Center Galleries

CCS’ Center Galleries, a dynamic forum for contemporary visual, literary and performance art, is an integral component of the College for Creative Studies and a mainstay of the Detroit art community.  Dedicated to artists, art, and ideas since the late 1980s, Center Galleries presents innovative, high-quality exhibitions of regional, national and international contemporary art and design, and a range of public programs for a growing audience of students, educators, artists, arts enthusiasts, and the general public. 

An anchor and animator for the arts in Detroit, Center Galleries is dedicated to exploring the relationship between culture and artistic practice, fostering intellectual inquiry, and creating multidisciplinary exhibitions and educational programming that enable diverse audiences to connect art experiences to everyday life.

All Center Galleries exhibitions are accompanied by additional exhibitions in Alumni & Faculty Hall and the Permanent Collection Gallery. In addition, each exhibition project features an array of educational activities and publications.

Since 1998, the CCS Woodward Lecture Series, organized by Center Galleries, has remained one of the most high-profile visiting artist programs in southeastern Michigan.  Each year, the Series brings distinguished artists, critics, curators and scholars to the CCS campus to lecture on their work or fields of interest, and to engage CCS students in extracurricular activities such as critiques, workshops, demonstrations, tours and studio visits. The Woodward Lecture Series’ notable visitors are recognized for their innovative, rigorous and culturally diverse work, and it remains CCS’ goal for the Series to create a broad, continuing dialogue around contemporary art practice and interpretation.

The Woodward Lecture Series is made possible by a generous endowment gift from an anonymous donor.  All lectures are free and open to the public. Seating and parking are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Lectures take place in the Wendell W. Anderson Jr. Auditorium in the Walter B. Ford II Building on the CCS campus.