The Heidelberg Project Detroit, MI 2012 |
Every few years news anchors, fanatics and twenty-somethings find a reason to fear and celebrate TIME or rather the ending of it. With the winding down of the Mayan Calendar and impending apocalypse everyone has been counting down the end of days. Time is a fickle dimension. As human beings we always want more even though we know it is limited. We wish our jobs, families and other responsibilities would give us a moment to just be. Many artists choose not to have families in order to preserve their time. Others choose to live a more spartan lifestyle in order to work part-time or freelance.The spike in unemployment over the past few years has afforded the U.S. one thing, time.
Lee Plaza Hotel Room Detroit, MI |
The Heidelberg Project Detroit, MI |
Guyton's effort have spawned other initiatives to take over dangerous areas and create something that supports it's neighbors. Urban gardening is one such endeavor that has exploded in the city. The Ferguson Academy for Young Women is Detroit was the subject of the 2009 documentary, "Grown in Detroit". The film introduces us to an alternative High School for pregnant teenagers. Part of their curriculum is learning agricultural skills not only to help support themselves but to take some of the financial burden off their families. Working on an urban farm is obviously not a monetarily supported job. Rather you reap what you sow.
The economic landscape of Detroit is beginning to shift. Young creative types recognize that Detroit offers one luxury, time. For artists and entrepreneurs who want creative space it is a solution to the mounting cost of rental prices. For the larger community, Detroit's growing creative initiative could be a model for small, industrial cities affected by the recession that has left millions of Americans with something they always wanted more of.