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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 
ARTIVATE SPECIAL ISSUE  
 
Detroit’s Cultural Renaissance: Research on the Impact of Culture in 
Urban Revitalization  

 
Artivate’s Winter  issue will highlight the role of arts entrepreneurship in Detroit. Artists, 
cultural organizations, and creative entrepreneurs have been critical to Detroit’s recovery 
from bankruptcy (). The highly publicized rescue of the Detroit Institute of Art as part 
of the “Grand Bargain” is but one example of entrepreneurial work that has built up the city’s 
creative infrastructure in support of a vital city. Featured essays will be focused on, but not 
limited to workforce development, repurposed buildings, innovations to the city’s arts edu-
cation programs, and creative placemaking. 

Like many industrial cities, Detroit has suffered from urban decay with changes in man-
ufacturing since peak productivity of the World War II era. The city’s population has fallen 
from a high of . million in the s to , in  (). The associated shrinkage 
of Detroit’s tax base severely compromised its ability to provide basic public services such that 
on July ,  with . billion dollars of debt Detroit became the largest US city to ever 
file for bankruptcy ().    

Yet the ironic dichotomy is that during this same period Detroit was regularly lauded in 
the national press as a model for economic and cultural resurgence. In  Mayor Dave Bing 
spoke of “right sizing his city and his government,” which would translate into programs such 
as the city granting Gilbert Hanz , acres of blighted land for urban gardens (). 
Similarly, public/private partnerships like Quicken Loans’ investment in the new public trans-
portation QLine railcar was praised by some, although others questioned whether this focus 
on Midtown (the rebranded “Cass Corridor”) neglected longtime residents and favored more 
expensive downtown residential development. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is another 
model of an entrepreneurial non-profit/public/private enterprise that raised over  million 
to renovate and maintain Detroit’s downtown riverfront.   

This special issue of Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts asks authors to 
address one or more of the following questions from a critical perspective: 

• What is the role of arts entrepreneurship in the Renaissance of Detroit? 
• How does/can arts and cultural entrepreneurship specifically support community revi-

talization and equitable development? 
• What role can arts entrepreneurs play in connecting the nonprofit and for-profit arts and 

culture sectors with residents, business interests, and local governments? 



 

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• How does public policy (at various scales) promote or obstruct the contributions of arts 
entrepreneurs to creative placemaking and community revitalization? 

• How should the contributions of arts entrepreneurs to community revitalization best be 
captured and assessed? 

Submission to the special issue are due December ,  for review for possible publi-
cation in the Winter  issue. Please refer to the detailed submission guidelines artivate.org.   

Guest editors of this special Winter  issue of Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship 
in the Arts are Susan Badger Booth, Professor of Arts Management at Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity and Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Musicology and Arts Entrepreneurship & 
Leadership at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan. 

Any questions please contact Susan Badger Booth at sbooth'@emich.edu 

References 

“Encyclopedia of Detroit.” (Retrieved June , ), 
Detroit Historical Society — Where the Past Is Pre-
sent, from https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclo-
pedia-of-detroit/grand-bargain. 

U.S. Census Bureau (July , ) QuickFacts: Detroit 
city, Michigan; Michigan. (n.d.). Retrieved from 

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/de-
troitcitymichigan,MI/PSTEFGH'I. 

Fletcher, Michael A. (July , ). “Detroit files larg-
est municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.” The 
Washington Post. Retrieved July ,  

Glaeser, Edward L. (March , ) “Shrinking De-
troit Back to Greatness” New York Times.