Every other Thursday, a group of young people meet up on Detroit’s west side, seeking an escape from the grueling schedules of school and work, from the anxieties they face about their future. 

But more importantly, the meetups give them a quiet place to work on their art for a few hours. 

On a recent Thursday evening, the vibes inside the room at Artist Village were chill and inviting. A Spotify playlist with songs from Tyler, the Creator, Doechii and Noname played softly on the TV. 

Six people sat around a long table, the summer sun streaming in through the front window, giving the artists plenty of natural light to work with. One young woman focused on her sketch of a girl with spirals in her hair, while another created a sky blue background for her painting of Darwin Watterson from the Cartoon Network show, “The Amazing World of Gumball.” 

The facilitator of the night, Dehvin Banks, was reworking a piece he had completed years before, a drawing of a woman that was the subject of a short story he wrote. 

Called Drawn Together, the biweekly meetups are is the brainchild of Banks, a visual artist, graphic designer and one of three co-founders of The Vision Detroit. The other two founders are journalist Layla McMurtrie and relationship manager Jai’la Logan. The three friends and Detroiters launched the nonprofit in 2023 to give young artists across all mediums free and low-cost opportunities to practice and perfect their craft. 

In addition to Drawn Together, other events the organization has put on in recent months include general open mic nights, open mics dedicated specifically for poets and a writer’s workshop. McMurtrie, 24, also hosts the “Tell a Vision” podcast, where she interviews local artists. 

Being an artist in Detroit can be lonely, the three founders said, especially when the person is just starting their craft and trying to connect with other artists on the scene. That’s one of the reasons why they created The Vision Detroit —, to offer a welcoming space for those who want to connect and have fun, while also flexing their creative muscles. 

“We’re not trying to make the most money off of these events, trying to take people away from other people. That’s not the game,” Banks said. “The game is to make a cohesive artist community across the city, and eventually more than that. We’re starting here, but we want to just make it one big collective, try to bring everybody together as best as we can.” 

One artist who enjoys being a part of The Vision community is Jaylen Woods. At the Drawn Together meetup, he worked on a painting of the X-Men character Storm. Superheroes were on his mind as he talked with the group about seeing the new “Superman” and “Fantastic Four” movies. 

Woods, 25, is an airbrush artist who recently graduated from Ferris State University. He saw posts about The Vision on Instagram a few months ago and started coming out to the “Drawn Together” meetups. Woods said the gatherings have been “life-changing.” 

“I’m a creative person who struggles with being creative, so being around other creative people helps with that struggle,” he said as he began working on the outline of Storm with gray paint. “Ever since I’ve been coming to these things, my creative juices have been flowing.” 

Turning ‘The Vision’ into a reality

Located on Lahser Road in the Old Redford neighborhood, The Vision Detroit’s artist space fits in nicely with the creativity already vibrating on the block. Next door is the historic Redford Theatre and nonprofit Motor City Cinema Society. And the space itself is part of Artist Village, a community hub that features a coffee shop, music venue and event space.

Moving into the space last October, the milestone was years in the making for Banks, Logan and McMurtrie. Banks, 25, said The Vision is something that’s been forming in his mind since at least 2017 while he was a student at Eastern Michigan University. While it was easy to connect with other artists when he was attending Communication and Media Arts High School on the city’s northwest side, he found out that was not the case in college. 

“I didn’t really fit in with most of the art crowd, so I would try to hit these events,” Banks said. “People would be cliqued up. They wouldn’t really want to talk to you, or the events that I would attend were all glorified parties, to say the least. It was hard to find locations for me to just sit and hang out with other artists in a calm, relaxing vibe. So, I decided that I wanted to build something like that.” 

Banks began talking to Logan about it, as the two have been friends since high school. She agreed that the arts scene can be hard to break into. When she worked as a DJ in her teens, Logan, who’s now 25, didn’t interact much with people her age, she said. 

But no concrete plans were made. School and careers took precedence over building out the idea. 

“That would be cool. We can do that together one day, maybe,” Logan recalled saying. 

In early 2023, Banks again began thinking about creating an artist space. This time, he was ready to take action. Over a game of pool, he and Logan talked about forming a nonprofit. After doing some research, the friends realized they needed a third person to serve on the board of directors, which is the minimum number of people required to start a nonprofit. 

That’s when McMurtrie came in. She and Banks met in 2019 while attending Eastern, becoming good friends. McMurtrie was interested in starting an arts magazine and wanted to be part of an arts collective. 

“I was with Dehvin and we were bowling and he was like, ‘Jai’la and I have been talking about starting a nonprofit and we need a third person. Do you want to do that?’” McMurtrie recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have so many ideas. This is perfect.’” 

Each founder brings their own strengths to the table for their roles. Banks is the director of visual arts, Logan is director of sound, and McMurtrie is the director of communications. They also brought on visual artist Alex Aldridge as the its cChief fFinancial oOfficer, and he who helped secure their Artist Village space. 

“We’re just trying to make it a safe space, a space where people don’t feel judged,” Logan said about The Vision. “It’s not cliquey. You can come in and find anyone to fit your style or build your brand. We try to make it an inviting space.” 

Filling a void in the arts community 

By December 2023, The Vision hosted its first open mic night at The Commons, a cafe, laundromat and community space in Islandview. The group was able to work out a deal with the business to host the events for free, with The Commons turning a profit by keeping the cafe open, Banks said. 

About 40 people showed up to the first open mic, McMurtrie said. To their surprise, the number of attendees doubled to 80 people for their second event to 80 people. 

“We always have vendors selling different things,” Banks said. “In addition to that, there’s an art table, so the tables along the back of the performance space are lined with art supplies, sketchbooks and things like that. People are drawing, writing, hanging out and eating while the performances are going on.”

Banks said he, Logan and McMurtrie try to incorporate all forms of art into the open mics, which takes place every third Saturday of the month. They have musicians, poets and comedians regularly take the stage. 

Due to the high demand for the event, the trio began hosting other open mics once after they had the grand opening of their Artist Village space in January. There’s the monthly poetry open mic Bar Heavy and another monthly general arts open mic, Live on Lahser. 

In order to connect with artists in the community, Logan often does outreach by attending arts events and telling people about The Vision. The group also promotes events heavily on its Instagram page. 

As The Vision gained their footing and began hosting more events, so did the performers who were regularly coming to the open mics, McMurtrie said. One of them is Detroit artist KOTI, also known as King of the Island. The singer, rapper and clothing designer had only performed one other time before the open mics started. Now he’s become one of the star performers at the events, McMurtrie said.

One of the ways KOTI has improved is by taking performance training classes, Logan said. The Vision has a professional coach come and work with musicians, poets and other performing artists to improve their stage presence. The organization wrapped up a five-week training program last month, Logan said. 

“The goal is to build their confidence, teaching them either how to perform the way they want to or reach the crowd the way they intend to,” she said. “We try to find out who they are inspired by because that is most likely who they’re getting an influence from. We take that influence and we build it to make it theirs, rather than someone else’s.” 

All about the vision

As Banks, Logan and McMurtrie continue to interact with more artists across Detroit, they’re feeling inspired to do more. Banks is partnering with The Hendricks Foundation, a Harper Woods nonprofit that renews used computers donated by the community and provides them to people in need. Beginning on Friday, Banks will use computers gifted from the foundation to pilot a summer camp that teaches computer maintenance and design to Detroit youth using computers gifted from the foundation. After the program ends Aug. 30, students’ artwork will be part of the Invision Arts and Culture Festival for the Detroit Month of Design Sept. 13, Banks said. 

Meanwhile, Logan wants to host more writers’ workshops as well as a DJ showcase and a conference centered around performance training and a DJ showcase. And McMurtrie is in the process of bringing her arts magazine into to fruition. 

Seeing artists in the community thrive is inspiring the friends on a personal level as well. Banks is creating more art and has gotten back into photography. Logan bought some music equipment so she can create beats again and McMurtrie recently performed some of her songs at an open mic night. 

“We all want to help the community, we all want to help other artists grow,” McMurtrie said. “But this is also building a community for us that we didn’t have before.” 

Community is all about give and take, Banks said. He, Logan and McMurtrie hope they’re giving creatives a place where they feel like they belong.