Detroit arts in the national spotlight as acting NEA chair visits the city

Detroit is showing off the strengths of its cultural institutions this week to the National Council on the Arts, an advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts.

During a three-day summer meeting in and around the Motor City that started Wednesday, members and staffers have visited the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Motown Museum (where they sang "My Girl" in historic Studio 1A), the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and many other essential places in the region.

On Friday morning, the working visit — cohosted by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and CultureSource — will be capped with a meeting open to the public. It will take place at 9 a.m. at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit and will include performances and presentations that represent the state's creative community.

This is only the second time in nearly 30 years that a National Council on the Arts meeting has been held outside Washington, D.C. So how did Detroit wind up on the schedule?

National Endowment for the Arts acting chair Mary Anne Carter, a former staffer for Florida's Gov. Rick Scott, spoke Thursday to the Free Press about choosing the Motor City.

Carter, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, also answered questions about her goals at the NEA, how the arts relate to health and wellness — and the Trump administration's proposals to eliminate the agency she leads. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

QUESTION:  Why does Detroit make sense as a meeting site for the National Council on the Arts?

ANSWER: We chose Detroit because Detroit is a city on the rise. There's a twin renaissance going on here utilizing the arts. The arts are an economic booster, but the arts are also used as cultural pride. Detroit has such rich history in arts and culture. You see it returning and you see so much civic pride. We know the city has committed to integrating arts and culture into the city planning and neighborhood revitalization. And so Detroit really represented a perfect venue to show how arts are creatively used to boost an economy and reinvigorate a city.

Q: What are your impressions of what you've seen so far?

A: One thing that I love is how united the arts community is. Yesterday, when we were at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, there were so many other arts organizations there. And I remember when I came to Lansing in September for the (Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs) meeting, I think that crowd had about 300 people, art organizations from everywhere. One of the things that really impressed me were all of the organizations from Flint that were there and how they're using the arts as a healing process for the crisis that city has faced.

Q: You were appointed by President Trump, whose budgets have called for eliminating the NEA (a proposal Congress has rejected). How does that impact your work?

A: It really doesn't impact it too much. I'm there to do a job and I'm going to do that job as long as the agency exists. My job, my main goal, is to make sure that all Americans have access to the arts. And part of making sure all Americans have access to the arts is making sure they have access to this agency. And that's also another reason we're taking the National Council on the Arts meetings outside Washington.

Q: What are some of the most important things for you to do?

A: We have really put a lot of time and investment into arts work within the health and well-being (sector, like) our Creative Forces (NEA Military Healing Arts Network), which is a program for our wounded military men and women. We've had great success with that, and we've seen that expand in the last two years and it's going to further expand now. We also see how arts therapy can help in opioid addiction, and in pediatric oncology and a lot of other different fields, so now we have groundwork to build upon that into other areas. Arts and education (are) very important to me. My own daughter is dyslexic, so she learns visually. The idea of arts integrated into the teaching method is an important factor for me as well.

Q: Do you see the arts as playing a role in quality of life for everyone, no matter what their circumstances are?

A: It doesn't matter who you are or what your circumstances are. I have seen the arts brighten the lives of patients with dementia who may not remember their name or their children's names, but can remember every song from their youth when someone starts playing a piano and singing. I have seen it affect small children. You give them crayons and you give them coloring books and they become artists immediately. I see the arts covering everyone. Some of my favorite grants are those that go to a theater that uses our grant money to train staff so they can have sensory-friendly shows for families who have a child with autism, so they can come, judgment-free, and the whole family can enjoy the show.

Q: Why would you recommend that people in metro Detroit attend Friday's public meeting?

A: Well, for one thing, it's a chance to see your government at work, in person, and you don't really get to see that often. Two, (you can) learn about all the great things the arts agency is doing, but also what's going on here in Michigan. And there are going to be some fabulous performances by some Michigan groups. I would encourage anyone in the public to come down.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.

National Council on the Arts public meeting

9:30 a.m.-noon Fri. (registration begins at 9 a.m.)

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit

Performances and presentations will run from approximately 10:20 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. featuring: Satori Shakoor, storyteller and founder of the Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers; Ballet Folklórico Estudantil of Flint; Alissa Novoselick, executive director of Living Arts and Sterling Toles, artist and teaching artist at Living Arts Detroit; Belinda Tate, executive director at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; and youth ensemble members of Mosaic Youth Theatre.

The meeting is free and open to the public. You can register in advance here. In addition, there will be a live webcast of the meeting here.