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The Metro: Womxnhouse Detroit co-owner, artists on building a safe space for women to create

Womxnhouse Detroit offers a residency for women creatives who aim to spread their knowledge and crafts while also bringing new lovers to the arts. The home acts as a rotating exhibit with 10 women showing their art in the space. 

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These interactive exhibitions are personal reflections of what the artists create in the home, with this season at Womenxhouse bringing a new set of local artists, workshops and events. 

To discuss Womxnhouse Detroit, Co-founder Asia Hamilton, ceramics artist Michaela Ayers and fiber artist Cat Washington joined The Metro.

“The first two iterations of Womxnhouse was at my childhood home, so we are still in the neighborhood that I grew up in. We’re on Grandmont, right off Grand River, and the neighborhood has really received us so well,” Hamilton said. “Two people came down to the house last week, and they were like, ‘We’ll be right back’ and then they came with like eight people to come and see the space. So it’s just been an honor to be in the neighborhood that I grew up in, and it’s just an opportunity to provide art and culture in a space where, you know, art can be desolate in a neighborhood.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Asia Hamilton, Michaela Ayers and Cat Washington about Womxnhouse Detroit.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 9, 2024: 

  • A new Detroit ordinance is being discussed to lower rents in the city. The Fast Track PILOT would offer property tax cuts to developers that would then get passed on as cheaper rental units. The cheaper the rent, the deeper the tax cut. Council Member Fred Durhall III joined the show to discuss the ordinance and how it would create more affordable rent.
  • Planet Ant in Hamtramck is a neighborhood theater, specializing in improv, plays and musicals. It gives people the opportunity to get on stage and stretch themselves artistically. Planet Ant begins its theater season this weekend and we were joined by Program Director Mike McGettigan to hear more about what’s in store. 
  • It is Hispanic Heritage Month and as we get closer to its end on Oct. 15, we want to discuss the community that has been extremely important to the growth of Detroit — especially in the last 200 years. Wayne State University history professor and Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies Dr. Reyna Esquivel King joined the show to discuss the history of the Detroit Latino community.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today. Donate today »

The post The Metro: Womxnhouse Detroit co-owner, artists on building a safe space for women to create appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

The Metro: Roger Guenveur Smith brings acclaimed solo performances to the Wright

The Charles H. Wright Museum is hosting a series of carefully curated lectures by both nationally-recognized and local performers.

The series, titled The Wright Performances, kicked off on Thursday with a set of performances from internationally acclaimed actor, playwright and director Roger Guenveur Smith — best known for roles in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” and Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster.”

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple PodcastsSpotifyNPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Smith began the series with the first of three solo performances, titled “Frederick Douglass NOW.” Smith joined The Metro on Thursday before the show to talk about Douglass and this weekend’s performances.

“We’re in a very extraordinary political moment in this country. And I think that Douglass certainly [would have] a lot to say about this particular moment,” Smith said. “He spoke in 1861 when Fort Sumter was fired upon by Confederate troops. And he saw it as an immediate opportunity for the country to liberate the one-seventh of the inhabitants of the country who were enslaved at that point,.

“He saw the Civil War as an abolition war, and I think that he would see this particular moment as a continuation of that war in which people are fighting for freedom and people are fighting for a certain kind of slavery.”

Smith will perform the second one-man play of the series, “Otto Frank,” on Friday, followed by “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat” on Saturday.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Smith.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 26: 

    • The Federal Reserve recently lowered interest rates to hopefully tame prices, but a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau just showed that Michiganders household incomes are falling behind rising prices. To discuss why this is happening, and what can be done about it, economist Don Grimes joined The Metro.
    • A collection of musicians are coming together at the Fox Theater for Smooth Jazz Fall Fest. Founder of Detroit Musix Sam Donald and Co-owner of Anderson and Denham Entertainment Derek Denham joined the show to share more about the event.
    • Detroit is full of artists, but many of them are not well known. Art Clvb is a new app that works to connect artists and collectors. And as part of their work, the app is throwing an in-person event called Art Fair at five locations around Detroit starting Friday. The event will include about 200 artists selling their work. Detroit artists Dorota and Steve Coy joined the show to talk about the Art Clvb app and Art Fair event.

    Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

    Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.

    WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today. Donate today »

    The post The Metro: Roger Guenveur Smith brings acclaimed solo performances to the Wright appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

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