Detroit’s Cultural Center Set to Install Free, Outdoor Public Wi-Fi in 2021
$500,000 grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support digital transformation
New digital strategy to help attract visitors to the Cultural Center and encourage outdoor programming, providing free, accessible and reliable public Wi-Fi for outdoor audiences of the district.
Initiative reimagines the Cultural Center by creating more welcoming spaces designed for outdoor programming and further connecting partner institutions.
Additional support provided by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.
December 28, 2020 | Detroit, MI — Detroit’s Cultural Center Planning Initiative (CCPI) was awarded a one-year $500,000 grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to help implement a comprehensive digital strategy, including installation of free, outdoor public Wi-Fi in 2021 throughout the Cultural Center. The Knight Foundation grant also supports capacity building, and the development of infrastructure and compelling use cases for technology within the Cultural Center. Images are available here and a video is available here.
“Not only will this grant support the installation of free, public Wi-Fi in the district, it will also support collaboration, risk-taking, and experimentation within Detroit’s Cultural Center for place-based, digital transformation,” stated Sue Mosey, Executive Director of Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI), who has been leading the CCPI over the last 18 months.
In a partnership with Wayne State University’s Computing and Information Technology Department (WSU C&IT) and rootoftwo, free outdoor wireless will be offered in Detroit’s Cultural Center—an area that includes CCPI stakeholder institutions: The Carr Center, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, College for Creative Studies, Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Public Library, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan Science Center, The Scarab Club, University of Michigan and Wayne State University.
The wireless system will be an extension of WSU’s existing campus system and will help attract visitors to the district and encourage more outdoor programming, while providing accessible and reliable public Wi-Fi for audiences throughout the outdoor spaces of the district. Additional funding to support this system was provided by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.
The Knight Foundation grant also supports the development of digital capacity workshops focused on the creation of new digital experiences and will be accompanied by small grants for the stakeholder institutions to test ideas.
Cézanne Charles, Partner at rootoftwo said "We are excited to lead on the digital strategy for the Cultural Center Planning Initiative. The pandemic-related closures accelerated the way institutions were experimenting with digital technologies to engage audiences. This grant allows us to build on those successes to develop additional capacity for the CCPI organizations while piloting compelling digital forms of creative expression, storytelling, and audience experiences in 2021 and beyond."
Since the start of the COVID-19 state of emergency, Midtown Detroit, Inc. and the 12 stakeholder institutions worked together on their collective re-opening this past July with guidance from NSF International. The district developed shared protocols while helping institutions deliver their core missions. “The COVID-19 crisis has created a moment of opportunity for digital transformation,” stated Mosey.
“As we try to reimagine ourselves digitally, we are also trying to reimagine the Cultural Center physically to create more welcoming spaces designed for outdoor programming and that further connect our institutions. It is MDI’s hope that the digital and the physical can complement each other and be deemed equally important. We are well aware that we are in difficult economic times. Our CCPI strategy is one that is meant to span over the next 10-15 years and is designed to be implemented in phases as funds become available and as institutional will is emboldened.”
The grant from the Knight Foundation will support:
Digital Infrastructure
Extend WSU wireless system to the Cultural Center.
Develop pop-up video screens tied to institutional programming to consider the future placement of permanent screens for the district.
Digital Capacity
Develop a series of workshops for stakeholder institutions focused on the creation of new digital experiences that will be accompanied by small grants to test ideas.
Digital Visitor Experiences
Develop a new brand and website for the Cultural Center that reinforces it as a significant destination, online and offline.
Showcase the value of these technology enhancements at the Dlectricity festival in 2021.
Other CCPI Ways to Engage:
CCPI.online - Detroit's Cultural Center Planning Initiative is reinventing what community engagement looks like in the age of COVID-19. As design and planning have moved forward despite the health-inflected challenges of our time, Agence Ter-Akoaki has reimagined approaches to stakeholder engagement and collaboration. The result of their ongoing effort is CCPI.online, a platform to help us share the evolution of their research and design, and solicit feedback from the broader public. We are excited to go public with this platform and to share the unique stories of the Cultural Center’s collective unfolding.
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About the Cultural Center Planning Initiative (CCPI)
The Cultural Center Planning Initiative (CCPI) is a bold reimagining of the City of Detroit’s 83-acre anchor cultural district. Unifying landscape, architecture and technology, the CCPI design draws upon the strengths of Detroit’s cultural institutions to create a signature public destination. By developing a more sustainable physical environment and coordinating programmatic opportunities, we will be able to serve a much broader set of residents, artists and visitors.
The Cultural Center Planning Initiative (CCPI) design team, Agence Ter-Akoaki LLC, is an international collaborative of designers led jointly by Paris, France-based Agence Ter and Detroit-based Akoaki. Their project, Detroit Square, highlights the importance of shared cultural infrastructure for Detroit’s Cultural Center. rootoftwo is leading the masterplan for the creative/civic technology aspects of the initiative as part of the larger design team. A distinguished jury of national and local practitioners selected the design team in 2018 through an international competition that attracted 44 submissions from 10 countries and 22 cities.
In spring 2021 the design team will complete the conceptual design for Detroit Square – the culmination of CCPI’s initial 18-month planning phase. CCPI is guided by a steering committee comprised of cultural district leaders, and project management support is provided by Midtown Detroit, Inc. Visit culturalcenterplanninginitiative.com for more info.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit KF.org.
About Midtown Detroit, Inc.
Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) is a nonprofit planning and development agency charged with revitalization of Detroit’s Woodward Corridor. Representing over 150 area stakeholders, including Detroit’s anchor educational, medical and cultural institutions, MDI provides public space maintenance and security services; marketing support; technical assistance; infrastructure and real estate development; small business support; grant administration; and arts programming for the district. Visit midtowndetroitinc.orgfor more info.
About Wayne State University Computing and Information Technology
Wayne State University is a premier research institution in the heart of Detroit, with a central information technology (IT) division, Computing and Information Technology (C&IT), in the Division of Academic Affairs. C&IT employs more than 200 IT professionals and provides systems, services and support to enhance Wayne State’s teaching, learning, research and administrative activities. C&IT strives to provide excellent customer service, respond to the changing needs of the university community, and make it easy and convenient for everyone to use technology at Wayne State. The university division supports student and employee success with service management, academic research technology, infrastructure, enterprise applications, campus and classroom technology, and information security. Services include user accounts, academic services such as Canvas, the university’s online learning management system, document management and reporting, mass messaging tools, internet and networks, hosting services, telecommunications, security and privacy, and high-performance computing. Rob Thompson is interim Chief information officer for Wayne State and associate vice president for C&IT. Learn more at tech.wayne.edu.
About rootoftwo
rootoftwo, LLC is a research- and practice-driven design studio led by Cézanne Charles and John Marshall. Formed in 1998, their work facilitates people to imagine and shape collective actions for more just, resilient, inclusive, and adaptive futures. rootoftwo uses participatory design methods to create innovative and tangible experiences, events, artifacts, spaces, methods, and strategies. In 2019, rootoftwo was awarded the contract to masterplan the creative/civic technology aspects of the Cultural Center Planning Initiative by Midtown Detroit, Inc. and its partners. rootoftwo has been recognized with an AIA Michigan Honor Award 2016 Rules of the Road (with DAUB); SXSW Place by Design Finalist (2016) and Knight Arts Challenge Awards (2015 + 2014). Their work has been featured in Wired, FastCompany, Dezeen, Metropolis Magazine, Fresh Art International, Dwell, Architectural Review, Architectural Record, and The Guardian. For more info, visit rootoftwo.com