Forward Arts furthers progress in Belle Isle Park

It could have just been another sad Detroit story. A partnership between
Access Arts and Forward Arts brought new life in the form of public art
exhibits to Woodbridge’s Anna Scripps Park at the corner of MLK and
Grand River Avenue. But 10 days after a successful opening and raucous
party (which raised money for a second exhibit and sensory garden),
Scripps Park’s public art became a little too public. Most of the
exhibits were stolen or destroyed.

But that’s not stopping Louis Casinelli and Dominic Arellano, who
partnered together for the Scripps Park project and are also
spearheading  this year’s Belle Isle Arts Exhibit. Nineteen exhibitions will
be open to the public, plus bike, shuttle and tours from Chido Johnson’s
Wire Cars. The Fifth Belle Isle Arts Exhibit opens Saturday, June 18,
with a party from 2 to 7 p.m., and runs until Friday, June 24. And
Arellano says there will be art again in Scripps Park, thieves be damned.

Excerpt:

“Collaboration. That’s how Belle Isle operates,” Arellano says. “There
are all these different groups that make the park function. None stand
alone. They promote each other, help each other. That’s our spirit too.”

Get the spirit here.