CCPI Transformer Digital Strategy Pilots 2021-2022

THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE

TRANSFORMER DIGITAL STRATEGY PILOTS 2021-2022

THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE – TRANSFORMER – DIGITAL STRATEGY PILOTS 2021-2022 Copyright ©2022 by rootoftwo Editors: Cézanne Charles and John Marshall Co-Authors: Cézanne Charles, John Marshall, Elizabeth Vander Veen Book Design: Judith Banham/Middlecott.com Copy Editor: Eva Munz

ISBN 978-1-7354079-1-3

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rootoftwo is the civic future-making design practice of Cézanne Charles and John Marshall.

They use participatory methods to facilitate people to imagine and shape collective actions for more just transformations. https://rootoftwo.com/

9 781735 407913

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Additional images courtesy of the artists, organizations, and photographers listed in the photo credits. The works depicted in the images are subject to the intellectual property rights of the artists and organizations.

Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization created to support and enhance community and economic development in the Midtown and New Center areas through collaboration and partnerships with key stakeholders and supportive funders.

Along with the Project Management Group and Steering Committee, Midtown Detroit, Inc. leads the Cultural Center Planning Initiative and serves as the fiduciary for the initiative. https://www.midtowndetroitinc.org/

The Cultural Center Planning Initiative Transformer: Digital Strategy Pilots 2021-2022 would not have been possible without the generous support of The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. https://knightfoundation.org/ 2

rootoftwo resides in Waawiiyaatanong (Detroit) – the ancestral, contemporary, and future lands of the Anishinaabe people. We would like to specifically acknowledge the elders and people of the Three Fires Confederacy, an enduring Anishinaabe alliance of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadmi nations.

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION – THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE (CCPI) DETROIT CULTURAL CENTER – DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE – CULTURAL CENTER GUEST WIRELESS DIGITAL CREATIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES – DLECTRICITY

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10

14

18

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES

24

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND

38

100 Years 100 Stories

40

Adaptive Connections

42

The Carr Center Presents + Something’s Coming

44

Documenting Detroit: Revisited

46

Collective Caretaking – Building Visibility + Capacity Together

26

Of Public Interest – Interactive Experiences to Engage People + Place

28

Cross Platform – Digital Outreach, Engagement, and Learning

30

New Horizons – Aesthetics + Ethics of Participation

32

DIGITAL RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES – BUILDING A SHARED FRAMEWORK

48

The Power of Piloting – Seeing, Showing, and Growing What Works

34

DISCUSSION

52

Momentum – Digital Transformation in the Creative Sector

36

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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JARGON BUSTER

58

THANKS + CREDITS

60

Man by Amanda Parer.

Photo: Nadir Ali

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XXX

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Woodward Avenue during DLECTRICITY. Photo: Nadir Ali

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XXX

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Parallels by Yann Nguema. Photo: David Lewinski

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INTRODUCTION

THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE (CCPI) BACKGROUND + CONTEXT The Cultural Center Planning Initiative is an effort to reimagine the public space that connects a dozen cultural organizations across an 83-acre site in Midtown Detroit.

Announced as part of the winning team for The DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections international design competition, rootoftwo commenced work in December 2019 to develop a baseline study and framework for a digital strategy as part of the CCPI. In addition to planned enhancements to the physical environment and sustainability, the CCPI aims to foster an enhanced and interactive cultural center that strengthens and connects institutions and engages residents and visitors.

The Detroit Cultural Center includes 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; Midtown Detroit, Inc.; Michigan Science Center; Scarab Club; University of Michigan; and Wayne State University within its footprint.

• Stakeholder Profiles – Following interviews and consultations, these outlined the individual opportunities, challenges, IT infrastructure, and desire and capacity toward digital programming, communications, and visitor experiences of the participating stakeholder cultural institutions.

• Survey + Observation – Launched a digital transformation survey and observation project in the context of pandemic-related closures and disruptions. The study updated and added information on digital uptake and readiness in the areas of operations, programming, cyber-security, engagement, promotions, and resiliency to the stakeholder profiles. The observation project tracked how the public-facing online presence of the cultural center institutions and key comparators shifted during the first four weeks of COVID-19 lockdowns.

• Benchmarks – Reviewed and profiled cultural districts in Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; Cleveland, Ohio; San Jose, California; and international examples of Montreal (CA) and Melbourne (AU). Benchmark cultural districts included peer institutions with a similar footprint, opportunities, challenges, and barriers to those of the CCPI. Benchmark profiles focused on practical and aspirational uses of place-based technology and infrastructure and an exploration of the online presence and visitor engagement experience (web, social media, apps, etc.).

The baseline digital study comprised: • FieldScan – Reviewed 200+ documents and publications on smart cities, cultural and innovation districts, art and technology in the public realm, and digital inclusion.

• Interviews + Consultations – Conducted 90-minute to 2-hour interviews and consultations with the stakeholder cultural institutions; community technology initiatives; community and economic development organizations; and City of Detroit departments of digital inclusion, open government, and planning.

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INTRODUCTION – FOOTPRINT OF THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE (CCPI)

KIRBY STREET

BRUSH STREET

WOODWARD AVENUE

CASS AVENUE

WARREN AVENUE 7

INTRODUCTION – THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE (CCPI)

OUR CHARGE • Digital Infrastructure – Introduced and established free outdoor Wi-Fi as a public amenity at the Detroit Cultural Center. Midtown Detroit Inc. and Wayne State University (WSU) are primary partners. This expanded WSU’s network to encourage more outdoor programming launched from CCPI’s cultural institutions.

• Digital Creative Visitor Experiences – Promoted interactivity and considered future placements of permanent urban screens as part of the curatorial advisory for Midtown Detroit Inc.’s DLECTRICITY Nighttime Exhibition of Art & Light.

• Digital Capacity – Developed a set of activities and opportunities – the Transformer Series and the Transformer Fund – for CCPI institutions to support the expansion of place-based, shared assets that reinforce the values and priorities of the community and the CCPI institutions. More information can be found at https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/. o Transformer Series – Curated, produced, and moderated panel discussions and learning opportunities with 25 local, national, and international thought leaders for six 90-minute sessions from April to June 2021. o Transformer Fund – Provided financial support of $25,000 to four CCPI institutional pilot projects. The fund supports staff members of CCPI institutions to test ideas for projects and programs that extend beyond the physical boundaries of individual institutions into the wider district and online, focused on new digital modes of action, interaction, and collaboration.

• Digital Rights + Principles – Produced a values-driven framework to support and assess technological adoption and the governance of visitor data collection policies. Equitable smart city workshops with residents and other stakeholders and smart city field scan work informed this framework.

Almost overnight, the basic business models of arts and cultural organizations that prioritized the physical and in-person vanished.

The pandemic-related closures revealed the extent of the digital transformation gap within cultural institutions. The initial baseline study was completed in the autumn of 2020 and outlined a near-term strategy framework identifying four areas for development and growth: • Digital Infrastructure – Free public outdoor Wi-Fi access • Digital Creative Visitor Experiences – Cultural center-wide outdoor technology-enabled public programming • Digital Capacity – Learning and funding opportunities for cultural center stakeholder institutions • Digital Rights + Principles – Values-driven framework to support and assess technological adoption and the governance of visitor data collection policies This report is the result of a one-year, $500,000 grant to pilot elements of the digital strategy with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The pilot program develops the digital capacity, infrastructure, and compelling use cases for technology within the Detroit Cultural Center. The pilot is designed to support collaboration, risk-taking, and experimentation by CCPI institutions to empower place-based, digital transformation within the 83-acre site.

2021-2022 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PILOT rootoftwo engaged with the CCPI project management team, steering committee, stakeholder institutions, residents, visitors, artists, and others to ensure that the digital strategy is deeply rooted in Detroit’s art and culture ecosystem. Digital transformation in the Detroit Cultural Center enables artists, cultural and educational institutions, visitors, and residents to explore new pathways for digital expression, storytelling, and inclusion.

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INTRODUCTION – THE CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE (CCPI)

IMPACT

Project Dali by Tom Harman of LaserNet. Photo: David Lewinski

• Increased connectivity + access – Provided free and reliable public Wi-Fi for audiences and visitors in outdoor spaces of the center.

• Programmatic innovation – Offered capacity-building and experimentation opportunities leading to new digital programming and case-making on successful strategies.

• Cross-institution collaboration – Supported participating organizations to understand the shared value of district-wide collaborative approaches and activations in early-stage efforts.

• Shared services – Supported the development of a framework for data governance and technology adoption. Midtown Detroit, Inc. gathered and shared district-level metrics on visitorship.

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DETROIT CULTURAL CENTER

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION MIDTOWN DETROIT INC. + ROOTOFTWO https://www.midtownculturalconnections.com/

When we looked at the term “digital transformation” for the first time, we thought, “here we go, another buzz phrase” to justify investing in shiny gadgets, with miles of cable and inscrutable boxes that make them work most of the time. ¯ \_(“) )_/¯ We kept thinking about it. Like many others, we recognize that digital transformation is about reimagining how people and organizations change the way they manifest and achieve what they want to do. Digital transformation is only possible when the attitude, organizational culture, and processes are in place to decide which digital services and tools are worthwhile. Technology should be the vehicle that helps deliver the mission and priorities of an organization and not the goal in itself.

Digital transformation takes more time and effort than merely buying all the latest gadgets with blinking lights. So why bother? All industries have been impacted by social networks, mobile communication technologies, big data, analytics, and embedded devices. There is a corresponding need to transform processes and organizational structures and create new management practices to administer them. In 2019, the Harvard Business Review cited a study that of the $1.3 trillion spent on digital transformation in the previous year, $900 billion went to waste because employees lacked the capacity to change, and the efforts magnified existing flaws in organizational practices (Tabrizi et al. 2019). Unfortunately, the costs of failing to adapt are severe. Ask anyone in the music business how they feel about Spotify or any retailer what they think about Amazon. The harsh reality is that unless you are actively engaged in re-inventing what you do and how you do it, you are likely missing opportunities to deepen engagement with audiences, visitors, and residents. This challenges the basic models of viability and relevancy for many in the cultural sector. The only comfort is that absolutely everyone is confronted with precisely the same challenge, and there are no guarantees of success.

Man by Amanda Parer. Photo: Nadir Ali

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DETROIT CULTURAL CENTER – DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

In a 2020 national survey of 480 museums, 31% admitted they had no digital strategy, and 43% of art museums reported they had one or fewer dedicated digital staff (HG&Co 2020). The survey, published by the Knight Foundation, found that digital projects are mostly siloed, outcomes poorly tracked, and audience insights inadequately integrated (ibid). The entire sector is struggling to meet the challenges of digital transformation. Some of the limiting factors are digital capacity and digital resilience. Digital capacity depends on various factors, including the speed and reliability of Internet connectivity, information and communications technology access, users’ digital literacy, and perceptions of and attitudes towards new digital technologies (Wright 2016). Digital resilience is the capacity to deal effectively with change and recover quickly from challenges or difficulties (ibid). In digital terms, this depends on sharing successful workflows, use cases, and data.

DIGITAL PROGRAMMING + ENGAGEMENT

TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT

COMMON APPLICATIONS CONTENT MANAGEMENT PUBLIC WI-FI

DATA

INTERNET

WEBSITES RELATIONSHIP TRACKING + MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Digital transformation elevates technology to a strategic imperative for the Detroit Cultural Center. The CCPI institutions are at different levels of digital capacity and resilience across the full range of digital tools, data, processes, structures, and systems. The increased need for coordination, cooperation, and collaboration among the CCPI institutions presents opportunities to establish shared platforms and agreed approaches for digital technology use. This extends to the shared use of visitorship data from the outdoor spaces, which would be significantly enhanced if collection and reporting practices could be harmonized between institutions. Achieving this is not an easy matter. To illustrate the difficulties involved, responses to the Digital Capacities and Resilience survey indicated that there were no fewer than 15 different points of sale and payment processors in use by the CCPI institutions. These are vital systems for the collection of visitor and audience information. This is just one stark example of the barriers necessary to overcome for the Detroit Cultural Center to operate as a common destination. The digital strategy outlines approaches that support and enhance the visitor experience through brand development and visibility, outdoor programming, urban screens, public Wi-Fi, digital wayfinding, and a digital welcome center (online presence through a website, social media, etc.).

DIGITAL MARKETING + PROMOTION

Achieving digital transformation is not a technical problem; it is an adaptive challenge that requires people to learn new ways of doing things, adopt an experimental mindset, and evolve and, in some cases, change their attitudes, values, principles, and norms. Learning, experimentation, and collaboration must be incorporated and incentivized into how the CCPI organizations operate internally and with external partners to meet the adaptive challenges of digital transformation. The digital strategy sets out ideas for ongoing peer learning opportunities and funding to support the institutions collaborating and experimenting together.

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DETROIT CULTURAL CENTER – DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Grand River Northwest

Gratiot / 7-Mile

People in Poverty

People in Poverty

32%

37%

32%

Russell Woods / Nardin Park

No Broadboard Internet Connection

46%

No Broadboard Internet Connection

40%

People in Poverty

MIDTOWN

Jefferson Chalmers

49%

51%

People in Poverty

No Broadboard Internet Connection

Southwest / Vernor

41%

People in Poverty

41%

No Broadboard Internet Connection

42%

47% No Broadboard Internet Connection

People in Poverty

49% No Broadboard Internet Connection

Technology adoption for the CCPI should be an opportunity for digital inclusion and digital equity. The City of Detroit’s Digital Inclusion Officer, Joshua Edmonds, launched Connect 313 in 2020 as a city-wide multistakeholder initiative and fund to ensure all Detroiters can access the technological ecosystem. As part of rootoftwo’s baseline study, detailed research into poverty, demographics, and digital inclusion and access was conducted to reveal insights about Midtown and, in comparison to select City of Detroit Strategic Neighborhood Fund areas. The decades of investment and rich cultural and educational amenities and anchors present in Midtown mean that the residential picture and conditions for residents in the area are often overshadowed. The research found that 49% of Midtown households were in poverty, and 41% lacked household access to a broadband internet connection. The percentage of households in poverty is higher than those of the Strategic Neighborhood Fund areas studied. The percentage lacking household broadband internet access is comparable to the other areas.

Library Park Strategic Neighborhood Fund Area

34%

State of Michigan

32%

People in Poverty

No Broadboard Internet Connection Poverty and Income Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2010 Summary File 1. Esri forecasts for 2019 Household Broadband Connectivity Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013-2017 American Community Survey Selected SNF areas were chosen based on proximity to both parks and libraries as of 2019.

As of this writing, the City of Detroit has embarked on an ambitious proposal to ensure affordable, reliable, and abundant digital access and opportunities for residents by 2032, beginning with a $10M pilot project in Hope Village (City of Detroit 2022). The Detroit Cultural Center supports digital inclusion and access in Detroit as a priority. The digital strategy calls for the implementation of increased connectivity for the outdoor spaces to provide a hub for residents, students, and visitors to learn, work, and explore (Wi-Fi: near-term. Power and fiber: medium to long-term).

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DETROIT CULTURAL CENTER – DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

E NC E I

DIGI TA LI

AL EQUIT GIT I Y D

DI

By operating as a hub for creative and civic technology, the Detroit Cultural Center can: • Provide vital infrastructure • Prototype and present exemplar projects and collaborations • Enhance resident and visitor experiences and journeys • Develop and document use cases on consentful place-based uses of technology

RUCTURE AST FR N

VISITOR EX PE R

ITAL FUTURITY DIG

This report shares the results and findings following a year-long program to pilot and embed digital transformation approaches and practices within the Cultural Center Planning Initiative. It establishes a foundation for the Detroit Cultural Center to continue inventing, iterating, and evolving the place-based digital strategy now and into the future.

G IT TY A L C A PACI

REFERENCES Tabrizi, Behnam, Ed Lam, Kirk Girard, and Vernon Irvin. Digital Transformation is Not About Technology. Harvard Business Review. March 13, 2019. https://bit.ly/3nmfjnT

There will always be a digital equity gap because technological development will continue to progress and change society and culture into the future. Technology’s exponential and evolutionary nature means digital transformation is an ongoing process accompanied by investments in new habits of mind, work, and culture. The CCPI can play a role in supporting digital transformation within the Detroit Cultural Center institutions for their benefit and the public good. As an example, the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit was selected to become a Connect 313 neighborhood tech hub, a relationship established through the CCPI. The Detroit Cultural Center institutions are uniquely positioned to develop a set of anticipatory principles characterized by transparency, participation, equity, non-discrimination, and human dignity as fundamental values, as set out in the CCPI digital strategy.

HG&Co. Digital Readiness and Innovation in Museums: A Baseline National Survey. Knight Foundation, 2020. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://kng.ht/3y0uNE8 Wright, Dawn J. et al., Toward a digital resilience. 2016. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. 4. p.000082. Accessed May 20, 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000082 https://bit.ly/3NiGRVz City of Detroit. Digital Access Policy and Strategic Infrastructure Plan.

Public Policy Plan, City of Detroit. Accessed June 14, 2022. https://bit.ly/39BBbZ9

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DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

CULTURAL CENTER GUEST WIRELESS MIDTOWN DETROIT INC. + WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

https://www.midtowndetroitinc.org/ https://wayne.edu/

In 2020, Midtown Detroit Inc., Wayne State University’s Computing and Information Technology Department (WSU C&IT), and rootoftwo began expanding Wayne State University’s Wi-Fi network across the Detroit Cultural Center. A 5-year initial agreement for permanent, free, public, outdoor Wi-Fi was secured. This agreement outlined the supply of broad coverage, including an increase in capacity for large events.

The pilot project extends connectivity through wireless bridges, wireless access points (WAPs), and two fixed ethernet lines to encourage more outdoor programming and attract visitors to the Detroit Cultural Center, especially for events like DLECTRICITY, Concert of Colors, Detroit Concours d’Elegance, and Noel Night. Beyond enhanced event programming and commissioning, the network creates additional benefits, including digital wayfinding, increased public safety, and opportunities for interactive content throughout the Detroit Cultural Center.

Connecting to Cultural Center Guest Wireless. Photo: rootoftwo

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DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE – CULTURAL CENTER GUEST WIRELESS

“Lack of broadband is an issue in the city and Midtown. We know that people want to use free WiFi; they need it. Not everyone can use cellular. It’s expensive. If you want to stream a video or engage with other bandwidth-intensive content, you should be able to do that within the Cultural Center. While it does not solve the city’s problems, it sets a precedent for cultural organizations to provide these services.”

WHAT HAPPENED In the autumn of 2019, before the pandemic, preliminary surveys and site visits conducted by rootoftwo revealed that only 11% of CCPI institutions offered accessible and reliable Wi-Fi for the public outside their institution.

49% of the residents of Midtown Detroit were living in poverty, and 41% of homes had no broadband subscription. Providing digital infrastructure in this context required operating through a lens of digital inclusion to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, had access to and were able to use information and communication technologies. The Cultural Center Guest Wireless connects the Detroit Cultural Center to Merit Network, a non-profit member-owned organization governed by Michigan’s public universities. The connectivity extension through the Detroit Cultural Center network provides accessible and reliable public Wi-Fi to visitors and residents – a significant utility and amenity within Midtown Detroit.

Annmarie Borucki – Director of Arts and Culture, Midtown Detroit, Inc.

The project began by developing and negotiating agreements with CCPI member institutions to mount WAPs on their buildings. When installation began in early 2020, the Wi-Fi project immediately faced COVID-19related disruptions from labor capacity and supply chain issues to rising material costs. In the summer of 2021, historic rainfall resulted in significant flooding, which postponed work further. The Detroit Cultural Center and its longstanding partners demonstrated resilience and resolve despite these setbacks. By September 2021, six institutions were connected: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Historical Museum, College for Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Michigan Science Center, and the Scarab Club. This target date was designed to coincide with the opening of DLECTRICITY. The work to provide fixed ethernet connections and Wi-Fi for the Detroit Institute of Arts’ outdoor spaces completed the first phase. A planned second phase will install an additional 53 WAPs to ensure seamless coverage and increase capacity for the cultural center. The Cultural Center Guest Wireless network, while still in development, is yet to be widely advertised but currently averages over 1,000 unique users per month.

Brain Wave, Mind Frame and Night Vision by Jake Fried. Photo: Nadir Ali

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DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE – CULTURAL CENTER GUEST WIRELESS PROMISING PRACTICES

ABOUT

Leverage existing partnerships – Cultural Center Guest Wireless leverages adjacent digital infrastructure to connect visitors and residents to Merit Network. Founded in 1966, Merit owns and operates America’s longestrunning regional research and education network and 4,000 miles of fiber optic infrastructure in the State of Michigan. CCPI member institutions Wayne State University, Detroit Public Library, College for Creative Studies, and the University of Michigan have existing Merit Network connections.

Extending its network helps Wayne State University meet its goals for community outreach.

Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization created to support and enhance community and economic development in the Midtown and New Center areas through collaboration and partnerships with key stakeholders and supportive funders.

Wayne State University’s mission is to create and advance knowledge, prepare a diverse student body to thrive, and positively impact local and global communities. Their 200-acre campus in Midtown Detroit is home to nearly 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in their 13 schools and colleges.

Concern for the importance of consent, notice, and regulatory obligations when it comes to personal data – The presence of so many civic, educational, and public cultural organizations in the Detroit Cultural Center posed a significant opportunity to develop digital infrastructure that can provide increased access to the Internet without the usual commercially driven tracking, advertising, and privacy challenges baked into much of the kiosk-based public Wi-Fi systems deployed in many cities.

Wayne State University and Merit Network have explicit policies around what is permissible on their networks.

PARTNERS Midtown Detroit, Inc. Wayne State University rootoftwo

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS MIDTOWN DETROIT INC: Susan Mosey – President Annmarie Borucki – Director of Arts and Culture

LEARNING + ADAPTING This project establishes a baseline system to encourage institutions to experiment with more dynamic outdoor programming and visitor engagement. In the future, it can support on-demand outdoor ticketing, gather visitor sentiments and insights, and provide real-time information about what’s going on in the Detroit Cultural Center. Wi-Fi is a tool for enhancing the visitor experience, encouraging people to take advantage of more of what the institutions have to offer. This project has already led to a new pilot between MDI, WSU, and the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) to provide Private LTE connectivity. This all-in-one box solution requires minimal support, just a local power source, and will provide publicly available Wi-Fi in places lacking physical infrastructure and IT support. The pilot location is near the Detroit Cultural Center, at the Midtown Dog Park.

WSU COMPUTING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (C&IT): Juan Richardson – Senior Director, IT Infrastructure Laura Hendrick – Former Senior Director, IT Infrastructure De Vaughn Elledge – Sr. System Software Engineer, IT Infrastructure Tim Muir – Network Engineer I, IT Infrastructure Charles (Chuck) Zuber – Network Engineer II, IT Infrastructure AND ALSO: Shaw Electric Co. Joshua Edmonds – Director of Digital Inclusion, City of Detroit

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DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE – CULTURAL CENTER GUEST WIRELESS

Illuminated Balloon Heads — Detroit by Mentalgassi. Photo: David Lewinski

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DIGITAL CREATIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES

DLECTRICITY MIDTOWN DETROIT INC. https://dlectricity.com/

DLECTRICITY is Detroit’s nighttime festival of art, light, and technology.

Inspired by Nuit Blanche arts festivals worldwide, Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) has presented four major light-based art and technology festivals in 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2021. This spectacular outdoor visual light and art celebration takes place in Detroit’s Cultural Center and satellite locations downtown. Attendees are immersed in a landscape of light through groundbreaking video art installations, new media, lasers, interactive design and engineering, and captivating performances.

ephemeral angels by Mariana Carranza. Photo: David Lewinski

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DIGITAL CREATIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES – DLECTRICITY

“DLECTRICITY is the signature visual arts festival for Detroit’s Cultural Center. The event provides a platform for experimenting in outdoor spaces and trying out different types of programming.

It attracts a diverse audience that reflects the Metro Detroit region.”

DLECTRICITY was inspired by Detroit’s very own Electric Park, formerly located on the site of what is now Gabriel Richard Park. From 1906 until 1928, Electric Park served as a major attraction, beginning as a trolley park and later expanding into a dazzling amusement park with the development of electrification.

Annmarie Borucki – DLECTRICITY Director; Director of Arts and Culture, Midtown Detroit, Inc.

WHAT HAPPENED The fourth edition of DLECTRICITY was held September 25-26, 2021 and showcased 42 art installations and 36 performances in Detroit’s Cultural Center and Beacon and Circle Parks located downtown. DLECTRICITY supported a total of 100 artists—including music performers and visual artists—of which 63 were Detroit-based. Of the art installations supported, 17 were new commissions. From the overall $1.3-million-dollar budget, MDI invested over $725,000 in art installations at DLECTRICITY —the most ever for this festival in its history. 46% of that budget was spent on eight art installations by BIPOC artists, including Yann Nguema, Nat Morris and The Scene, Tiff Massey, Allison Janae Hamilton, Stephanie Dinkins, Blair Adams, Logan Dandridge, and Ralph Taylor.

Ongoing factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic made planning and delivering a successful festival challenging. MDI established a public health and safety committee that made plans to place works safely within the footprint, crowd management, and cleaning processes. In the days leading up to the festival, the region also experienced some of the harshest fall weather, making set-up and installation difficult. Despite these challenges, the festival was successfully staged and provided a much-needed joyful occasion for Metro Detroit residents to gather safely after so much uncertainty.

Man by Amanda Parer. Photo: David Lewinski

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DIGITAL CREATIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES – DLECTRICITY 2021 PROMISING PRACTICES

LEARNING + ADAPTING

Audience engagement starts with getting to the root of who they are and what they care about – MDI undertook a robust community engagement program with churches, block clubs, and other organizations to spread the word about the festival. As well as the dozen or so invited artists, the selection of work from the open call ensured a balance of local, regional, and national artists, various types of artworks, and artists from diverse backgrounds.

There is a need for more permanent technical infrastructure to support outdoor programming in the future. This would provide an opportunity to provide a visitor experience that supports the CCPI institutions’ desire to attract new audiences and better manage relationships with them.

Improved technical infrastructure would help to translate experiences for visitors. This would also potentially address in a compelling and participatory way how audiences can safely experience future art and technology commissions through a better connected and physically enhanced Cultural Center landscape.

Try before you buy – MDI proposed to develop use cases for the public WiFi and urban screens infrastructure. They brought several white box trucks to act as temporary screens to support the development of indicators and case-making for what worked, what didn’t, and what that means going forward. In this way, commissioning for DLECTRICITY was used to consider the future placement of more permanent urban screens or digital facades.

The festival also showcased the Cultural Center Planning Initiative’s development plans and recommended changes to the landscape, flow, and programming overlays.

POOF! by Bradley Scherzer.

Photo: David Lewinski

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DIGITAL CREATIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES – DLECTRICITY Special thanks also go to Creative Time, NSF International, Stamps Gallery, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan, and Traffic Jam Restaurant.

CURATORIAL COMMITTEE Larry Baranski – Director of Public Programs, Detroit Institute of Arts Annmarie Borucki – DLECTRICITY Director; Director of Arts + Culture, Midtown Detroit, Inc. Cézanne Charles – CCPI Design Team – Digital Strategy; Partner, rootoftwo Pat Elifritz – Former Senior Manager of Media + Technology, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) A.J. Funchess – Assistant Director, Marketing + Communications, Detroit Public Library Chrisstina Hamilton – Director, Penny Stamps Speaker Series + Roman Witt Visiting Artist Programs, Stamps School of Art & Design Megan Heeres – Beacon Park Manager, DTE Beacon Park Peter Kyte – Dlectricity Technical Director; Principal, The Kyte Group John Marshall – CCPI Design Team – Digital Strategy; Partner, rootoftwo Scott Northrup – Assistant Professor of Digital Film + Interdisciplinary Studies, College for Creative Studies Sheryl Oring – Professor + Chair, Department of Art + Art History, Wayne State University Malika Pryor – Former Senior Director of Education + Programs, Detroit Historical Society Marc Schwartz – Founder, Art Detroit Now; Chair of the DLECTRICITY Curatorial Committee Reggie Woolery – Former Director of Education + Public Programs, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Alivia Zivich – DLECTRICITY Curatorial + Production Manager; Partner, What Pipeline Gallery

Time to Celebrate! by Ralph Taylor. Photo: David Lewinski

ABOUT Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization created to support and enhance community and economic development in the Midtown and New Center areas through collaboration and partnerships with key stakeholders and supportive funders.

PARTNERS TECHNICAL SUPPORT Mercury Sound and Lighting.

MEDIA PARTNERS FOX 2 Detroit WDET 101.9 FM.

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS SPONSORS DTE Energy Foundation, William Davidson Foundation, Midtown Detroit, Inc., Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Detroit Institute of Arts, Rocket Community Fund, Michigan Arts and Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, MI Humanities, Downtown Detroit Partnership, Shinola Detroit, Farbman Group, Emily Camiener and Marc Schwartz, and Lisa Applebaum.

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Waters of a Lower Register by Allison Janae Hamilton. Photo: David Lewinski

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Shadow Machines by Layne Hinton. Photo: David Lewinski

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DIGITAL CAPACITY

TRANSFORMER SERIES

ROOTOFTWO + MIDTOWN DETROIT INC. https://transformer.rootoftwo.com

Transformer Series included moderated panel discussions and learning opportunities focused on how to create compelling digital experiences, engage audiences, and build resilient strategies and models for placebased technology and digital transformation. Curated and produced by rootoftwo and presented by Midtown Detroit Inc., the events engaged local, national, and international thought leaders for six 90-minute online Zoom sessions from April to June 2021. The series was designed to build capacity and a shared basis of understanding between cultural organizations, artists, creative technologists, and others interested in using technology as a catalyst for engagement, storytelling, communication, programming, and artistic creation.

FORMAT Due to COVID-19, these were virtual live events, exclusive to invited participants, with opportunities for interaction and discussion. Sessions were recorded for broadcast later to a broader group. Each session involved a roster of guest speakers who shared examples and references. Readings, other media, and recommendations accompanied every session to prime the conversations and encourage continued exploration after the event.

PARTICIPANTS The Transformer Series was designed to be an intimate space for dialogue, exploration, and conversation. The series was open to all employees of the CCPI stakeholder institutions, with a core group participating in all of the sessions. Additional invitations were extended to artists/ creative practitioners and peer arts and cultural organizations in Detroit, nationally, and internationally. There were 210 unique attendees and 71 repeat attendees. The series had a total virtual live audience of 281 participants.

OBJECTIVES • Highlight novel and engaging outdoor programming and creative technology projects in the public realm • Present technology-driven visitor experiences • Create and support cross-institutional dialogue and learning opportunities 24

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES

View Tracing #3 by Takayuki Mori. Photo: Nadir Ali

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DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 1

COLLECTIVE CARETAKING BUILDING VISIBILITY + CAPACITY TOGETHER https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/session-1-resources YouTube https://bit.ly/3AucI2K

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7TH, 2021 This session explored cultural organizations’ and districts’ use of digital and physical communication experiences to build confidence, communicate safety, and welcome communities, in the aftermath of COVID-19-related closures. This session also highlighted how cultural district leaders and member organizations have been collaborating and creating innovative shared services paradigms that have helped them navigate change and digital transformation during the pandemic.

“If there’s one community that benefits from the technology, it’s the disability community. They had to be creative and rely on technology for a long time. Using their experience and expertise to engage and access cultural programming and spaces meaningfully can be deeply informative for the planning process for the Detroit Cultural Center.”

Michelle Boone – Former Chief Program + Civic Engagement Officer, Navy Pier

Water Flicks Summer Film Series 2020.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Boone

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DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 1 – COLLECTIVE CARETAKING

SPEAKERS

“This is personal. These Detroit institutions play an important part in arts and culture and as contributors and connectors to the function of civil society. We’ll always want to gather and meet folks in person. The digital can be a tool to facilitate this. It can also help you do your everyday work better and, in some cases, quicker.”

Vaughn Perry – Director of Equity, 11th Street Bridge Park Debbie Berry – Former VP of Planning + Real Estate Development, University Circle Inc. Mauricio Garcia – Chief Program + Engagement Officer, The Highline Michelle Boone – Former Chief Program + Civic Engagement Officer, Navy Pier Suzana Bishop – Chief Experience Officer, Federation Square

Mauricio Garcia – Chief Program + Engagement Officer, The Highline

TAKEAWAYS • Clarify the level of public engagement (e.g., the International Association for Public Participation’s Spectrum of Public Participation – inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower).

• Anticipate the intended and unintended negative consequences of a development project.

• Commit time and resources to partnering with community members to find solutions. mitigating the negative consequences and improving the positive benefits stemming from a creative place-based redevelopment project.

• Focus on enhancement and support of programming, community relationships, and management of the physical event-based landscape using digital tools.

• Produce new content and programming tailored to the experience and technology, rather than translating existing collections, events, and archives for digital audiences.

The Highline. Photo courtesy of Mauricio Garcia

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DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 2

OF PUBLIC INTEREST INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES TO ENGAGE PEOPLE + PLACE https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/session-2-resources YouTube https://bit.ly/3aehjeL BLACK LIVES MATTER Pavement Mural by TATS Cru and Family.

Photo: Just_a_Spectator

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21ST, 2021 As we began to gather and inhabit outdoor spaces again, this session considered how artists, creative technologists, festivals, and other placebased creative organizations reinvented the interactivity and physicality of developing works for the public realm. This session also looked at how we engage in memorializing people’s complex histories and geographies through public art, monuments, and storytelling emphasizing hybrid digital/physical approaches.

“We’re more thoughtful about incorporating digital strategy into everything we do now. Before, we used to produce something, and once it was done, think about the digital strategy to get it out. Now we’re looking for partners before even thinking about what that project is. So, the partners inform the digital strategy, in tandem with the project development.”

Kendal Henry – Artist, Curator, and Assistant Commissioner of Public Art, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs 28

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 2 – OF PUBLIC INTEREST

“I think of public art as a tool to create space to process and imagine new possibilities collectively.

There are opportunities to create power for yourself as an artist, community organizer, and resident.

It’s not just waiting on institutions to give it to you.

I would advocate for that.”

SPEAKERS Cheyenne Concepcion – Artist and Artistic Director, New Monuments Taskforce Kendal Henry – Artist, Curator, and Assistant Commissioner of Public Art, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Jen Krava – Director of Programming + New Initiatives, Forecast Rachel Chanoff – Founding Director, THE OFFICE performing arts + film

Cheyenne Concepcion – Artist and Artistic Director, New Monuments Taskforce

TAKEAWAYS • Public art interventions using digital strategies and augmented reality can be a powerful way to occupy sites and challenge dominant narratives of place and memorialization.

• Public art and the work of civic and social practice artists have been a catalyst for a broader transformation in systems, policies, and society before and during the pandemic and reckonings with systemic racial injustice.

• The pandemic forced organizations to consider how they bring art and programming to people online and outside rather than focusing on how to bring people inside the institution’s buildings.

• Place-based strategies, digital or otherwise, need to be intergenerational and considerate of people with a range of abilities and experiences.

• Internet and online programming are only part of an integrated outreach or programming strategy that can include local radio, TV, and sending letters and activity boxes.

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DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 3

CROSS PLATFORM DIGITAL OUTREACH, ENGAGEMENT, AND LEARNING https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/session-3-resources YouTube https://bit.ly/3yzkBCT

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19TH, 2021 This session looked at how artists, creative technologists, and cultural leaders have developed digital forms of expression for storytelling, outreach, learning, and engagement before and during the pandemic.

Presenters explored how these novel approaches might evolve and remain a part of how the field builds relationships with and between practitioners, organizations, and communities – contributing to city-building, belonging, and lifelong learning.

“Discovery Place and other museums have talked about moving into the digital world for a long time.

The pandemic forced us to accelerate our efforts or face closures. We had to be thoughtful, as a science museum, about how to enter this digital space to be truly impactful and relevant with diverse audiences and communities.”

Heather Norton – Chief Science Officer, Discovery Place

Photography of Discovery Place Science. Photo: Patrick Schneider

30

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 3 – CROSS PLATFORM

SPEAKERS Lauren Ruffin – Co-Founder, Crux Cooperative Jane Alexander – Chief Digital Information Officer, The Cleveland Museum of Art Rachel Adams – Chief Curator and Director of Programs, Bemis Center Heather Norton – Chief Science Officer, Discovery Place

“For Crux and our partners, this moment presented an opportunity to center programming on people operating on the margins. Being virtual allowed them to create and co-create programming with new communities they might not have engaged with before. The mediums and platforms encourage iteration and continued feedback from users. They also invite comparison with and competition from commercial players and user-generated content. The question is how to reckon with these changes.”

TAKEAWAYS • BIPOC artists powerfully use immersive storytelling to disrupt dominant narratives.

• Use of technology that respects human rights and human effort turns events into safe, shared experiences.

• Remove barriers for audiences. The technologies should be easy, intuitive, and informed by user experiences.

• Becoming data-driven as a museum should enhance workflow, collaboration, and better programming and experiences.

• Use platforms that are already popular with artists, fans, and communities – especially those that make it easy for artists to generate revenue and for audiences to engage with one another.

• Digital requires a mindset shift. Get started, take chances, and experiment at the level of staff and capacity you currently have and then build on those initial steps.

Lauren Ruffin – Co-Founder, Crux Cooperative

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DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 4

NEW HORIZONS DIGITAL AESTHETICS + ETHICS OF PARTICIPATION https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/session-4-resources YouTube https://bit.ly/3QZoJDr

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2ND, 2021 This session looked at how artists, creative technologists, and cultural leaders have developed and presented ambitious participatory art and technology projects that meaningfully engage diverse audiences.

This session also explored how museums, festivals, collectives, and organizations operate as experimental spaces and hubs for new social, civic, and cultural production that center artists and communities.

Eyebeam: From the Rupture.

Image courtesy of Roderick Schrock Iyapo Repository

by Salome Asega.

Photo courtesy of the artist

“I’m medium agnostic. I start with a story, people, and place. Then, I figure out the best tools to tell that story through an intentional, collaborative process.

In some cases, that means technology becomes more like an amplifier to reach more people.

And sometimes, it creates intimate experiences that require someone to come closer. But again, it’s starting with people, place, and story first.”

Salome Asega – Artist, Researcher, and Director of New Inc. 32

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 4 – NEW HORIZONS

SPEAKERS

“With all the technology I’ve worked with, I’ve realized that our stories are our algorithms.

We’ve used narratives for millennia to instruct ourselves on how to live, make things, and survive.

Those stories are still with us. Whether we’re accessing and pushing them out into the world verbally or using technology doesn’t matter. Except now, technology allows us to revisit our stories.”

Salome Asega – Artist, Researcher, and Director of New Inc. Stephanie Dinkins – Artist and Researcher Dr. Julie Nagam – Artistic Director, Nuit Blanche Toronto 2020 + 2022 Roddy Schrock – Executive Director, Eyebeam

Stephanie Dinkins – Artist and Researcher

TAKEAWAYS • Acknowledge the ongoing impacts of colonialism, imperialism, and racism – artists and others are using technology in ways that confront these realities and imagine counter futures.

• Bridge the gap in support for artists working toward the public good through their critical engagement with technology.

• Spread the wealth, find artists and organizations that share your values, then build opportunities where you can learn from each other and enjoy space to create.

• Design programs, technology, and participation at the speed of consent.

• Empower artists as catalysts to bring cross-sector institutional partners together and foster partnerships lasting beyond the initial engagement (e.g., university robotics/media lab + a non-profit arts organization).

Manitobwabow: Speaking to the Moon by Julie Nagam.

Photo courtesy of the artist

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DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 5

THE POWER OF PILOTING SEEING, SHOWING, AND GROWING WHAT WORKS https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/session-5-resources YouTube https://bit.ly/3nxdjsY

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2021 This session looked at how artists, designers, creative technologists, and other cultural leaders use data, observation, prototyping, and other approaches to inspire and empower visitors. The session also examined how collaboration and partnerships within and between institutions can overcome silos and merge different organizational cultures, creating richer experiences.

“It’s not about having a revolution and burning down the legacy principles of an organization.

It is about evolving them – to clarify what your audiences and communities require of a public institution. Trust is always provisional and needs to be earned through continuous relationship building – how are you healing those wounds of broken trust and creating new pathways for stakeholders to have a seat at the decision-making table and in the collaborative ideation process. That’s what gets us excited about the future.”

above: The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation Heroes of the Sky exhibit. Photo courtesy of Matt Elliott right: RECOVERY POEMS by Emergency Exit Arts, Robert Montgomery + Deanna Rodger. Photo courtesy of Katie Moffat

Diane Jean-Mary – Partner / Chief Strategy Officer, LaPlaca Cohen 34

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 5 – THE POWER OF PILOTING

SPEAKERS Katie Moffat – Former Head of Digital, The Audience Agency Diane Jean-Mary – Partner / Chief Strategy Officer, LaPlaca Cohen Matt Elliott – Head of Creative + Digital Experiences, The Henry Ford Shawn Lani – Director, Studio for Public Spaces, Exploratorium

2019 Middle Ground: Civic Center, San Francisco

by Shawn Lani + Joshua Gutwill.

Photo courtesy of the artist

TAKEAWAYS

“Prototyping new modes for institutions can be just downright painful. It’s hard to do something new for any institution, especially a venerable institution.

The cultural changes over the last couple of years have shown us that institutions, like museums, need to evolve. If you don’t evolve, you will no longer be relevant, and that’s the lifeblood of a cultural institution.”

• The culture sector, globally, needs significant upskilling to become more digitally literate, with organizations developing clear strategies.

• Culture sector organizations can play an essential role in supporting the digital confidence of people within their communities and audiences.

• In terms of digital tools, start with what you have and what your audiences are already using – newsletters, social media, etc.

• The question for organizations is how to get the most creative use out of those existing channels to engage audiences and communities remotely.

• Shift from thinking about audience-based insights toward communitybased insights –recentering culture sector organizations as part of and beholden to the communities around them.

• Knowledge comes from a sense of curiosity and inquiry. How can institutions rediscover and practice in public that sense of experimentation? This challenges people and institutions to position themselves differently – not just as experts or gatekeepers.

Shawn Lani – Director, Studio for Public Spaces, Exploratorium

35

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 6

MOMENTUM DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE CREATIVE SECTOR https://transformer.rootoftwo.com/session-6-resources YouTube https://bit.ly/3ybwYDQ

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2021 This session broadly explored the shifts, new norms, and structures needed to make culture, humanities, and artist-led digital transformation work.

Panelists shared strategies of resiliency, resources, and recommendations for supporting digital transformation in the creative and cultural sector, primarily as it centers and uplifts the experiences of BIPOC communities. The session also offered avenues to foster digital inclusion and engagement with visitors, communities, and residents in culture and creativity.

“One of the challenges is that many places where money is concentrated in the US aren’t necessarily the places you want dictating what a museum does.

The most robust and stable funding for museums in general, and art museums as a subset, is to act as essential community infrastructure. That is the most compelling argument for funding you can make.

People value things that make a community strong, resilient, and a good place to live.”

Anadol, Refik WDCH Dreams 2018. In National Endowment for the Arts, Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium (Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts, 2021), p.87

Elizabeth Merritt – VP, Strategic Foresight + Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums 36

DIGITAL CAPACITY – TRANSFORMER SERIES 6 – MOMENTUM

SPEAKERS Jax Deluca – Media Arts Director, Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts Tracie D. Hall – Executive Director, American Library Association Koven J. Smith – Senior Director/Arts, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Elizabeth Merritt – VP, Strategic Foresight + Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums

“I am interested in notions of leadership that aren’t about power hoarding. In a previous role in philanthropy, I challenged a national organization to meet me halfway to fund an Arts Leader of Color Fellowship to support early-career BIPOC arts administrators. The fellowship would support their advancement to middle career by pairing them with mentors of color, people who had navigated these organizational spaces, and their ongoing professional development. Leadership and supporting leaders of color can’t just be lip-service or box-checking in an institution – it’s about how you look after people and care for their potential.”

TAKEAWAYS • Digital transformation in the arts and humanities goes hand and hand with other larger and more urgent social and economic changes in society.

• Artists and organizations already working at the intersection of art and technology are surprisingly under-resourced.

• These artists and organizations are also under-utilized within the wider cultural sector in terms of forging ideas and partnerships in digital transformation.

• Cultivating leadership across and between all aspects of an organization is critical to its health and resilience.

• Three of the most critical quality of life indicators all depend on information access, and access to digital platforms – access to education; access to employment; and access to public health – libraries are integral community hubs for this activity and transmission of information and services.

• Organizations are adopting a hybrid identity – not digital-only, but embracing what they learned and leaned into during the pandemic and because of reckonings with racial injustice to evolve to become better, fairer, and more relevant.

• When we talk about art and technology, especially those practices interested in the public good – there isn’t an infrastructure or ecosystem that brings everyone together.

Tracie D. Hall – Executive Director, American Library Association

37

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING

TRANSFORMER FUND ROOTOFTWO + MIDTOWN DETROIT INC. https://transformer.rootoftwo.com

In partnership with Midtown Detroit Inc., rootoftwo developed the Transformer Fund to support collaboration, risk-taking, and experimentation by the Cultural Center Planning Initiative institutions resulting in four new digital projects and programming. Launched in July 2021, exclusive to the CCPI institutions, Transformer Fund offered financial support of up to $25,000 per pilot project to support creating novel forms of digital expression, storytelling, and engagement. Transformer Fund explored community participation and connection through technology to transform the social, green, and built spaces within the 83-acre center.

Transformer Fund was conceived as a research and development grant to identify, develop, and produce new digital modes of action, interaction, and collaboration within the Detroit Cultural Center. It welcomed proposals for projects that extended beyond the physical boundaries of the institution into the wider campus and online. The fund focused on proposals exploring experimental and interactive projects that engaged audiences with participatory experiences. Preference was given to concepts that included and supported artists, creative technologists, and culture-bearers with a connection to Detroit residents and neighborhoods.

In October 2021, four research and development grants were awarded for nine months to experiment, prototype, demonstrate or otherwise disseminate and test their ideas publicly.

FUNDING PRIORITIES • Promote creative/artistic applications of technology within the public realm • Focus on projects pushing boundaries and taking risks in terms of form and content • Uplift underrepresented cultural forms and grant them visibility and support • Support artists, creative technologists, and culture-bearers • Create community participation and engagement • Advance digital capacity, vision, and strategy • Collaborate across multiple CCPI institutions • Gauge the timeliness and feasibility of the pilot project

These four projects were funded: • 100 Years 100 Stories – Detroit Historical Society • Adaptive Connections – Design Core Detroit • Something’s Coming – The Carr Center • Documenting Detroit: Revisited – College for Creative Studies These pilots are designed as use cases to engage people in immersive and participatory digital experiences through art, science, and technology.

These pilots are intended to inform, activate, and animate future strategy and master plans for the Detroit Cultural Center as an event-based collaborative landscape.

38

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND

Documenting Detroit: Revisited.

Photo: Annmarie Borucki 39

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 1

100 YEARS 100 STORIES DETROIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY https://detroithistorical.org/

100 Years 100 Stories is a dynamic place-based neighborhood initiative designed to provide resources and tools that empower residents to be the keepers of their family history and community stories, both deepening their ability to project and conserve these narratives while adding to the collection of the Detroit Historical Society (DHS) via images, documents, and oral histories. 100 Years 100 Stories is designed to strengthen the institution’s engagement with Indigenous and Queer communities in Detroit and its Midtown Detroit neighbors while contributing to the primary archive dedicated to the city’s collective narrative.

WHAT HAPPENED The program consists of a series of workshops about at-home historical archiving practices. DHS staff facilitated workshops directly on location at apartment complexes, resource organizations, and community education centers to inform and teach their Midtown Detroit neighbors about accessible preservation methods. The program outlined the best way to preserve 2D material such as photographs, clothing, and some 3D material. DHS also provided digitization services at each of the workshops, as well as oral history training and interviews.

“It was clear from the start that people were very interested in the subject matter. Communities in Detroit have a sense of understanding around the importance of maintaining legacy and history through storytelling and preservation.”

Dean Nasreddine – Former Manager of Community Outreach and Engagement, Detroit Historical Society

40

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 1 – 100 YEARS 100 STORIES

PROMISING PRACTICES Meet people where they are at: For DHS, this meant creating intentional partnerships with LGBT Detroit, Vibes with the Tribes, and going into neighbors’ homes and residential complexes. The project engaged people unfamiliar with the organization or where the museum was located.

ABOUT The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit’s stories and why they matter.

Their vision is to be an integral part of Detroit’s present and future by providing meaningful experiences that illuminate, share, and preserve its nuanced past. Since its founding in 1921, the Detroit Historical Society has been dedicated to preserving the region’s history so that current and future generations of metro Detroiters understand the people, places, and events that shape their realities and lived experiences today and in the future.

Technology to break down barriers: DHS used a new portable digital scanner to support digitizing artifacts and existing audio/visual collection platforms for this pilot project. Technology was used to build and strengthen relationships by extending capacity and services to Detroit neighbors and communities.

PARTNERS

LEARNING + ADAPTING

Detroit Historical Society LGBT Detroit Vibes with the Tribes Octane Design

This project is about building trust with communities that have largely been overlooked and extracted from. When working with these communities, it’s crucial to consider how they’ve been engaged in the past and why some may be hesitant or not quite forthcoming about their histories. One thing that helped DHS was remaining as open and transparent as possible with their partners and participants – both in the process of the engagements and in ensuring that communities retained ownership over any interviews or artifacts they brought.

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS Elana Rugh – President + CEO, Detroit Historical Society Malika M. Pryor – Former Senior Director of Educations and Programs, Detroit Historical Society Dean Nasreddine – Former Manager of Community Outreach and Engagement, Detroit Historical Society Shelia Mitchell – Resident of Williams Pavilion Annmarie Borucki – Director of Arts and Culture, Midtown Detroit Inc.

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DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 2

ADAPTIVE CONNECTIONS DESIGN CORE DETROIT + COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES https://designcore.org/ https://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/

“Adaptive Connections provided in-depth study and engagement with community members.

This led to different and positive results and opportunities for the students, our partners, and community members.”

Adaptive Connections is a project of Design Core Detroit and the College for Creative Studies (CCS) to explore the question of “what does it mean to be connected now, and how might we design systems and spaces that help all of us to stay connected to adapt to the environmental challenges facing cities in the 21st century?” The outcomes of this project are intended to advance Design Core Detroit’s 2022 City of Design Challenge and CCS’s participation in the Cumulus 2022 conference Design for Adaptation.

Maria-Luisa Rossi – Chair + Professor, MFA System Design Thinking, College for Creative Studies

WHAT HAPPENED Adaptive Connections provided a unique opportunity for partners, students, and faculty to focus on a single theme and explore extended community engagement opportunities across two semesters. Classes focused on preferable scenarios design, data visualization and complex information design, and service design learning and methods. Students connected and engaged directly with residents in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood, in each course. The engagement and co-creation sessions with residents were designed to identify community needs and resilience plans before, during, and after a natural disaster (e.g., the June and July 2021 flooding events). The program also built empathy and understanding between the students, residents, experts, and other stakeholders.

Extreme Heat

MFA System Design Thinking GRD 605 Data Visualization I Yu-Ren Lai Wen Qi Yan

How much do you know about global warming?

MI 68%

Heatwave Risk Perceptions In order to prepare for extreme heat, Americans need to be aware that it is a serious threat to human health. This data shows how Americans perceive the health risks of extreme heat events (heat waves) at the state level in the U.S. Higher values indicate that people perceive greater risks from heat waves States with the Lowest Heatwave Risk Perceptions(Risk perception index, Us average 40)

72%

of Americans believe global warming is happening

100%

80%

ND MN MT WY NH VT WI SD ME CO MA IA ID NE AK MI OH IN CT WV

40%

60%

35% 10

20

30

40

Climate Change Indicators: U.S. and Global Temperature Lower troposphere

Earth’s surface 4

Warming by as much as

2

2.5°F

We can see that the average surface minimum temperature across the 48 states of the United States is generally showing an increasing trend, while the world average surface minimum temperature has also been increasing and has not been consistently below 0 degrees since 1997.

0

1900

1910

1920

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1950

Heat Wave Frequency

1970

1960

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1990

Heat Wave Duration

Average number of heat waves per year

2000

2010

2020

Heat Wave Season

Average length of individial heat waves (days)

Heat Wave Intensity

8

4

Average length of the annual heat wave season (days) 80

6

3

60

4

2

40

2

1

20

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

1960s

1970s

1980s

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Average temperature above the local threshold during heat waves (°F) 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5

1960s

Effects on Michiganders

1970s

1980s

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2010s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

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Numbers of Emergency Visits for Heat Illness in Michigan We can see that the average surface minimum temperature across the 48 states of the United States is generally showing an increasing trend, while the world average surface minimum temperature has also been increasing and has not been consistently below 0 degrees since 1997.

Statewide 1,882 Units : Emergency Department Visits 156-193

3%

117-154 40-77

Nearly of Michiganders are vulnerable to extreme heat

79-115 0-38 Suppressed:Low Reporting of ED Data

Climate change is making urban heat island worse

Summer heat in Detroit Most intense urban heat islands (2004-2013) Las Vegas Albuquerque Denver Louisville Portland Washington, D.C. Kansas City Columbus Minneapolis Seattle St. Louis Albany Dallas Detroit Philadelphia Nashville Memphis Phoenix Boise Richmond

7.3°F

Summers in the city have been getting hotter, faster than in rural areas since 1970, as exemplified in 45 out of 60 cities we analyzed. Hotter temperatures and urbanization are increasing risks for the 80% of Americans living in cities.

UP TO

3.8°F 0

2

4

Warming Rate (°F per decade)

AVERAGE 6

8

AVERAGE

22° 3.8° 10

Hotter in the city than in nearby rural areas City summers are hotter than in rural areas

More days above 90°each year than rural areas

Source

Works by Yu-Ren Lai and Wen Qi Yan, Katerina Meidanis and Tzitzijani Silva, and Bochen Peng and Grishma Vartak

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DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 2 – ADAPTIVE CONNECTIONS Manistique Community Treehouse Center was a key partner and link to the residents. Leslie Tom, Chief Sustainability Officer at Charles H. Wright Museum, facilitated a co-creation session focused on stakeholder mapping that included experts from Detroit Future City, Sierra Club Michigan chapter, Eastside Community Network, and Alliance for the Great Lakes (Detroit office). At the end of each course (fall/winter), students exhibited and presented work open to the public and the wider college community.

Exhibits included research posters and videos related to the project.

College for Creative Studies. As the steward of Detroit’s UNESCO City of Design designation, Design Core serves as the convener and backbone organization for the Detroit City of Design initiative.

The College for Creative Studies, located in the heart of Detroit, is a worldclass institution that educates artists and designers to become leaders in creative professions. A private, fully accredited college, CCS enrolls more than 1,400 students pursuing Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Master of Arts (MA), and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees. CCS fosters students’ resolve to pursue excellence, act ethically, engage their responsibilities as citizens, and embrace life-long learning.

PROMISING PRACTICES Meet people where they are at: Reaching residents was initially difficult.

Working across multiple sequential courses over two semesters allowed faculty and students more time cultivating relationships and sustaining engagement beyond what was previously possible.

PARTNERS

Technology to break down barriers: For CCS, this meant rethinking the use of online collaboration tools like Mural and Miro. Due to Covid-19, engagement opportunities took place primarily through online video platforms. Translating activities and collaboration into alternative formats for residents took additional capacity but was worth the extra effort.

Design Core Detroit College for Creative Studies Manistique Community Treehouse Center Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

LEARNING + ADAPTING

DESIGN CORE DETROIT: Bonnie Fahoome – Co-Executive Director Ellie Schneider – Former Director, Detroit City of Design Initiative

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS

Utilizing technology, data visualization, and service design to disrupt and shake up existing players and transform dominant models was at the heart of the project. There is much work to be done to support a responsible and sustainable ecological transition. Ultimately, digital technologies can be both a help and a hindrance to this. This project also illuminated access, inequality, and capacity issues surrounding digital technology and communications. This was critical in exploring not only the theme of Adaptive Connections but also the experiences of students, faculty, and residents as they sought to work together.

COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES: Olga Stella – Vice President of Strategy and Communications Maria-Luisa Rossi – Chair + Professor, MFA System Design Thinking – project lead Jenn Shilling – Data Visualization Faculty Anna Cichorz, Yu-Ren Lai, Katerina Miedanis, Bochen Peng, Tzitzijani Silva, Grishma Vartak, and Wen Qi Yan – Participating Students

ABOUT Design Core Detroit champions design-driven businesses as drivers of Detroit’s economy. It offers services to support, grow, and attract design businesses, increase market demand for services, and promote Detroit’s design story locally and globally. Design Core is a department within 43

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 3

THE CARR CENTER PRESENTS + SOMETHING’S COMING THE CARR CENTER https://thecarrcenter.org/

The Carr Center Presents is a series of live performance, film, and visual arts events available to the public via live stream and video on demand.

Each event presents leading national, regional, and local performing and visual arts and artists to Metro Detroit audiences. The Carr Center also began developing a new state-of-the-art 2,500-square-foot performance studio complete with digital video and sound production infrastructure with exceptional acoustics. The new space will support the series and expanded programming for The Carr Center. As an asset for the Detroit Cultural Center, the space will encourage creating new work. As part of this development, The Carr Center launched an internal planning and visioning process called Something’s Coming to develop ideas for effective uses of the new studio’s digital capacity.

WHAT HAPPENED The Carr Center Presents series produced four concerts for in-person and live streaming. Additionally, they organized and filmed artists’ talks as part of their Meet the Artist program showcasing the Carr Center’s multi-disciplinary work while providing teaser content to drive audiences to the Presents series. The Carr Center digital content is also available for broadcast through partnerships with City of Detroit Arts + Entertainment programming on Channel 22. They are also experimenting with different revenue models for their content as they expand live streaming and on-demand options. Whenever the series was streamed free of charge, it reached substantial online audiences, with thousands of views. By contrast, paywalled content attracted less attention, averaging 200 views.

The Carr Center Performance Studio. Image courtesy of Brenda Terrell

For Something’s Coming, The Carr Center developed plans to tell the story of the transformation of the previous Wardell Hotel (now the Park Shelton) ballroom into The Carr Center Performance Studio by producing a series of video podcasts featuring newly commissioned works by local and national artists. The goal was to use the virtual platform to understand how artists and community members might see themselves and engage in and with the space. Designed to coincide with the opening of the new performance studio, this has been put on hold until fall 2022 due to unforeseen delays in the permission and redevelopment process and continued disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 3 – THE CARR CENTER PRESENTS + SOMETHING’S COMING

“Digital technology is an important part of the toolkit to build audiences, garner greater attention, and ultimately gain more financial support for arts and cultural organizations. For audiences, they experience content produced by non-profit arts organizations alongside those produced commercially. If we want to compete or keep up, the field needs to invest sustainably and reliably in its people, capacity, and digital infrastructure.”

LEARNING + ADAPTING Creating high-quality digital content and productions can be expensive and require significant skills and capacities from staff and the organization. The Carr Center uses an eight-camera setup to provide engaging content and experiences for online audiences. This has ongoing implications for the Performance Studio’s equipment requirements and the continued expansion and resourcing of its programs in the digital realm.

Oliver Ragsdale Jr. – President + CEO, The Carr Center

ABOUT The Carr Center is a non-profit organization that leverages the essence of the African American cultural experience to inspire, entertain, challenge, and educate. By presenting arts education, professional development, and artist support programs, they positively impact the metropolitan Detroit, national and global communities.

PROMISING PRACTICES Partner to grow online audiences – The Carr Center created diverse media and marketing partnerships that grew and expanded their online audiences beyond what they could have achieved alone. Audience members attended multiple events and came from down the street and far afield. They were also able to make modest increases in revenue from online viewership.

PARTNERS Detroit School of Arts JazzCorner City of Detroit Channel 22 WDIV Click on Detroit NBC Affiliate

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS

Partner + plan to address technology challenges – With each event and with the aid of additional resources and partnerships, the quality of the digital programming increased. In particular, the relationship with WDIV made a substantial difference. For Something’s Coming, The Carr Center laid out an ambitious plan for using technology as part of the Performance Studio that focused on opportunities for cultural production of new works and their presentation.

Midtown Detroit, Inc. Hellenic Museum of Michigan

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DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 4

DOCUMENTING DETROIT: REVISITED COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES + DETROIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY https://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/ https://detroithistorical.org/

“The students’ projects and the themes they explored were inclusive and authentic in celebrating the stories of Indigenous people and communities in Metro Detroit. As a collective of students, faculty, and partners, we came to the project as active learners and listeners first. Together with our Indigenous partners, we produced what we hope is a proof of concept that novel forms of print and digital expression and storytelling can reflect, represent, and build ties with Detroit communities.”

Associate Professors Matthew Raupp + William Valicenti, College for Creative Studies Documenting Detroit: Revisited. Photo: Matthew Raupp

WHAT HAPPENED

The College for Creative Studies Communication Design + Photography Departments partnered with The Detroit Historical Society to produce Documenting Detroit: Revisited. The project was designed to engage and celebrate the lives and stories of Indigenous people through a new series of photographic prints and interactive experiences. This pilot supports students and faculty members in learning and applying respectful and authentic approaches to community engagement, collaboration, and representation. The idea for this project was sparked by the development and ongoing work to recognize the current and historic importance of Indigenous peoples by the College for Creative Studies and The Detroit Historical Society, part of their larger commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This project was built upon and revived an original partnership between the Detroit Historical Society and College for Creative Studies. From 1972 to 1984, they created the Documenting Detroit photography series led and taught by noted and prolific photographer Bill Rauhauser. Then as now, students reflected on the lives of people and the landscape of Detroit through documentary photography. The original project resulted in the series becoming a part of the DHS permanent collection. Documenting Detroit: Revisited explores contemporary experimental storytelling through documentary photography, immersive media, and interactive experiences. The partnership focuses on developing and building community archives and histories and pays special attention to exhibition 46

DIGITAL CAPACITY BUILDING – TRANSFORMER FUND 4 – DOCUMENTING DETROIT: REVISITED ABOUT The College for Creative Studies, located in the heart of Detroit, is a worldclass institution for future leaders in creative professions. A private, fully accredited college, CCS enrolls more than 1,400 students pursuing Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Master of Arts (MA), and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees. CCS fosters students’ resolve to pursue excellence, act ethically, engage their responsibilities as citizens, and learn throughout their lives.

design. Students produced new bodies of work through research with and in consultation with metro Detroit’s Indigenous community members. The final results were exhibited at the College for Creative Studies galleries, with plans to include select projects in a forthcoming exhibition at the Detroit Historical Society.

PROMISING PRACTICES

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit’s stories and why they matter.

Their vision is to be an integral part of Detroit’s present and future by providing meaningful experiences that illuminate, share, and preserve its nuanced past. Since its founding in 1921, DHS has been dedicated to preserving the region’s history so that current and future generations of Metro Detroiters understand the people, places, and events that shape their realities and lived experiences today and in the future.

Work at the speed of trust – Community collaborations take time to build trust and authentic partnerships and cooperation. With inperson gatherings severely restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, CCS and DHS sought to find ways to enter Indigenous communities and spaces respectfully. The partners focused on establishing a baseline of trusted relationships and consultations that could lead to deeper, more collaborative connections in the future.

PARTNERS College for Creative Studies Detroit Historical Society

Use digital technology meaningfully – For the partners, this meant they made sure that students didn’t start with technology. They began by developing ideas about how best to center and communicate the stories of the members of the Indigenous community they interviewed and worked with. VR, AR, animation, motion graphics, physical computing, and photographic processes flowed from clear communication goals and priorities.

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS: Hadassah Greensky – Indigenous Rights Advocate + Musician Raymond Elwart Jr., a.k.a. SouFy – Hip-Hop Artist Sarah Brant – Indigenous Rights Advocate + Student at Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College CCS PROJECT LEADS: Matthew Raupp – Associate Professor Communication Design Dept.

William Valicenti – Associate Professor Photography Dept.

DHS PROJECT LEADS: Elana Rugh – President + CEO Malika M. Pryor – Former Senior Director of Educations + Programs Dean Nasreddine – Former Manager of Community Outreach + Engagement

LEARNING + ADAPTING Documenting Detroit: Revisited illustrates pathways for what is possible through intentional partnerships between Detroit Cultural Center organizations. Each partner felt that they contributed to and produced more impactful experiences for students, faculty, staff, community partners, and the public in collaboration than what could have been achieved individually. It raises questions about how to sustain and normalize this co-creative approach. The same is true for community collaborations. One takeaway was the desire for engagement of community partners to happen earlier in the process for projects and with more frequency, with implications for how projects are structured and resourced.

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DIGITAL RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES

BUILDING A SHARED FRAMEWORK

WHAT HAPPENED

ROOTOFTWO

As part of the initial field scan, rootoftwo conducted a critical analysis of existing digital rights rubrics from national and international sources.

These documents were parsed for the most frequently mentioned criteria and concerns. Sources include Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation); The People’s Roadmap to a Digital New York City; the VIRT-EU Values and ethics in Innovation for Responsible Technology in Europe Report; the Declaration of Cities Coalition for Digital Rights (a coalition with the support of the United Nations Human Settlements Program and the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition); and the Manifesto in Favor of Technological Sovereignty and Digital Rights For Cities; among several others. A prioritized list was developed to serve as an aspirational framework to guide the CCPI institutions to consider how they will collaborate, coordinate, and decide collectively on adopting digital technologies.

https://rootoftwo.com/

In 2018, the city councils of Barcelona, Amsterdam, and New York formed the Cities’ Coalition for Digital Rights (CCDR), an international alliance of global People-Centered Smart Cities that has subsequently expanded to 46 additional cities globally. rootoftwo recommended that the CCPI institutions similarly consider the impact of digital transformation on the fundamental human rights and collective social and ethical values of visitors to the Detroit Cultural Center. The aim was to provide the Detroit Cultural Center institutions with a flexible and adaptable framework of anticipatory principles that could be developed and tailored by individual institutions and the collective initiative. The framework was intended to empower the organizations to make critically reasoned choices about technology adoption in the Detroit Cultural Center to govern safe, equitable, and consented use of visitors’ personal data.

List of Rights + Principles: • Equity – Ability to engage through open, participatory, and transparent digital processes • Access – Equal right to use a free, secure, and open internet • Privacy – User control of personal information, including what happens to data, who uses it, and for what purposes (collection, retention, processing, disposal, and disclosure) • Security – Protection against data exploitation or bias • Participation – Right to choose to opt-in to use of their data, default settings do not collect data • Transparency – Access to understandable and accurate information about the technological systems they are subject to before, during, and after their visit • Accountability – Ability to question and challenge unfair, biased, or discriminatory technological systems 48

VALUES-DRIVEN FRAMEWORK – DIGITAL RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES

“The way I’m going to evaluate any proposal touching on social media and the Internet is whether it strengthens or weakens the prospects for a healthy, inclusive democracy, whether it encourages robust debate and respect for our differences, whether it reinforces rule of law and self-governance, whether it helps us make collective decisions based on the best available information, and whether it recognizes the rights and freedoms and dignity of all our citizens. Whatever changes contribute to that vision, I’m for. Whatever erodes that vision, I’m against, just so you know.”

PROMISING PRACTICES Digital transformation has far-reaching implications: Digital technologies are widely recognized as imperative for almost every aspect of 21st century life. The privilege of digital connectivity comes with exponential amounts of data generated from an increasing number of devices.

Massive amounts of data on individuals and communities are being harvested, mainly by private companies with little public oversight and accountability. Public consciousness of the issue has primarily focused on abstract, vague notions such as “privacy” that lose meaning when most of us are unconsciously monitored by simply carrying devices enabled to track and predict our behavior. In November 2019, rootoftwo conducted a 2.5-hour workshop titled Designing for the Equitable Smart City during the INCLUDE Conference, produced by The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, hosted by Design Core Detroit and College for Creative Studies. At this workshop, Detroit residents (high school students, policymakers, funders, architects, planners, designers, and college professors) were invited to share their thoughts about the implications of the planned smart city. The concerns of this group closely aligned with the field scan sources.

Former US President Barack Obama. Disinformation Is a Threat to Our Democracy. Keynote, Stanford University Cyber Policy Center. 2022.

Sound the Deep Waters by Angela Fraleigh and Josh Miller.

Photo: David Lewinski

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VALUES-DRIVEN FRAMEWORK – DIGITAL RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES LEARNING + ADAPTING

agree on. The key is to define a distinct spectrum of levels from low to high (it could be as simple as “Wack” > “Meh” > “Cool” > “Dope”). Decide together the four words you will use for your rubric. Words are important.

Write them in the boxes across the top of the matrix (above the default levels).

The following activity was designed for institutions that want to selfidentify how they meet the criteria outlined in the digital rights and principles framework. This activity aims to subvert the notion that assessment, evaluation, and feedback are done to us rather than something we do for ourselves. Staff can use this matrix to co-create narrative and analytic rubrics for their institution that provide a structure and format for asking what matters most to them and to describe what success looks like. The rubric can be filled and re-filled as required because its purpose is not to meet external validation standards. Instead, its purpose is to describe success on the institution’s terms.

2. Next, you need to define specific characteristics for each of these levels.

Work together to come up with descriptions for each of your levels.

For example, what does excellent/exemplary (+++) look like? What does good/perfectly acceptable (++) look like? What does status quo/ minimally acceptable (+) look like? What does poor/unacceptable (-) look like? Write short phrases under your words in the boxes across the top of the matrix (above the default levels)..

1. Your team wants to develop a digital rights and principles rubric that uses descriptive language to define quality levels that can measure what matters and that everyone understands and agrees on. For this activity, ask yourselves how successfully we have met each of the seven criteria outlined in the aspirational framework? The default levels are “Poor” > “Status Quo” > “Good > “Excellent” – you can use these, but it is better if your team comes up with terms that they all understand and

3. Underneath your characteristics, add specific examples of what you would expect to see or hear at that level for each of the seven criteria outlined in the framework. Indicate with as much clarity and specificity as possible.

Poor (-) Equity Access Privacy Security Participation Transparency Accountability 50

Status Quo (+)

Good (++)

Excellent (+++)

VALUES-DRIVEN FRAMEWORK – DIGITAL RIGHTS + PRINCIPLES Sound the Deep Waters by Angela Fraleigh and Josh Miller. Photo: David Lewinski

ABOUT rootoftwo facilitates people to imagine and shape collective actions for more just, resilient, inclusive, and adaptive futures. Formed in 1998 by Cézanne Charles and John Marshall, rootoftwo uses participatory design methods to create innovative and tangible experiences, events, artifacts, spaces, methods, and strategies. They engage diverse stakeholders through interaction, participation, humor, and play to subvert and reimagine systems, infrastructures, and networks.

Example EQUITY – All visitors should have the ability to engage through open, participatory, and transparent digital processes.

(-) “Wack” poor/unacceptable – Only visitors with their own devices, access, and data plans can engage with online content during their visit after downloading an app (+) “Meh” status quo/minimally acceptable – Visitors without their own devices can access online content during their visit via public access kiosks throughout the venue (when they are working and not in use by someone else) (++) “Cool” good/perfectly acceptable – All visitors are provided with fully functional and sanitized devices to access online content during their visit (+++) “Dope” excellent/exemplary – All visitors are provided with fully functional and sanitized devices on which they access individually customized online content during their visit without surrendering control of their personal information

PARTNERS Midtown Detroit, Inc. The Cultural Center Planning Initiative

ADDITIONAL THANKS + CREDITS Annmarie Borucki – Director of Arts + Culture, Midtown Detroit Inc. Ellie Schneider – Former Director, Detroit City of Design Initiative, Design Core Detroit Olga Stella – VP of Strategy + Communication, College for Creative Studies The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art – INCLUDE Conference producer 51

PROPOSITIONS + QUESTIONS

DISCUSSION ROOTOFTWO https://rootoftwo.com/

The work of rootoftwo is actively concerned with anticipating and understanding the intended and unintended consequences of systems, policies, developments, and decision-making at the intersection of technology and culture. We call this civic future-making. It is an understatement to say that the world and moment we find ourselves in now in 2022 is far from what we imagined throughout the DIA Plaza/ Midtown Cultural Connections international design competition in 2018 and the early phases of the strategy work in 2019. And yet, so much of what resonated and was relevant about the mission and objectives of the Cultural Center Planning Initiative only became more so because of wider societal shifts.

rootoftwo’s strategy work and year-long Transformer pilot sought to foster an enhanced and interactive cultural center that strengthens and connects institutions and engages residents and visitors. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the global need for digital transformation within the arts and cultural sector. The digital strategy coalesced around four key opportunities to support digital transformation in the Detroit Cultural Center: Digital Infrastructure, Digital Creative Visitor Experiences, Digital Capacity, and Digital Rights + Principles. The CCPI presented a rare opportunity to understand the possibilities and limitations of culture-led approaches to place-based urban technology from a critical and practical perspective (Marshall and Charles 2022). This report identifies and clarifies key takeaways and practical insights from the work of the participating Cultural Center Planning Initiative institutions, partners, and local, national, and international thought-leaders. Throughout the entire three years of digital strategy work on the CCPI, the one constant was that the role of creative, cultural, and civic institutions must continously be renewed and evolve to remain relevant to people and place. Expanding into the digital realm is one part of that. In closing, we offer some propositions and driving questions for the future.

Canopy by Pneuhaus. Photo: David Lewinski

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DISCUSSION

Invest in developing digital skills and talent – It is challenging to recruit and build digital teams within the culture sector and for those teams to have meaningful strategic influence inside organizations. How might the Detroit Cultural Center institutions incentivize professional development and upskilling of existing staff and develop cross-organizational sharing of talent, expertise, and resources?

PROPOSITIONS + QUESTIONS Act as mediators for more inclusive and consentful uses of place-based technology – As technology evolves, there will always be a need to make new capabilities more equitable. The digitally privileged are always better able to adapt, while the digitally excluded are constantly catching up.

How might Detroit Cultural Center institutions continue to take a valuesbased approach to investment in technological infrastructure that supports the city’s ambitions to bridge the digital divide?

Commission and expand the breadth and regularity of digital programming in-person and online – Artists, culture-bearers, and creative technologists can produce compelling experiences with communities, using technology and digital tools for the public good. Their collaborative approaches to creating work can reshape how we think of cultural production and provision. How might the Detroit Cultural Center institutions build strong long-term partnerships, employment, and support for art and technology artists to ensure that more and different people experience what they have to offer?

Establish data collection and sharing policies based on transparency and accountability – Culture sector organizations, especially those with physical assets, must consider their role and responsibility within digital place-based practices or digital placemaking developments. There is an opportunity to create culturally sensitive and relevant approaches to district and city-scaled technologies. How might the Detroit Cultural Center institutions create legal structures that provide community-informed and trusted stewardship of the visitorship data gathered from individuals and aggregated for shared uses that improve people’s experiences with them?

As the Cultural Center Planning Initiative advances and embarks on its next phases of development, it undoubtedly presents a catalytic opportunity to foster a landscape that supports civic activities and creative uses for technology within an inclusive and equitable framework.

This only happens with decision-making and governance that recognizes the need for a plurality of expertise, knowledge, shared learning, and much deliberation.

Use digital tools to engage new and existing audiences – Audiences and communities may lack digital confidence or exposure to new technologies.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that digital tools should be disregarded.

How might Detroit Cultural Center institutions continue to develop outdoor and online programs, communications, and engagement designed to demystify technology and spark imagination and creativity in residents and visitors?

Cézanne + John Partners, rootoftwo

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Museum & Galleries of NSW. Crystal Clear: Standards and Guidance for Digitising Regional Collections Held in Museums, Galleries, Keeping Places and Cultural Centres. October 2021.

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Scott, Molly M., Robert L. Santos, Olivia Arena, Chris Hayes, Alphonse Simon. Community Ties: Understanding what attaches people to the place where they live. May 2020. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://kng.ht/3QRk6uU Smithsonian Institution. Delivering on the Promise of the Digital Smithsonian. 2014.

Accessed May 20, 2022. https://s.si.edu/39C8VFS The Space, Culture24, The Audience Agency / Golant Innovation, the University of Leicester, and Creative Coop. The Digital Cultural Compass. n.d. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://digitalculturecompass.org.uk/ Synapse C. Synapse C: Decrypts and Adds Value. n.d. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://synapsec.ca/en/ Tabrizi, Behnam, Ed Lam, Kirk Girard, and Vernon Irvin. Digital Transformation is Not About Technology. Harvard Business Review.

March 13, 2019. https://bit.ly/3nmfjnT UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Culture is Digital. 2018. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3tGOOwM UK Government’s Culture is Digital Initiative.

The Digital Culture Charter. n.d. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3yvPisN

UN-Habitat. Digital Cities Toolkit: Policy Toolkit for People-Centered Smart Cities. n.d. Accessed March 26, 2022 https://unhabitat.org/digitalcitiestoolkit/ United Nations. Hub for Human Rights and Digital Technology. n.d. Accessed March 26, 2022 https://www.digitalhub.ohchr.org/ Valençot, Ségolène. Engaging Art: Design Approaches to Digital Projects - A Beginner’s Guide. 2020. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3mVEI7x Visser, Jasper, and Jim Richardson. Digital Engagement in Culture, Heritage and the Arts.

2013. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3b2l5YN Welch, Kathryn. The Role of Digital Engagement in Place-based Projects. December 2020.

Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3zK51VS Wright, Dawn J. et al., Toward a digital resilience. 2016. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. 4. p.000082. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3NiGRVz Zalusky, Steve. The State of America’s Libraries 2021: A Report from the American Library Association. 2021. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://bit.ly/3O4MKXR

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JARGON BUSTER Connect 313 Connect 313 started in Detroit in 2020 to address the digital divide with an open network of people, organizations, and funders with a shared, data-driven, and community-based strategy for digital inclusion. https://connect313.org/ Consentful Technology Consentful technology purposefully foregrounds the rights and consent of users of technology networks, devices, and services with values-based practices that center the selfdetermination of individuals in interactions with technological systems. https://www.consentfultech.io/ Digital Capacity Digital capacity is a phrase that refers to the aptitude for individuals and organizations to have and use technology to further their aims.

This can involve acquiring and maintaining the hardware and software needed to function well in a sector or industry and having the appropriate staffing, skills, training, and proficiency in using digital technology.

Digital Divide The digital divide is the gap between those with affordable access, skills, and support to engage online effectively and those who do not. As technology constantly evolves, the digital divide prevents equal participation and opportunity in all parts of life. It disproportionately affects people of color, Indigenous peoples, low-income households, people with disabilities, rural areas, and older adults. https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/ Digital Equity Digital equity is a condition where all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy. Digital equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services. https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/ Digital Inclusion Digital inclusion refers to the activities necessary to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, have access to and use information and communication technologies (ICTs). Digital inclusion must evolve as technology advances. Digital inclusion requires intentional strategies and investments to reduce and eliminate historical, institutional, and structural barriers to accessing and using technology. https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/

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Digital Infrastructure Digital infrastructure is the digital technologies, policies, and standards that provide the basis for an organization’s information technology and operations. Examples of digital infrastructure include Internet connectivity, mobile telecom, apps, networks, portals, platforms, systems, software, cloud services, Global Positioning System (GPS), and application programming interfaces (APIs).

Digital Resilience Digital resilience is an organization’s capacity to deal effectively with change and use digital tools and systems to recover from or adjust to crises quickly. It indicates the ability to develop and implement evolving strategies and continue operating through challenges or difficulties.

Digital Transformation Digital transformation refers to the practices, processes, attitudes, goals, and outcomes of continually engaging technology to serve organizational missions best. Technology is constantly evolving, and thus part of digital transformation is adapting mindsets, organizational cultures, and ways of working strategically to meet the present moment.

This is in addition to developing core digital competencies and upgrading or replacing legacy equipment, software, and other infrastructure. Digital transformation helps organizations meet the evolving demands of the 21st century’s major shifts in computing, social media, and cybersecurity.

JARGON BUSTER Merit Network Merit Network is a regional, non-profit internet service provider in Michigan founded in 1966, pre-dating the term internet itself.

Governed by 12 of Michigan’s four-year higher education institutions, Merit Network provides networking, security, community services, and physical connections such as fiber to nonprofit organizations, including educational institutions, libraries, and other non-profits. https://www.merit.edu/ Smart City The term smart city indicates the integration of information and communication technologies to monitor, control, and organize municipal operations and services. It is the system of systems that enables the capture, analysis, optimization, and communication of data through various data-acquisition systems (e.g., sensors, cameras, devices, phones, social networks, etc.) This data is used to adjust city services, operational activities, policy, and the coordination of service delivery for public safety, health, education, business, transportation, and core utilities such as water and energy.

WAPs / APs Wireless access points (WAPs) or access points (APs) are hardware devices that provide the Wi-Fi signals necessary to create wireless local area networks (WLAN). The WAPs are wired first into an internet connection supplied by an internet service provider (ISP). The WAPs then project that physical connection wirelessly to computers, mobile phones, tablets, and laptops equipped to send and receive Wi-Fi signals. To connect wirelessly, these devices must be within the vicinity and general line-ofsight of the WAPs and be permitted to connect to the WLAN. WAPs can also collect data on the devices connected, such as the number of devices using the network in the physical location of the WAP.

Urban Screens Urban Screens is a term for appropriating architectural-scale digital displays in public space to present noncommercial cultural content for public engagement and interaction. The meaning emerges from a series of conferences and events in Amsterdam, Manchester, and Melbourne from 2005 to 2008 and as conceptualized by the urban researcher Mirjam Struppek.

Wi-Fi / Wireless Wi-Fi is the name for common protocols and standards for exchanging data and connecting to the internet over radio waves rather than wired connections. Wi-Fi signals are broadcast over specific frequencies to compatible devices within a vicinity limited by the distance Wi-Fi radio frequencies can travel and obstructions such as trees or structures in the line of sight of the connection.

Wireless Bridge A wireless bridge is a device that connects two network segments via infrared or microwave transmission. A wireless bridge is often used to span buildings and provides a more economical method than laying cable or leasing a private line.

Get Big by Tiff Massey. Photo: David Lewinski

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THANKS + CREDITS The Cultural Center Planning Initiative digital strategy work by rootoftwo and the Transformer: Digital Strategy Pilots would not have been possible without generous support from:

ADDITIONAL THANKS TO CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE FUNDERS: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan DTE Energy Foundation Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation Hudson Webber Foundation The Kresge Foundation Rocket Community Fund Walters Family Foundation WITH THANKS TO THE CCPI 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 Wayne State University CULTURAL CENTER PLANNING INITIATIVE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: CCPI Project Management Team CCPI Steering Committee CCPI Design Team: Agence Ter – Akoaki, LLC and Dr. Harley Etienne CCPI Marketing + Communications Committee Boston Consulting Group (BCG) City of Detroit Planning and Development Department City of Detroit Office of Arts, Culture, and Entrepreneurship 60

City of Detroit Department of Innovation + Technology (DoIT) Detroit TSC + Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) ADDITIONAL SPECIAL THANKS: Susan Mosey – Executive Director Midtown Detroit, Inc Annmarie Borucki – Director of Arts and Culture Midtown Detroit Inc. Victoria Rogers – VP/Arts John S., and James L. Knight Foundation Koven Smith – Senior Director/Arts John S., and James L. Knight Foundation Nathaniel L. Wallace – Detroit Director John S., and James L. Knight Foundation George Jacobsen – Program Director William Davidson Foundation Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan Juan Richardson – Senior Director, IT Infrastructure, Wayne State University Laura Hendrick – Former Senior Director, IT Infrastructure, Wayne State University Joshua Edmonds – Director of Digital Inclusion City of Detroit Rochelle Riley – Director of Arts and Culture City of Detroit Chris Barr – Chief Technology Officer NABU Ellie Schneider – Former Director Detroit City of Design Initiative Design Core Detroit Olga Stella – VP Strategy and Communications College for Creative Studies Nik Honeysett – CEO, Balboa Park Online Collective

THANKS + CREDITS We are grateful for the local and regional residents, visitors, and community members who enliven the Detroit Cultural Center and continually inform and inspire our work, especially those that lent their time, talent, and insights as part of the Designing the Equitable Smart City workshop during 2019 INCLUDE Conference produced by the Royal College of Art and College for Creative Studies. We’d also like to thank the virtual attendees from across the city, nation, and globe who participated in the Transformer Series.

ROOTOFTWO TEAM Cézanne Charles – Partner John Marshall – Partner Elizabeth Vander Veen – Design Strategist + Researcher

WITH GRATITUDE TO ALL THE ARTISTS WHOSE WORK LIT UP DLECTRICITY 2021.

WE THANK THE ARTISTS WHOSE WORK WE INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: Allison Janae Hamilton Amanda Parer Angela Fraleigh and Josh Miller Bradley Scherzer Jake Fried Layne Hinton Mariana Carranza Mentalgassi Pneuhaus Ralph Taylor Takayuki Mori Tiff Massey Tom Harman of LaserNet Yann Nguema AND PHOTOGRAPHERS: David Lewinski Nadir Ali Illuminated Balloon Heads — Detroit by Mentalgassi. Photo: Nadir Ali

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