For the last 10 years, Sidewalk Detroit has been on a mission to return Eliza Howell Park on the city’s northwest side back to its natural state – a place where visitors can take in the beauty of nature by hiking, biking, or simply relaxing in the park.
In 2015, leaders from the nonprofit began having conversations with residents in the Brightmoor neighborhood, where the 250-acre park is located. This eventually led to one-on-one interviews with park leaders and a large community dinner, where people talked about their concerns and hopes for the long-neglected park.
By 2017, Sidewalk Detroit had hired 10 residents to join its community leadership team to help with infrastructure improvements and accessible programming. Since then, several events have taken place at Eliza Howell, from cleanup days and artist workshops to the community joining environmental artist Patrick Dougherty in creating one of his stick sculptures.
This weekend, Sidewalk Detroit, which celebrates Detroit culture through public art, community engagement and advocacy, will be holding its biggest event yet at the park: its biannual Sidewalk Festival. The two-day event, which kicks off Friday, will feature a mix of art installations, food, musical and dance performances and workshops centered around wellness and environmental justice.
More than 40 artists and organizations will appear at the free festival, such as Brightmoor Makers Lab, Cherise Morris, Detroit Soundmap Collective and Drizzy Dria. In addition, Detroit saxophonist Marcus Elliot will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday as part of his summer concert series, Sounds From the Park.
Production manager and multi-sensory artist Sophiyah Elizabeth said the improvements Sidewalk Detroit has put into Eliza Howell over the years tie into this year’s festival theme: “Wild. Rhythm. Resistance. Story.”
“Wild is a representation of not so much trying to beautify by manicuring, but allowing that natural space to be wild,” she said. “It’s really honoring and nourishing the park so that it can grow, and so that we create that intersection between community engagement and honoring the space at the same time. And then you have rhythm, which could be anything like, ‘What is your rhythm when you wake up in the morning,’ or ‘What’s the rhythm that you hear outside?’ Resistance is thinking about the political climate and lastly, the story, which the park tells a story all in itself without us having to do anything, but at the same time, when we show up, we create that narrative together.”
Capturing the essence of the park
Friday’s lineup, which goes from 6-8 p.m., includes a performance by poet Rosemarie Wilson (also known as One Single Rose),https://youtu.be/F_g6lNalcPk
an African drumming and dancing performance by artist Imani Ma’at and an artist talk featuring Sidewalk Detroit’s Eco-Artist in Residence Maya Davis, Elliot, Cyrah Dardas, Billy Mark, David McGuffie and Ma’at.
Some of the activities offered on Saturday include a horsemanship workshop from 2-7 p.m. with “Queen” Sabrina Cesaire, co-founder of Detroit Equestrian Play Therapy; skateboarding lessons from 2-4:30 p.m. with organization A Positive Seed; a fashion show from 4:30-5:30 p.m. organized by A Positive Seed and Fashion Revolution Detroit Design Collective that merges fashion with skateboarding culture; a DJ booth and carpentry workshop from 2-6 p.m. with Brightmoor Makers Lab; and kitemaking from 2-7 p.m. with Gary Maynard from the Windjammers kite team.
In addition, Davis will be leading rain chain workshops from 2-7 p.m. with fellow artist Stevie Baka. Rain chains are a rainwater diversion technique that people can hang up outside of their home to divert rainwater, she said. The chains will be made out of repurposed and upcycled materials from nonprofit Arts and Scraps and artist co-living space the Glastonbury Collective.
“We’ll have a bunch of chains, cans, glasses, a bunch of small vessels that will be able to hold and expel water,” Davis said. “I like being artful around some of these solutions, which I feel like Sidewalk Detroit has been utilizing really well through its existence, especially within Eliza Howell.”
For her residency, Davis is working on a 15-foot-tall15-foot tall sculpture that will also serve as a rainwater collection and diversion system. She plans to have the piece done by October, she said, and it will serve as the organization’s first permanent installation at Eliza Howell.
“I was really interested in how people have been managing stormwater and water in general, in their own DIY ways,” she said. “The sculpture is a play on different rainwater barrels, rainwater collection systems that people have been making and using across the city. Alongside it being this rainwater collection system, it’s also a canopy for people to be able to experience the park during these big storms that we have, and it will be alongside these bioswales that the park has installed, which are these rainwater capturing systems to help prevent flooding within the park. The sculpture will end up diverting the rainwater it collects into a surrounding rain garden that will have these really intimate marble seating pieces around it.”
Sidewalk Detroit Program Director Augusta Morrison said the festival has been 10 months in the making, with staff working alongside a curatorial council made up of artists, dancers, programmers, fabricators and musicians from as young as their 20s to their 70s.
“We took into account all of the work that we’ve done at Eliza Howell Park and what our community members were also feeling and wanting to see,” they said. “And I think a lot of it was just, ‘What is the essence, what is the energy of the park and how are the artists going to be contributing to that?’”
Morrison hopes that festivalgoers gain self-awareness of how their decisions impact the land or their community.
“Yes, they can have fun and listen to the music and make some art, but there’s so many layers that are going into each activity that I hope they’re walking away with a deeper understanding of self, of the park, of art and music and the power that art can have on how we think about the world,” they said.
Davis added that the festival is an opportunity for people to see what artists can do when they’re given space and community with each other.
“Sidewalk is working with so many artists within its fellowship, the residency and even just at the festival alone. It’s a really good opportunity for people to see what artists are capable of when given the resources,” she said.