Detroit Youth Arts Mapping Project

| March 2024

Organizations

Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts

Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts (DEYA), a program of Connect Detroit, serves as a catalyst for cross-sector collaboration to ensure all youth have equitable access to Detroit’s rich cultural legacy and the transformative power of the arts. Centering Black and Brown youth, DEYA convenes the city’s youth arts sector to create greater collective capacity—in schools and in the community—to support Detroit youth in finding their voice; developing social emotional learning and transferable workplace skills; and forging pathways to post-secondary education, creative careers, and economic mobility through the arts.

DEYA accomplishes their mission through:

  • Catalyzing Collective Impact Networks to amplify and empower youth arts providers, arts educators, teaching artists, and youth artists;
  • Developing Citywide Systems and Infrastructure to eliminate the barriers to youth arts participation for Detroit youth families;
  • Creating Collaborative Platforms to uplift the work of youth, youth arts providers, teaching artists and arts educators; and
  • Driving Advocacy and Investment to promote youth arts' essential role in education, youth development, and workforce development, and to unlock new resources to ensure the youth arts sector's long-term vitality.

Data Driven Detroit

DEYA and Connect Detroit have partnered with Data Driven Detroit (D3),  to conduct an in-depth scan of the youth arts ecosystem in Detroit.  D3 is Metro Detroit’s community data hub, pursuing a mission of driving informed decision-making in the city and beyond. Together, DEYA and D3 sought to gain insights on the capacity of the city's youth arts ecosystem and highlight opportunities for collaboration, programming, and investment to the public, stakeholders, and educational leaders.


Foreword

Like many of us who grew up in Detroit, my childhood was full of opportunities for arts and creativity. I benefited greatly from City of Detroit Recreation Department programs as a young child. Then as a young teen in the 1970s and 80s, I worked as a Play Leader at Peterson Park on the city’s northwest side. Through  summer employment opportunities, I often managed arts and crafts projects for my peers and younger children in our neighborhood. The park was located only a stone’s throw from my home. I also participated as a youth theater troupe member at Northwest Activities Center during the summer of 1982 as I was transitioning from middle to high school. My involvement with the Peddy Players is where I gained the self-assurance to speak confidently in public and become a stronger reader. And, of course, I had a full menu of arts opportunities as a DPS high school student.

It was a time when Detroit enjoyed a larger tax base and parks, schools and homes of worship were often-times open in the evening and throughout the summer. I remember those days fondly. Each of those experiences were impactful. They helped to shape me as an adult. They helped me grow as I learned to interact with our greater community. They offered me the opportunities to meet friends and mentors, some of whom I continue to have lasting relationships with today. 

That’s why I am excited about the Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts’ (DEYA) Detroit Youth Arts Mapping Project with Data Driven Detroit (D3). Many of us lament that most Detroit young people don’t have access to the kinds of creative outlets we had growing up. In order to make substantial progress in this area, we must have data. We need to understand in detail where and how this inequity is taking place. It is my sincere hope that we Detroiters fully embrace DEYA’s vision and work together to increase the number of – and equitable access to – thoughtful arts programming for our young people.

After all, they deserve our best effort. 

-Ken Coleman, Detroit-based author, journalist and researcher 


Introduction

Detroit, well known for its creative energy, its ability to influence world culture, and for generating the Motown sound, is positioned to influence the trajectory of countless generations to come. Research shows that youth engaged in the arts increase their potential to change their trajectory by utilizing the creative and personal development that the arts naturally provide. Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts (DEYA), in collaboration with Data Driven Detroit (D3), has set out to identify the areas of access, opportunity, and depletion of the arts disciplines through a citywide mapping exploration.

Our examination consists primarily of surveying out-of-school time (OST) youth arts providers, gathering information on location and arts offerings across the city of Detroit, including Highland Park and Hamtramck. Additionally, in-school arts programming data was provided by Detroit Public Schools Community District and Detroit charter schools. Through this storymap, we examine the youth opportunities in the following arts disciplines: Visual Art, Instrumental Music, Vocal Music, Dance, Theatre, Multimedia Production, and Literary Arts. Within this examination we seek to identify where the arts are more prevalent and where the youth arts “opportunity zip-codes” are located. This knowledge will enable us to develop a strategic focus of attention and resources by identifying underserved areas in need of opportunity. This effort and infusion of intentional arts practice and development will support social emotional learning and wellbeing, academic growth and connectedness, and offer new alternatives to what is possible for the future.

To understand and identify where youth are being served through the arts, in addition to providing their program locations, we requested from OST youth arts providers the zip-code data of their served population. This allowed us to see where youth are coming from in and around the city of Detroit to access the many opportunities provided. What we hypothesized and observed is that opportunities available to Detroit youth are overwhelmingly being accessed by their suburban peers and that youth in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park have inequitable access to Detroit youth arts programming. In particular, through mapping this data, we have identified five Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes where Detroit youth currently have the greatest gaps in equitable access to the arts.


Data

The datasets being used by the Detroit Youth Arts Mapping Project - Phase One are as follows:

  • Youth arts programming provider data was collected through an online survey administered by DEYA in the summer and fall of 2023. There were forty-four providers who filled out the survey. Additional research was done to add another nine providers to the dataset. While we were able to map data from 53 youth arts providers, it was not possible to include every program that provides youth arts programming opportunities. This report does not purport to represent all of youth arts programs or to provide a directory for these providers or opportunities. 
  • The DEYA provider survey asked respondents to provide arts information for their organization as a whole, as well as programming information for each individual program, and the zip-codes where participants are coming from. This dataset was then broken down into three separate datasets: a provider level dataset containing information for the organization as a whole, a program level dataset for each program offered, and a zip-code level dataset with a count of participants.
  • Zip-code information provided by the providers sometimes represented an individual participant and sometimes just a list of all zip-codes where participants came from. We were able to identify zip-codes for 2,628 youth who participated in Detroit programs. While these are enough zip-codes for us to identify trends, many groups could not provide zip-codes because their programs took place at schools, where providers did not have access to student data. The zip-codes provided were generally for “city-wide” programs where students must travel to a site to attend, as opposed to programs taking place in schools or community centers where they are already present. Also, there is a possibility that some youth participants may have been double-counted if they attend more than one of the programs. Because we did not require names or contact information with the zip-codes, there was no way to avoid this.
  • Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) arts offering data was obtained from DPSCD for the 2022-2023 school year. D3 categorized the arts courses into the seven specific buckets identified during this project. The dataset was then grouped by school building, type of arts course and the number of courses. Courses were included in the dataset if they had at least one student enrolled. This analysis utilized the DPSCD dataset as a way to understand a baseline availability of arts courses across the city in the public school district.
  • Charter School arts data was collected from 13 charter schools in Detroit who completed the 2023 DEYA online survey. This survey asked respondents for overall school arts offerings, as well as individual course details. Although this dataset only includes a portion of the charter schools in Detroit, the data provided was essential in creating a baseline understanding of some of the arts opportunities in the city.
  • This report’s primary use of zip-codes for comparisons has its limitations. Zip-code boundaries can sometimes be arbitrary, but for the purpose of identifying gaps, it was the best measure at our disposal.
  • Demographic data from the American Community Survey’s 2021 5-Year Estimates dataset was also included in this analysis in order to provide some general characteristics of each zip-code’s population.


Quick Tips for Exploring Data Below:

This report includes a series of interactive maps that allow the viewer to select greater detail based on data interests. Below are a combination of interactive and static maps illustrating the programming, participation, opportunity, offerings, demographics, and more.

Please note:

  • Every map has a legend located in the lower-left corner that can be turned on/off by clicking the legend icon.
  • The +/- buttons located in the lower-right corner can zoom in/out on the map, and the button with two arrows located in the upper-right corner can expand the map view to full screen.
  • Click on a feature (zip-code, point, etc.) in a map to display a pop-up with additional information.

Scroll down to view the maps and slides

Youth Arts Programming

Map #1: Program Locations

It has often been stated that there are not enough arts opportunities for Detroit youth. In our experience, it is a widely held belief that there are not enough arts opportunities for Detroit youth. This research was able to examine and highlight the distribution and variety of arts opportunities around the city. Ultimately, the narrative around inequity in youth arts opportunities may be more related to inequitable exposure and access to these opportunities. Mapping of Detroit youth arts programs who completed the survey demonstrates that Detroit has an abundance of high quality arts opportunities for young people. Ultimately, the narrative around inequity in youth arts opportunities seems to be more related to inequitable exposure and access to these opportunities.

Differing from schools, not all programming takes place in a Detroit Youth Arts Provider’s base location. In some cases, the base location is an administrative or mailing address (such as a P.O. Box or private residence) and therefore does not reflect the actual locations where youth arts opportunities are provided. Rather than mapping the provider base locations, the most accurate data for location of opportunities is shown in this map of program locations.

While there is clearly a greater concentration of opportunities in the Downtown and Midtown areas, programs exist in all areas of the city, including programs which serve primarily Detroit youth but are located just outside of the city (in Oak Park and Ecorse) and in Hamtramck.


Youth Arts Participation

Map #2: Regional Zip-Codes

Based on the 2,628 student zip-codes that were received, we mapped where youth are coming from to attend Detroit youth arts programs.

One of the most significant findings from this mapping project is that 50% (1,325 of 2,628 youth participants) of participants in Detroit youth arts programs that provided us with data—the green dots on the map—travel from outside of the city to participate. In essence, this means that “city-wide” programs in Detroit tend to actually be “region-wide” programs. This also points to comparative lack of access/participation by students living in Detroit zip-codes. For example, zip-codes a significant distance from the city of Detroit, such as 48334 in Farmington Hills, 48374 in the Novi area and 48230 in Grosse Pointe have more young people participating in Detroit youth arts programs than youth living in the east side zip-code 48215 and southwest zip-codes 48210 and 48217.

To emphasize again, this does not include participation in suburban-based programming. This only includes participation in Detroit programs.

Map #3: Detroit Area Zip-Codes

With an understanding that half of Detroit youth arts participants currently come from outside of the city, let's look at how the 50% of Detroit-area youth who participate in the arts are proportioned.

Despite the abundance of arts opportunities concentrated in midtown and downtown Detroit, the youth arts participation landscape reveals a distinct pattern. Northwest Detroit zip-codes, namely 48219, 48235, and 48221, emerge as the leaders in terms of participation, despite having fewer opportunities than the central areas. What stands out as unexpected is the notable engagement from the Oak Park community, particularly the 48237 zip-code, which records the highest level of participation in Detroit youth arts programs.

The phenomenon of a significant number of Oak Park youth participating in Detroit arts programs, particularly in comparison to other Detroit-area zip-codes, can be attributed to several factors. Primarily, research indicates that from 1970--mid-2000s a mass exodus of Black Detroit residents migrated to several surrounding suburbs including Southfield, Oak Park, and River Rouge. Now in its third generation, the grandchildren of those transplants have remained closely connected to their Detroit roots. The upward mobility of past generations afforded suburban living while maintaining ties to Detroit providing access, including close proximity to opportunities earmarked for Detroit residents.

Map #4: Percentage of Youth Participation

To better understand the rate of youth participation of Detroit youth in city-wide arts programs, it is helpful to factor in the number of young people that reside in each zip-code. This map divides the number of youth participants with the total population of youth under the age of 18 in each zip-code, allowing us to estimate the percentage of youth in each zip-code who are participating in the arts.

Comparing these percentages suggest that the lowest rate of youth participation are in the zip-codes 48228, 48210, 48209, 48211, 48212, 48234, 48205, and 48224.


Designating Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes

Map #5: Program Locations and Percentage of Youth Participation

When we look at the rate of participation and the locations of youth arts programs together, five zip-codes start to emerge as “Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes.” These zip-codes represent the areas which have the greatest current gap in access to youth arts opportunities, both in terms of low participation rates and low number of arts programs in their general vicinity. Outlined in gold on this map, the five zip-codes we are designating as Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes are 48228, 48210, 48209, 48212 and 48224. To demonstrate the level of participation disparity, there are more youth in the Oak Park zip-code of 48237 participating in respondents' youth arts offerings than all five Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes combined. In terms of programming disparity, there are more youth arts programs located in the midtown zip-code of 48202 than all five of the Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes combined.


Youth Arts Zip-Codes & In-School Arts Offerings

Map #6: Program Locations, School Locations, and Percentage of Youth Participation

Any longtime Detroit resident or Detroit historian knows very well that before the 1990s, there was an abundance of arts opportunities for Detroit youth provided by Detroit Public Schools. It was in the 1990s that several youth arts providers were founded or expanded to address the gaps created by the elimination of many in-school offerings. Under the leadership of DPSCD's current superintendent, there has been a re-establishment and enhancement of arts offerings, and DPSCD as well as charter schools have shown a new commitment to partnering with youth arts providers to further fill these gaps. 

Even so, when we add to the map the DPSCD and charter schools that have identified arts offerings (orange dots for DPSCD, light green dots for charters, size of dot indicates number of arts classes offered) we see a similar trend in levels of access. While arts classes are offered by schools in the Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes, the schools with the largest arts curriculums and offerings tend to be located in midtown, downtown and northwest Detroit.


Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes & Demographics

Maps #7-9

The dynamics contributing to the formation of Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes can be multifaceted. Factors such as being foreign-born, having a low income, or lacking access to transportation can indeed play significant roles. Foreign-born individuals may face language barriers, cultural differences, and may not be as familiar with local resources. Low-income individuals might struggle to afford essential services and may be limited in their choices. Lack of transportation can further exacerbate the challenges by restricting access to employment opportunities, education, healthcare, and other essential services, in addition to restricting access to the programs themselves.

In understanding and addressing these issues, it's important to consider comprehensive strategies that involve community engagement, policy changes, and resource allocation to ensure that vulnerable populations receive the support they need. The noted demographic indicators and the lack of engagement and access to arts opportunities points directly to areas that should be targeted for significant youth engagement and support.


Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes & Youth Population

Map #10: Population Under 18

An essential piece of demographic data is the population number of youth under the age of 18 that live in these five zip-codes. As seen in this map, the Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes have among the largest populations of youth of any of the zip-codes in the city. In fact, an astounding 36% of all youth in the city of Detroit live in these five Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes. This is one of the reasons that we refer to these areas as Opportunity Zip-Codes and not youth arts “deserts.” While there is a lack of access in these areas, they are far from empty or deserted. The immense number of young people who live in these areas with low arts programming and low arts participation offers an opportunity to take actions which have the potential to significantly increase the level of arts access and equity for Detroit youth.


Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes & Youth/Adult Ratio

Map #11: Youth/Adult Ratio

In addition to the large youth population in the five zip-codes, there is one additional demographic characteristic common among the Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes. As shown in this map, the five zip-codes have the highest ratio of youth to adults of any zip-codes in Detroit, which also holds true for the rest of Southeast Michigan. The Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes have the highest percentage (more than 30%) of youth under 18 years old – roughly 1 youth for every 2 adults. While this dynamic needs more investigation, some of the immediate thoughts for this correlation is that youth in these areas may have less access to an adult who can assist with transportation or other logistics, and less access to adult-led activities outside of school hours.


Key Findings and Recommendations

Through mapping Detroit youth arts programming (53 Detroit youth arts programs, 113 Detroit schools), and youth participation in Detroit youth art programs (2,628 zip-codes of youth participants), the Detroit Youth Arts Mapping Project noted several key findings:

  • 50% of youth participating in city-wide Detroit youth arts programs actually come from outside city boundaries. While this shows a positive trend of suburbanites coming into the city for arts opportunities, rather than stay in their cities, it also demonstrates inequitable access to youth arts by Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck residents.
  • Looking at community and in-school youth arts program locations, as well as the rate of participation by youth, five Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes were identified as having the least access to youth arts. In fact, these five zip-codes have less youth participation, youth arts program and school arts classes combined than the top zip-code in each category.
  • The Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes contain among the largest populations of youth of any of Detroit’s 29 zip-codes, accounting for 36% of all youth living within Detroit city boundaries.
  • While these five zip-codes have things in common, such as lower economic status, less access to vehicles and larger foreign-born populations, these demographics are not unique to these 5 zip-codes. The only demographic factor that is unique to the five Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes is that these five zip-codes have the highest ratio of youth compared to adults, the only Detroit zip-codes where more than 30% of the zip-code’s population is under the age of 18. In other words, these are the only five Detroit zip-codes where adults make up less than 70% of the population.

Based on these findings, we make the following recommendations:

Recommendation #1

Policy-makers, funders, government agencies and community development organizations should explore strategic investment in Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes. If investments in issues such as OST (out-of-school time) transportation, and safe youth spaces are focused on these zip-codes, their impact could be magnified.

Recommendation #2

In addition to investment, more research needs to be done to understand the dynamics that have led to the lack of programming and participation in these areas. More research is needed to understand how transportation, education, health care, immigration status, housing, and other factors impact young people's ability to access opportunities provided.

Recommendation #3

More resources need to be devoted to the youth arts sector to allow for expansion of programming into the Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes. To be clear, we are not recommending that programming in other areas be moved to these zip-codes. There is significant need for youth arts programs throughout the city of Detroit and adjacent areas. Taking programs out of those areas would be counterproductive. We do not suggest creating funding only for programming in these areas, but instead investing more deeply in quality youth arts providers with programs throughout the city, so that they can sustainably increase their capacity to expand their programming into Youth Arts Opportunity Zip-Codes.

Recommendation #4

Use this research as a jumping off point to develop a Detroit Youth Arts Directory which allows for young people and parents to have centralized information on the youth arts opportunities throughout the Detroit area.

Recommendation #5

Create a more comprehensive study, with deeper collaboration from DPSCD and charter schools, to estimate the number of Detroit youth who are participating in youth arts. While this current study was able to look at trends, more research is needed to be able to create a baseline number of young people participating in the arts – both in school and out.



The Detroit Youth Arts Mapping Project was made possible by the generous funding of the Kresge Foundation, with additional support from Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

For more information about the Detroit Youth Arts Mapping Project and DEYA: Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts, email  info@DEYAYouthArts.com .

Detroit Youth Arts Providers who provided Data

American Indian Health and Family Services of Southeastern MI, Inc.

ArtLab J 

Arts & Scraps

Black and Brown Theatre

Cass Tech Dance Workshop

College for Creative Studies, Community Arts Partnership

COMPAS - Center Of Music & Performing Arts Southwest

Crescendo Detroit

Detroit Creativity Project

Detroit Disability Power – DanceAbility Detroit

Detroit Institute of Arts

Detroit Opera Youth Chorus

Detroit Suzuki Academy of Music

Detroit Symphony Orchestra - Civic Youth Ensembles

Detroit Youth Choir

Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy Eisenhower Dance Detroit

Heritage Works

Hitsville NEXT/Motown Museum

Hope for Flowers by Tracy Reese

House of Bastet LLC.

Jit Masters LLC

Just Speak – MOVE Program

LaShelle's School of Dance – LSOD

Live Coal

Matrix Theatre Company

Michigan Arts Access

Mint Artists Guild

Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit

Motor City Street Dance Academy

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD)

Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts

Music on Belle Isle Group

New City Kids

ProjectArt

Que Blackout

Seven Mile

Shakespeare in Detroit

Sphinx Organization

Underground Music Academy

W.I.S.E. Partnership

Detroit Schools & Districts who provided Data

Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD)

Cesar Chavez Academy

College for Creative Studies

Covenant Schools Detroit

Detroit Academy of Arts & Sciences

Dove Academy

Escuela Avancemos Academy

Hope of Detroit Academy

Legacy Charter Academy

The James and Grace Lee Boggs School

Trix Academy

University Prep School Art and Design Elementary School

University Prep Science & Math Elementary

Weston Preparatory Academy