Our Mission
WE EXIST TO ADVANCE PUBLIC LIFE AND STRONG SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH THE LENS OF ARTS, CULTURE, COLLABORATIVE DESIGN AND DEEP ENGAGEMENT WITH RESIDENTS
We practice an inclusive approach to creative city and neighborhood building that combines vision of residents, strategy, and artistic ideation to create engaging spaces, programs and experiences that improve communities across metro-Detroit.
We seek to improve livability for residents through the promotion of spatial equity and strong social infrastructure. Our emphasis is on public art, cultural programming and deep engagement with community members. We facilitate processes in which residents are empowered to reclaim their spaces and envision their future.
Our Values
Re-activating Over Re-building
Activating spaces allow for the continuation of the narrative of a space, rather than the changing of it, or the application of a false narrative. We strive to activate the true spirit of a space, rather than apply our own assumptions to it, or re-thinking it without the voices of the community at the center of the conversation. It is critical that we pull Detroiters in, not push them out.
Equity + Inclusion
We believe that Detroit residents, particularly from our communities of color, need to be at the forefront of conversations around decisions being made about their neighborhoods. Inclusion is about stripping away the barriers of access across all demographic boundaries while uplifting and empowering historically marginalized people.
Livability
We create spaces that are not just engaging and beautiful, but also livable for the people who live there. We build spaces with the community in mind, not corporations.
Creative Experimentation & Excellence
Artists are catalysts of new ways of seeing the world, living and being. Because of this, we encourage creative experimentation and innovation of all kinds. We employ a method of personal and interactive public engagement that often integrates art and provides critical insights for long-term success in creative placemaking in the city.
Our History
Beginnings
Sidewalk Detroit was launched in 2013 to celebrate the landscape and culture of Detroit. Founder and Executive Director, Ryan Myers-Johnson launched the annual Sidewalk Festival with family and friends to celebrate the magic of Detroit's neighborhood streetscapes, with an emphasis on the Northwest Detroit neighborhood of Old Redford. Sidewalk Festival is an outdoor celebration of performance and installation art that attracts 5-6,000 attendees annually. Now in its 9th iteration, this festival produces and curates artists and arts organizations; seeding the creation of new, place based projects in unique spaces on the west side, uplifting voices of artists and community members through the production of socially relevant works that highlight the spirit of the community and promote walkability.
Since its conception, the Sidewalk Festival has grown to welcome thousands of attendees each year, boasting dozens of one-of-a-kind place-based performances and installations from both local and national artists.
Expanding Our Vision
Sidewalk Detroit continues to grow out of that same passion for celebrating spaces with art. In 2016, we began our work to uplift the 250-acre Eliza Howell Park in Northwest Detroit. Sidewalk Detroit has been using deep community engagement, innovative arts programming and park beautification upgrades as ways to re-activate and renew public engagement with the park. This work is part of a long term vision to curate outdoor interventions specific to the Brightmoor community and to produce events in the park with the shared aims of engaging residents in artistic and recreational activities. a yearly park event schedule that includes performances and weekly arts classes throughout the season. To date, we’ve engaged over 2,000 attendees in these events and raised funds to invest in park improvements. Our commitment to this space continues as we begin construction on Phase II of the community-generated Eliza Howell Park Improvement Plan.
advancing our mission
We are excited to be a collaborator with Detroit residents, stakeholders and city officials on both city-wide and neighborhood-focused projects that help promote equity, experimental creativity, and the livability of space. We engage community members by sharing a sense of wonder and curiosity and by emphasizing what makes Detroit unique.
Our Team
Ryan Myers-Johnson, Director & Founder
Ryan Myers Johnson is a curator of place-based performance and installation art, specializing in community engagement. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Film from the University of Michigan. Ryan has extensive experience in event planning, arts administration, management and leadership, stemming from her many years working as production manager in the film industry and company manager in dance production. Ryan is dedicated to creating opportunities for independent and alternative artists in Detroit, her leadership in this area grew through her role as Assistant Director of Kresge Arts in Detroit where she worked extensively in outreach, promotion and skill building for metro-Detroit artists. Her passion for community led her to found Sidewalk Detroit in 2013 as a means to celebrate Detroit landscape and culture through the lens of art and creative place-making.
Augusta Morrison,
Program Director
Augusta Morrison is a cultural producer, community organizer, and musician. As Program Director at Sidewalk Detroit, Augusta employs a grassroots and Emergent Strategy approach to foster meaningful connections between artists and communities. Their background in Arts and Humanities and Arts Education from Michigan State University has led them to work at the Broad Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Cranbrook Art Museum. At Sidewalk Detroit, Augusta collaborates closely with each team member to ensure program efficiency and advancement. They also lead efforts to organize community and artist-specific engagements and support curatorial work, influencing the organization's artistic direction. Augusta is deeply committed to Detroit's arts and culture community, promoting whole-hearted inclusivity in public and green spaces. Beyond their local endeavors, Augusta tours nationally as a violinist.
Josie McQuiston, Director of Operations
Josie McQuiston collaborates with all members of the sidewalk team to execute public programming, community engagement, administrative functions, and special projects. Josie was brought onto the Sidewalk team in 2021 to coordinate the artist residency with Patrick Dougherty at Eliza Howell Park. At Sidewalk she is able to blend her passions of working within the arts and with the community. Josie’s background in the nonproft art world includes 15 years of on-the-ground work in Detroit as well as Philadelphia. She has received a BA in Art History & Museum Studies from Michigan State University as well as a Masters Degree in Arts Administration from Drexel University in Philadelphia.
rukiya colvin, program manager
Rukiya (they/them) is a queer abolitionist organizer, writer, and lifelong learner. As an agent of change, they believe in the importance of centering the voices of those who often go unheard or misrepresented. Rukiya practices this belief through community engagement, and research justice. They have been published in Riverwise Magazine, Planet Detroit, Outlier Media, Detour Detroit, and Next City. As a graduate of Wayne State’s urban planning program, and as Program Manager at Sidewalk Detroit, they actively work toward finding intersections between community organizing, journalism, and urban planning.
nicky marcot, eliza howell park strategist
If you are trying to find Nicky, start by looking in Eliza Howell Park. Environmental activist, urban farmer and homeschool mom, Nicky spends her spare time overseeing improvements and programming in Eliza Howell Park. Since 2016, Sidewalk Detroit has been uplifting this 250 acre nature park on Detroit’s westside, and Nicky was led by her passion for preserving and caring for this greenspace to join the Sidewalk Team in 2022 as the Eliza Howell Park Strategist. For the past 20 years, Nicky has worked and volunteered in various Detroit nonprofits and schools as an educator and community activist, including Detroit Community Schools, Westside Christian Academy, Wellspring Detroit, Neighbors Building Brightmoor, and Brightmoor Artisans Collective. Nicky graduated from University of Detroit Mercy with a BA in English, Education and Psychology, and earned her MA degree in Linguistics from Wayne State University.
see us in action!
See photos from our events, engagement
and programming.
Media Coverage
“On the city’s Northwest side, Detroiters celebrated their neighborhoods through the popular two-day Sidewalk Festival and a new artistic reimagining of Eliza Howell Park.”
“We love his process because it really takes a village to make this happen. We want to put that artist on the ground level with community members so people can be a part of the process.”
“We have a lot of amazing festivals in Detroit that I’m super excited about and that I love,” Myers-Johnson says. “But we have a lot of traditional festivals. We don’t really have any fringe festivals or street festivals.”
“Sidewalk Detroit was really excited to bring Patrick Dougherty to Detroit because we’ve been working in Eliza Howell Park for the past five years, focusing on infrastructure improvement—like stormwater management, way-finding, seeding, signage, all that”
“The vision is to bring people back to this park and reconnect them with nature. We wanted to find an artist who had a community process where people could take part in the building of the sculpture and have access to the artist, as well. We also wanted to have a work that was environmentally friendly and worked with the natural landscape.”
Want to learn more?
See more about our current projects, our services, or contact us.
We would love to chat!