ANN ARBOR —The U-M Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. plan to launch a new campaign through the Michigan-based crowdfunding platform Patronicity.
The campaign will help transform a vacant 3,200 square-foot building on the Detroit Community Schools campus into the Brightmoor Maker Space, for youth and adults to build their creative making skills and business ideas.
The Stamps School’s partnership with the MEDC follows an endorsement last fall from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which awarded the school a two-year $100,000 matching grant for the project, in light of the Knight Arts Challenge program in Detroit.
“This funding will allow us to officially move forward with our plans to provide a much-needed physical space that will expand the impact of our ongoing arts programming in the Brightmoor community,” says Gunalan Nadarajan, dean of the Stamps School.
If Patronicity’s crowdfunding goal of $25,000 is met by July 10, the match from the MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places program would activate a $50,000 Knight Arts Challenge grant to launch Brightmoor’s first year of programming.
Funds collected for the Brightmoor Maker Space will be used to repair and update the vacant building, purchase equipment and work tools and develop community resources and programs to support skills-building, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Every dollar donated to the Patronicity campaign will essentially be quadrupled by the two matching grants. To donate, visit patronicity.com/project/brightmoor_maker_space.
