Boulevard House Assessment & Plan

Boulevard House Assessment & Plan of Action The purpose of this document is to assess the current effectiveness of the Boulevard House, its partners and programs, and provide a clear plan to implement in part or full moving forward.

Assessment of Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Faculty

Long­term investment of partners

Location

Upkeep

Space

Poor Communication

Interest

Follow­through

Immediate Needs: ● Clear job descriptions and chains of command for all paid and volunteer partners ● House Repair and Cleanup

Long­term Needs: ● Establishing a good reputation with neighbors ● Creating regular schedules and programming

Crazy Ideas

Speaker Series ● Host a monthly speaker series (could be in collaboration with an org or UM college).

Invite thinkers, neighbors, artists, and public officials to speak. This is a low­risk event that gets people into the space regularly.

Professional Workshop ● Host a monthly workshop with a creator. Boulevard House has an excess of usable space for making. A regular workshop will gain more traction that sporadic events.

Coworking Space ● A coworking space could be a great opportunity for staff, faculty, students, and community members who live in Detroit and have an interest in collaborating. Using the first floor as a coworking space during times when the gallery and classes aren’t running,

keeps a regular presence and life in the building. This may be an added incentive for people living nearby who often work from home or coffee shops.

Individual Studios ● Boulevard House could offer two of the four rooms upstairs to be used as studios by local artists, makers, and writers. This is a way to support what creative life is already going on in the community and draw on residents skills and networks.

Spanish/English Tutoring ● Providing or facilitating Spanish and English tutoring is a way to truly engage all of the surrounding community at Boulevard House. English tutoring is a valuable resource for Spanish­speakers looking for employment, education, and social interaction in Detroit.

Additionally, Spanish proficiency and fluency are required for many of the same opportunities in the Southwest Detroit neighborhood. Boulevard House could truly live out its potential as a settlement house in this way.

Job Descriptions

Director (20 hrs/wk)

Responsibilities: ● Funding & Development ● Arrangements between core partners (SSW, A & D, PCS, etc.) ● Hiring & Job Descriptions ● Developing long­term partnerships (Community groups, schools, etc.)

Qualifications: ● Relationships within University and Southwest Detroit community ● Consistent availability ● Background in Social Work, Art, Community Development, or similar field

Manager (20 hr/wk + housing)

Responsibilities ● House upkeep ● Web presence (Website, Social Media, Neighborhood App & Listserve) ● Neighborhood Presence (Meeting neighbors, spending time on the porch, etc.) ● Developing partnerships ● Holding regular gallery and museum hours ● Coordinating schedules

Qualifications ● Southwest Detroit resident (established or willing to live at Boulevard House) ● Marketing & Communications background ● Bilingual (Spanish and English) ● Home repair experience ● No other employment

Curator (10­15 hr/wk)

Responsibilities ● Secure and Set up shows in gallery/museum ● Organize 2 large public programs per month ● Connect with artists about studio space and workshops ● Choose artist­in­residence

Qualifications ● Art background ● Gallery or Museum experience ● Relationship with Southwest Detroit community and University

Artist­in­Residence (only time requirement: take leave from regular work)

Responsibilities ● Propose body of work to last 1­2 months ● Create personal work that can be shared in a public show at the end of the residence ● Connect work to the people or place of Southwest Detroit

Qualifications ● Portfolio of work in any medium that demonstrates connection to people and place ● At minimum, basic understanding of Southwest Detroit neighborhood ● Humility and cultural sensitivity

Community Engagement

There many community members and organizations that it would be helpful for Boulevard House to reach out to. The purpose of these connections would be to offer our space, labor, and ideas to assist in work already happening or beginning to happen within the neighborhood. This would not only gain momentum for Boulevard House but also establish it as a grassroots, settlement house model in the city of Detroit.

Jane Slaughter ● Cultural Cooking Classes ● Time Bank

Clark Park Anthony Benevides ­ Neighbor ● Indoor Movies ● Indoor Classes

Living Arts Cara Graninger ­ Director ● Dance or Art Workshops ● Staff Retreats

Motor City Machine Eleanor Meegoda ­ Organizer ● Rube Goldberg Machine Workshops

DIA ● Frida In Detroit Exhibition

Raiz Up ● Performances ● Workshops

Southwest Rides ● Bike Workshops

Congress of Communities ● Meeting Space

Nick Caverly ● Settler Colonialism Reading Group ● Writing Collective

Semester In Detroit Alana Hoey ­ Marketing & Communications Director ● Meeting Space for Southwest Detroit Interns and Community Partners ● Speaker Series Coordination

Organizational & Budgetary Needs

New Door and Installation

Front door needs to be replaced and installed by a professional. Currently the lock falls out of the door if turned incorrectly and the key often gets stuck in the lock.

Alarm Maintenance

The house alarm reads “trouble” and may need to be looked at by someone from the company. “Stay” alarm setting does not seem to work.

Reusable Dishes & Flatware

To be good stewards of the environment and hosts to the neighbors, Boulevard House should be equipped with a set of dishes and flatware. This small act suggests permanence and stability to those invited in.

Projector & Screen

Several interested partners and community members have expressed an interest in having a projector for recreational and learning events in Boulevard House.

Sconce Replacement

Sconces stored in the upstairs closets need to be installed in the house. Currently there is open wiring in all of the walls.

Need Something to Do?

These are ideas for volunteers or staff of Boulevard House that want to do something small to help or fill their time. A community center can seem like an overwhelming thing to build from the ground but enough of these simple acts will provide Boulevard House with a great foundation and new energy to build on.

Community Resource Board ● Collect business cards, flyers, and brochures from neighborhood businesses, organizations, or individuals and create a central place on the first floor for people to access them.

Open Hours ● Open the house up for a few hours. Invite your friends. Invite neighbors. It’s an easy way to help Boulevard House feel more lively and accessible. You can have a meal, beverage, creative exercise, movie, game, or lecture!

Network ● Meet people in the neighborhood and figure out ways Boulevard House can be of use to them.

My Thoughts

My experience with Boulevard House was a learning experience for both myself and others involved. I believe the struggles Boulevard House has largely have to do with ownership and oversight. The house also struggles with community acceptance and engagement, potentially because it is assumed to be institutional and rarely occupied. I had some success with connecting with neighbors and that was very powerful. The idea of a truly community­driven space to meet, with a house atmosphere, seemed to be a local need. I think in this respect, the Boulevard House and its neighbors benefits from someone actually living in the space.

The artist­in­residence and manager roles should certainly be separated. The daily tasks of dealing with house­related issues can crowd out the time and mental space to create artwork.

Giving Boulevard House a neighborhood presence, keeping it up and fixing issues, coordinating scheduling, planning events, and making art, especially in the 10­15 hour per week time expectation may be an unreasonable expectation of an artist­in­residence.

I experienced many successes in my time at the Boulevard House. I hosted a beautiful community dinner in which neighbors of all ages ate and talked together. Many contacts were exchanged and I saw the power of the place to streamline and connect efforts in the area.

Dinners are an example of something that I hope the Boulevard House continues in the future.

There was a great response from posting in the neighborhood app, facebook, and the HubbarD Farms listserve. The women’s welding workshop, coordinated by Samantha Farr, was a great way to open up the house and engage in local artistic efforts. I appreciated being able to spend

the week with these women, network with guest speakers, and renew my own love for artistic metalworking.

Boulevard House will struggle without consistent and sustained support. Community development takes a team and requires physical presence, creative energy, and drive to get things done. This can be remedied by finding people with an interest in the space who also have the significant time to take real ownership of it.

Boulevard House was a great opportunity for me to continue with my ongoing works of art. I continued to process and write about the concept of home, specifically in relation to Southwest Detroit. Though this work is still spread out in bits and pieces, drafts, and conversation, it is the beginning of a lifelong work. As the neighborhood and neighbors change, I document my own intellectual and emotional responses. The physical artistic response to this is in my work on retreat. I have been for some time, and continued this summer, to build my retreat­­my proactive response to the overwhelming nature of the city and our time. This work continues and will be open for neighbors to see sometime later this year.

Images

Women’s Welding Workshop

Touring the Shinola factory with the Welding Women!

Papel Piccado Workshop

Thursday night dinner at Boulevard House