ANN ARBOR – The Guild of Artists & Artisans has announced its grant application that would bring Saturday artist pop-ups to downtown Ann Arbor was selected to move to a public voting round.
If it receives enough votes, The Guild could receive funding from the Michigan Municipal League’s Bridge Builders Main Street Microgrant Program to bring Fourth Ave. Art Crawls to town August through October.
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The art crawls would feature artist pop-ups outside partner businesses such as Bløm Meadworks and Cahoots Cafe.
Community members can show their support for the project by voting once per day through July 15.
The art crawl series would culminate with The Guild’s brand-new A2 Artoberfest -- a fine art fair that will run Oct. 8-10.
“Partnering with other local businesses along the Fourth Avenue corridor, the Fourth Ave. Art Crawl will bring creativity and a connection amongst businesses along Fourth Ave., increasing visibility and drawing people back to this area of downtown,” said interim executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, Maura Thomson, in a release.
The goal of the project is to allow The Guild to highlight more of its member artists while also boosting foot traffic around local businesses and restaurants that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
Additionally, the north block of Fourth Ave. was the center of Ann Arbor’s historic Black business district. In alignment with its DEI efforts, The Guild plans to feature BIPOC or marginalized artists along 209-211 N. Fourth Ave.
The Guild will provide all services necessary to support the event, from matching businesses with artists and overseeing pop-up permitting, set-up and tear down.
To cast your vote for the art crawls initiative, click here.