Community Arts Partnerships (CAP) collaborates with Detroit community organizations to create art & design education, experiences, and resources for local youth and their families.

With the goal of supporting individual and community development, the CAP program develops and maintains partnerships between the CCS and dozens of organizations across the Detroit metropolitan area.

CAP works with educational and community organizations to:

students work on a mural of flowers and fruit as part of a CAP class
hands giving hi-fives with tattoos

Inspire young people from diverse backgrounds to make the visual arts a part of their lives

hand holding a pencil

Bring art and design education to the neighborhoods of Detroit

 

illustrated hands holding binoculars with eyes looking through the glass

Share information about art and design career opportunities with young people

 

The CAP approach to community arts education is based on a visual arts curriculum inspired by art making, team teaching, and team learning. Programs are individually crafted with the host organization and are supported by Detroit area foundation and corporate contributions, and are free to our students.

student taping artwork to the wall

Artists in Education

Artists in Education (AIE) programs provide high-quality, long-term art and design classes and workshops for metro Detroit youth in their communities. Custom curricula are developed in partnership with host organizations to meet the specific needs of the community. Sessions are taught by professional College for Creative Studies Teaching Artists through the CAP program. Most classes are delivered as after-school or weekend programs in neighborhood schools and community centers. These programs are often the first, and possibly the only, professional art programs attended by our students.

Classes are supported by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and others and are free to our students.

Detroit Neighborhood Arts Workshop (DNAW)

These year-round Saturday art workshops support the creative development of middle school students through hands-on instruction in art and design. Sessions are taught by professional College for Creative Studies Teaching Artists through the CAP program. With guidance from these artists, students build portfolios needed to apply to Detroit’s high quality high school art and design programs. Through DNAW, young artists develop the skills, both artistic and personal, needed to prepare for a potential future in the arts.

DNAW is designed to assist youth and families in identifying barriers to success, supporting the long term development of young people interested in art as a possible career goal, and helping parents support their young people in art, education, career exploration, and life.

DNAW is supported by The Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation and is free to Detroit students.

student painting a black, turquoise and white painting
people painting a rainbow wall mural

Detroit Neighborhood Arts Corp (DNAC)

In this program, high school students with a serious interest in art and design work with professional Teaching Artists from the College for Creative Studies (CCS) to engage their communities through public art and design. Students develop their art skills, learn about the entrepreneurial role of artists in today’s creative economies, and the power of visual arts in beautifying and giving expression to communities. Youth earn community service hours for high school and college application requirements while using their art to help transform their communities.

Detroit Neighborhood Arts Corps (DNAC) is committed to bringing the arts to community redevelopment efforts in Detroit. Through DNAC and direct connections to summer youth employment in the arts, CCS artists and high school students work with communities to create murals and public artworks, and provide opportunities for communities to come together to celebrate art, our youth, and our neighborhoods.

DNAC is supported by The Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation and is free to Detroit students.

CAP’s Impact

Students Served Each Year

Students Served Since 2001

Partnering Organizations

Programs Delivered Annually

CAP 2020 Exhibition

Community Arts Partnerships In Action

Contact Us

Director Mikel Bresee
Assistant Director Larry Lunsford
Program Manager: Lynn Blasey

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Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs logo

This activity is supported, in part, by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs