The huge murals sprouting up downtown are the result of a partnership between the City of Detroit, the Downtown Detroit Partnership and a global nonprofit to create a massive “Be The Change” collection of large, inspiring art that will welcome visitors to the streets of downtown Detroit for the NFL Draft.
The Detroit Fine Art Mural Exhibition is being curated and produced by Street Art for Mankind (SAM) in October 2023 and April 2024. SAM travels the country transforming downtowns with inspiring murals spotlighting social and environmental issues. The art is designed to usher in the 2024 NFL draft but also be a lasting gift to Detroit residents who will receive thousands of visitors next spring.
SAM is working on two phases. This month, the curators brought to town artists from around the world. In April, Detroit artists will join SAM artists to paint murals celebrating the resilience and strength of Detroiters.
The mural project is being co-sponsored by the City of Detroit’s Planning and Development Department, the Downtown Detroit Partnership and the City Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship. The initiative also benefits from the support of Diageo, a member of the UN Global Compact. Artists began working on the project last week. The City’s contribution to the project was $140,000.
“The City of Detroit is the first, and only, UNESCO City of Design in the United States. As such, we’re a part of a global network of cities that advance beauty and design to improve the lives of everyday citizens,” said Antoine Bryant, Director of the City’s Planning and Development Department (PDD). “We are excited to partner with Arts Culture and Entrepreneurship (ACE) and the Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) to deliver beauty for Detroiters, as well as for the thousands of visitors our great city. Detroit is MOVING, and we’re glad that out creative class will play a pivotal role in its growth.”
The murals celebrate “humanity’s shared values and Detroiters’ resilience and is designed to be a reminder that everyone, and anyone, can be the change,” SAM co-founders Thibault and Audrey Decker said in a statement. “The project was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s quote: “‘Be the change you wish to see in the world!’”
This was SAM’s second visit to Detroit. The Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship partnered with County Commissioner Alisha Bell to sponsor the largest 3D mural in the country on the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. Part of the Zero Hunger initiative, the mural was intended to “plant the seeds for an equal and just world.”
“When SAM said it wanted to return to Detroit, we were excited to welcome them, especially as we continue Mayor Mike Duggan’s Blight to Beauty campaign,” said Rochelle Riley, the City’s Director of Arts and Culture. “The new murals, like all the city’s murals and new arts alleys and tree plantings and demolitions, are about more than the NFL Draft, but about showing the nation and world what Detroit really can and does look like all the time.”
When the full murals series is completed in April 2024, Detroit will be one of the few cities in the world with a free outdoor museum of this quality and magnitude, Decker said. SAM’s last project was in Houston, where artists created 29 gigantic murals all over downtown.
The global murals project comes just weeks after the City hosted representatives of seven of the Top Ten Cities for Street Art – as named by USA Today – at a national summit, where leaders exchanged ideas about a national mural movement that has taken the nation by storm.
The new giant murals were inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which promote social and environmental justice and in partnership with United Nations agencies (UNESCO, UNEP, FAO and UN Women).
“Detroit is transforming, and citizen activists are leading the change, so the series will not only be the opportunity to inspire through stunning visual representation by prominent international and local artists, but also through stories shared by local change-makers to encourage the public to take action on social issues,” the Deckers said.
The Downtown Detroit Partnership helped make the murals possible.
“These installations are a wonderful representation of local and international artists. This effort brings a visually stunning and thought- provoking dimension to our city and greater attention to our artist community,” said Eric B. Larson, CEO for the Downtown Detroit Partnership. “The Downtown Detroit Partnership is proud to support this work and to work collaboratively with City of Detroit leaders Antoine Bryant and Rochelle Riley, without whom this project would not be possible.”
The idea behind Detroit Be The Change was set in motion after Detroit was chosen as one of six major US cities to host the Zero Hunger Murals launched in 2021 by the World Food Program USA in partnership with Street Art for Mankind (SAM). SAM partnered with the Detroit Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (Detroit ACE) and County Commissioner Alisha Bell on that giant mural.
Each mural will be featured on SAM’s free “Behind the Wall” app, which works like an audio guide where artists talk about their piece and artistic process. They also will be featured on the Detroit Mural Map, which the City is using to document every mural across Detroit.
Learn more about Detroit Be The Change. at https://streetartmankind.org/detroitbethechange.
Learn more about the partnership and see the Detroit Mural Map at www.detroitartsandculture.com.
Learn more about additional murals at detroitmi.gov/citywalls.
To learn more about the “Detroit Be the Change” Artists, visit them on social media: