Many arts organizations across the state of Michigan are struggling to balance their budgets after the Trump administration’s recent blows to federal grant funding.

That includes the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, which recently canceled its 30th season due to “a perfect storm of events,” including disappearing grants, donors pulling back and lower-than-expected ticket sales, according to the festival’s website.

Janice L. Blixt , producing artistic director for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, joined The Metro to discuss the organization’s future and how they’re navigating uncertain times.

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D.L. Holmes was the athletic director, track and cross-country coach at Wayne State University from 1917 to 1958. In a time when segregation in sports was the norm, Holmes coached athletes of all races, a radical act. He coached three Olympians, one gold medalist and 11 All-Americans.

Holmes, a beloved mentor known for nurturing hidden talent, was instrumental in nine national championship wins and four world record holders.

In his new book, “Coach of Champions,” Troy author Keith D. Wunderlich tells the story of Coach Holmes through team member interviews and “historically informed narratives.” Wunderlich is Holmes’ grandson and a former sprinter.

He joined The Metro to talk about the book and Holmes’ legacy in Detroit and beyond.

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The Detroit Institute of Arts is a world-renowned museum. But, but how many pieces in its collection are made by a Detroiter? Tiff Massey’s “Baby Bling” will soon be acquired by the DIA. Salvador Salort-Pons, the museum’s Director, told the Metro that the DIA is acquiring “Baby Bling” from Massey and adding it to the museum’s permanent collection. 

“We are acquiring “Baby Bling,” and I’m very excited about this, and this will be on view in, I hope […] our contemporary wing, and I hope it will be part of the reinstallation,” says Salvador Salor-Pons.

Lots of people traveled and spent their weekends at the DIA over the past year. Tiff Massey’s “7 Mile + Livernois”  wasn’t just an exhibit, it was an event for the culture. The exhibit represented Black Detroit in some of its rawest forms.

In 2015, the DIA responded to some critics who thought the DIA and other art institutions could do better to serve Detroit and Metro Detroit. In response, it created a Talent and Diversity subcommittee and later in 2020, created its inclusion, diversity and access or IDEA strategy. 

Recent exhibitions like Massey’s “7 Mile + Livernois” suggest the strategy to make the DIA a more inclusive and representative space is working.

Museum Director Salvador Salort-Pons and exhibition curator Katie Pfol joined The Metro to discuss how the exhibition’s success marks a turning point for the Museum.

Salvador shared that the museum’s year-long showcase of the tiff Massey exhibit was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Detroit Institute of Arts plans to reinstall its contemporary African American galleries to a more prominent location in the museum in October. The new location will be adjacent to the renowned Diego Rivera court.

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Many arts organizations are in a vulnerable position right now. That’s in part because the Trump administration has started canceling National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants and has called for the elimination of the agency. That means something to tons of organizations here in Michigan. 

In 2024, the NEA granted more than $3 million to arts organizations in the state. As of last week, the majority of the funds earmarked for 2025 have been snatched back, leaving hundreds of nonprofits in the red financially, according to reporting from the Detroit Free Press. 

The Carr Center is a nonprofit hub for the visual and performing arts in Detroit focused on promoting and sharing the work of Black artists. The organization’s CEO, Oliver Ragsdale, joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss how they’re navigating the recent cuts to the arts.

“We got an NEA grant, we finished our grant, submitted our report and got our dollars within a couple of days, so we didn’t get terminated and we’ve been fortunate like that,” Ragsdale said.

Still, he said the NEA cuts will likely impact state funding and cause various other challenges, creating “a new normal” for arts organizations like the Carr Center.

“We are staying focused on Black artistic excellence and everything about it. And you know, we’ve been through cycles before, we’ll go through cycles again — I’ve been doing this for a few minutes — and eventually we’re going to be alright.”

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The Detroit Documenters covered the Detroit Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) for the first time last week.

The committee meets quarterly to discuss issues related to hazardous materials reporting and planning for emergencies. It’s made up of representatives from the Detroit police, fire and health departments as well as from various hazardous material storage facilities and private hospitals in the Detroit area that all work together to plan for emergency situations like industrial fires, explosions or other hazards.

At the meeting last Tuesday, Chris Jodoin, manager of emergency management at Henry Ford Health, warned that proposed cuts by the Trump administration to the Hospital Preparedness Program would negatively affect a variety of local emergency preparedness programs in Detroit.

Metro Producer Jack Filbrandt spoke to Detroit Documenter Larae Baker and Coordinator Noah Kincade to learn more.

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–WDET Digital Editor Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

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Ibram X. Kendi has a new children’s book out called “Malcolm Lives.” In the book, he’s introducing the life and antiracist work of Malcolm X to young people. 

The book continues Kendi’s antiracist work and scholarship. He is the New York Times bestselling author of “Stamped from the Beginning,” and “How to Be an Antiracist.” 

The summer of 2020 was a unique time in America. Many were staying at home, trying to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Trump administration’s popularity was waning. And, there was a surge of interest in the ways that racism was hurting people’s health, their politics and their minds. 

But five years later, Americans are a lot less concerned with the ways that racism impacts themselves and others. The Trump administration is now back in power. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts are in retreat. The “Black Lives Matter”-painted street in Washington D.C. has been removed. 

Kendi joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss the new book and how the Trump administration’s efforts are making life harder for Black people in America. He joined us ahead of a rally in Detroit, with Author Bernadette Atuahene, to stop tax foreclosures of Detroit homes under $50,000 in value.

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7 Mile and Livernois is home to Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion and has been for many years. Thriving businesses line the streetscape with an array of shops, restaurants and art galleries — most of them Black-owned.

Detroit artist Tiff Massey shines a spotlight on this culturally rich neighborhood with her latest exhibit “7 Mile + Livernois” — which has been on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts for the past year. Massey is the youngest artist to have a solo exhibit on display at the DIA.

The exhibition — closing this weekend — features a variety of installations, public art and wearable sculptures that celebrate Black American culture and style. The DIA will host a closing celebration, “7 Mile and Livernois After Dark,” this Friday, with live performances from DJs Kesswa and Donavan Glover. 

Massey joined The Metro on Thursday to reflect on the year-long exhibit before it closes.

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Three years ago, “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” sold out shows at the Detroit Opera House for the first time in over a decade.

Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer behind that success is back in Detroit. 

Anthony Davis returns this month to present “Central Park Five,” a gripping opera that tells the true story of the wrongful convictions of five Black and Latino teenagers in the assault of a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989. 

It’s a case that involved President Donald Trump, who at the time became an outspoken voice for convicting the teens. He spoke with WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper about the politics of bringing an opera like this to the stage, and how it feels to be back in Detroit.

Performances will take place on May 10, 16 and 18 at the Detroit Opera House. Visit detroitopera.org for tickets and more information.

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In 1938, two young Jewish kids decided they wanted to tell a story of an invincible man, who could move faster than bullets and was a hero to all. 

Superman took flight that year, first appearing in America Action Comics #1. Kal-El, Clark Kent or Superman was representation needed during the rise of fascism in Germany. 

The superhero was created to defeat The Third Reich and Nazi’s plot to take over the world. In American culture, comic books have been a way for readers of all ages to see themselves, in one way or another, as superhuman. 

From the friendly neighborhood Spiderman to the Green Hornet — which was a Detroit Radio program before appearing in comics — these stories told the hardships, joys and sorrows of life through the lens of these fantastical characters.

William Wallwinkel is the lead curator of “Heroes vs. Villains: Detroit’s Comic Book Story,” opening at Detroit Historical Museum on Saturday, May 3, which is also Free Comic Book Day. He joined The Metro along with Vault of Midnight owner Curtis Sullivan to talk about comic book culture here in Detroit and southeast Michigan. 

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