here.

Go (Mid)west, young man -- Detroit, the new frontier

YES! Magazine Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A century and a half ago, adventurers, dreamers and gamblers alike headed west to seek freedom and fortune. A new article in YES! Magazine hails Detroit as the new American frontier for the modern-day visionary. Urban agriculture, cheap land, yes -- Detroit has these things, and more. But, author Aaron M. Renn notes, the city's relatively lax attitude avoids a pattern of interference, which often hampers development in stronger cities. And that's birthed a community of "self-determinants," working together to create something closer to utopia out of the ruins.

Excerpt:

Whether this trend really pumps life back into Detroit remains to be seen. But it has done one essential thing: it has created an aspirational narrative of success in Detroit that other Americans might imagine themselves being a part of. If that starts to attract people in sufficient numbers to reverse core city population decline, Detroit could be at the start of the long road back.

Say yes. Read more here.

Detroit-Brooklyn discussion expands on NPR

National Public Radio Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Is Detroit poised to become the next, gulp, Brooklyn (by that, we guess they mean a welcoming environment for creatives and cutting-edge entrepreneurs)? NPR"s Tell Me More interviewed Detroit native and 71 Pop founder Margarita Barry and new Midtown resident Scott Harrison, the director of patron engagement at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Their message to Michel Martin listeners? While Detroit's problems are oft-covered and obvious, the quality of living in neighborhoods like Midtown is comparable, at least, to that found in any other cosmopolitan American city -- at a fraction of the cost.

Excerpt:

So, I mean, I think within a 15 to 20 minute walk of where I live, I can find just anything, whether it's food, whether it's culture, whether it's entertainment, whether it's shopping. You know, we don't have the big box stores. If I need a Target, sure, I've got to get in the car and drive, but, I mean for day to day, six out of seven days of the week I'm sufficient and content just in my area.

Listen to the story here.

Downtown Detroit: a steal of a deal

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Taking advantage of a decade low point in price-per-square-foot costs, Dan Gilbert has purchased four downtown skyscrapers this year, amassing nearly two million square feet of building space near his Quicken Loans headquarters. The Wall Street Journal calls Dan Gilbert's real estate spree the "Deal of the Week." Will Gilbert's plan to fill these empty high-rises with his own employees and thousands of young people broaden efforts to repopulate downtown? We have a hunch it will.

Excerpt:

Real-estate brokers bet Mr. Gilbert won't follow the path of other opportunistic buyers who have taken advantage of low prices to cut rents, continuing what some see as a downward spiral of Detroit property values. Rather, Jim Ketai, who co-founded Bedrock last year with Mr. Gilbert, says he expects the company to invest millions of dollars into modernizing the buildings.

Read what else WSJ has to say here.

With a shout-out from CBS Evening News, 71 Pop gears for opening

CBS Evening News Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Margarita Barry's 71 Pop retail shop hasn't even opened yet, but this young entrepreneur was one of the local faces credited with igniting the city's entrepreneurial turnaround in a recent national story from CBS Evening News. These DIY business launchers are positive signs of a renaissance brewing (hey, we've been saying that all along).

Out of all the creative businesses opening their doors in the 313, 71 Pop's idea is one of our favorites. Located in the 71 Garfield building in the up-and-coming Sugar Hill Arts District, 71 Pop will feature a rotating cast of emerging homegrown designers. 71 Pop takes charge of the nuts-and-bolts of running the retail operation, giving artists a chance to do what they do best -- design. The grand opening is set for Saturday, July 30 at 2 p.m.

Get hip to the 71 Pop concept here, or find out more about the event on Facebook. Click here to watch the video.

Knight Foundation, NEA to fund Detroit's new concepts for arts journalism

Knight Foundation Tuesday, July 19, 2011

While cultural institutions work to attract new audiences, two of the nation's most illustrious foundations are looking for the newest models for arts journalism in the 21st century.

The Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge will seek new models and ideas for sustaining arts journalism in the 21st century in eight cities across America, including Detroit. Up to $100,000 is available for each project; first round winners will receive $20,000 to develop an action plan for new models that can be replicated in another cities.

Excerpt:

"No idea is too unusual," Scholl said. "Embedding a nonprofit reporter in a for-profit news organization? Creating a new collective to share professional work? Asking the community to decide which arts stories are best and put up the money to cover those? Have better ideas that never would have occurred to us on our own? Fill out the application form, and send them in. The best ideas may well be the ones that stretch our thinking."

Find out more here.

Windsor Star calls Detroit a creative "mecca"

Windsor Star Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Cyclists, can-do spirit and a hip youth culture -- all reasons why the Windsor Star pegged Detroit as the latest American city to undergo a massive transformation from decrepit to desirable in recent years. In particular, the city's wave of new entrepreneurs speaks to a new post-industrial mindset in the ersatz Motor City.

While Detroit once attracted new residents with the promise of a comfortable factory gig, it's now seen as the new destination for creatives hungry to build their own dream jobs.

Excerpt:

Very few of the many new businesses sprouting up are getting outright government grants or tax breaks, said DC3 director Matt Clayson. But micro-loans, venture capital investment, mentoring, cheap work spaces, tools and equipment and help with market exposure are among the resources made available to just about anyone with a viable idea.

Philip Cooley, the owner of the wildly successful Corktown restaurant Slows Bar BQ, said Detroit was once a city that relied on large companies employing a large workforce in big factories. "How complacent we became, and we fell apart as a result," said Cooley, a 33-year-old business school dropout.

Find out what else our neighbors to the north (or to the south, in the case of Windsor) have to say about us here.

Vacation buzz: our favorite links from the past two weeks

New York Times Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Model D took a break last week to celebrate the holiday, but a city like Detroit never sleeps. If you're just back from Up North or the beach, here are a few of our can't-miss links to catch up on what went down over Fourth of July weekend.

The New York Times sang the praises of the city's young and entrepreneurial dreamers, writing, "These days the word "movement" is often heard to describe the influx of socially aware hipsters and artists now roaming the streets of Detroit. Not unlike Berlin, which was revitalized in the 1990s by young artists migrating there for the cheap studio space, Detroit may have this new generation of what city leaders are calling "creatives" to thank if it comes through its transition from a one-industry (town)." Are we becoming a Midwestern TriBeCa? Read more here.
Or, wait a minute: aren't we already the next Brooklyn? Check that out down the page.

Microfinancing Detroit: Kiva Detroit, a partnership between Michigan Corps, the Knight Foundation, San Fran-based Kiva.org and microlender Accion USA, together raised over $11,000 in just three hours to help fund five start-up businesses in the city. The site allows supporters to pledge loans for as little as $25. Click here for details.

Will a battle for designing the Detroit of the future derail the momentum of the present? The Wall Street Journal writes of a rift between the City of Detroit and the Kresge Foundation that could have serious implications for arguably the two most important initiatives of 2011. "Kresge stopped funding Detroit Works at the start of the year after disagreements with City Hall over the role of outside consultants. The foundation also is rethinking its support for the rail line amid a separate spat with city officials." Say it isn't so. Read the rest of the story is here.

Here's one bright spot: Amidst a gloomy June economic report, BNET reports Detroit continues to hire both white and blue-collar workers, calling the domestic auto industry a "micro-recovery." We're sure glad to hear it, though we'd rather be cycling in the city. More information here.

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