DEARBORN COMMUNITY FUND

Supporting programs that enhance quality of life and contribute to the vibrancy of the city of Dearborn, Michigan

Pockets of Perception Student Design Team 2023 Accepting Applications

“Pockets of Perception – We Are One Community “ {POP), a program of the Dearborn Community Fund (DCF), is recruiting new members for the Summer 2023 Design Team. POP is open to students attending any Dearborn school and entering their junior year in fall 2023. If accepted for the team, members must commit to a three-month project period, from mid-June through mid-August.

POP is designed as an apprentice style program with the following goals:

  • To encourage multi-cultural understanding and cooperation
  • To involve young people in creative problem-solving tasks through the arts,
  • To provide experience in the business side of the arts process,
  • To encourage youth investment in the community,
  • To engage the community in the process,
  • To create public art.

Team members, working with a qualified team leader in a workshop setting, develop design concepts, come to consensus on a project idea and then bring the project to completion in the form of public art.

Team sessions commence mid-June and conclude mid-August

POP Application, CLICK HERE

POP 2023 APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 5, 2023

Team Interviews: April 15, 2023

Interviews will be scheduled between the hours 10 and noon.

For additional information, contact the Dearborn Community Fund at communityfund@dearborn.gov

Dearborn to launch April Arts Month celebrating interactive and creative art events and artists across the city

April Arts Dearborn, a month-long celebration, shines a spotlight on the rich cultural life that thrives across the city and encourages all to experience and enjoy it.

The city-wide arts celebration provides opportunities for all ages to visit, view or engage in a variety of activities intended to help increase appreciation and knowledge of the talent within the city of Dearborn. 

As part of the annual initiative, there will be month-long gallery exhibitions around town, together with one-day creative and interactive opportunities and open studio tours. A majority of the activities are free to the public. Some events have a fee associated.

There are three signature events during the month: “Open Studio Hop” on Saturday, April 15 from 1-5 PM where the public is invited to visit three working artist studios. 

On Sunday, April 23, “Art Stop at the Center” takes place from 12-5 PM. This is a colorful immersive art installation, clothed figure drawing workshop, demonstrations, hands-on art activities, mini-musical performances, and more. 

The month-long celebration will conclude with the Mayor’s Arts Awards on Tuesday, April 25 at 7 PM in Studio A at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. There is no charge to attend or participate in these activities. 

A calendar of all of the events is available and lists all activities which are categorized as “Month Long,” “Take Your Time” and “One Day.”

Event calendars are available at the Henry Ford Centennial Library and the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. A printable version is available at: www.dearborncommunityfund.org or www.padzieskigallery.org. 

For more information, contact the Dearborn Community Fund at 313-943-5478.

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April Arts Dearborn is a project of the Dearborn Recreation Commission/Cultural Arts Committee and the Dearborn Community Fund/Padzieski Gallery in partnership with the City of Dearborn. AAD Sponsor support has been generously provided by: East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority, West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority, KW Legacy – Michael Phillips Group, Dearborn Federal Savings Bank, Ameriprise Financial-Jim Thorpe, CFP, AWMA, Malek Al-Kabob, and Qahwah House.

Dearborn’s Art in Public Places features “Purple Whisper Bench” sculpture in November

Purple_Whisper_Bench_IMG_9821Shhhh! Have you heard that “Purple Whisper Bench” by sculptor Jim Gallucci is Dearborn’s sculpture of the month in November? See the piece in West Dearborn’s Starbucks Plaza.

Described as artistic, functional and fun, it’s one of 12 sculptures placed throughout Dearborn as part of the community’s 2013-2014 Art in Public Places – Midwest Sculpture Initiative (MSI).

Funding for the project is provided by the Dearborn Community Fund (DCF) and the East and West Dearborn Downtown Development Authorities. Each month a different sculpture and sculptor are highlighted.

Click here to see the CDTV video about the sculpture

Sculptor Gallucci enjoys creating pieces that are practical and engage the public in a way to invite interaction. “Purple Whisper Bench” is a good example of this. It allows visitors to whisper into the design’s tube-like structure on one end and be heard at the other end.

Gallucci views the bench format, along with his other frequently used gate and doorway formats, as a way to give the public access to his art. In his artist statement, he notes that “though each can function as a seat, there is an impracticality of form that lures people to explore each bench and try to discover what it is about.”

A sculptor for more than 30 years, Gallucci designs and fabricates his sculptures at a 7,200-square-foot Greensboro, NC studio with the assistance of a six-member staff. Most of his works are commissioned for public, corporate and residential spaces around the country, but he also exhibits in prestigious shows like the famous Pier Walk Sculpture Show held annually in Chicago. His sculptures have also been selected for exhibits in Brisbane, Australia and Hakone, Japan.

“Purple Whisper Bench” is priced at $8,000 and will remain on exhibit until late April 2014. The DCF is a 501c3 organization and gifts toward purchase of a sculpture for permanent public installation are tax deductible. A portion of the purchase price supports DCF projects that benefit the Dearborn community.

For more information on the sculpture initiative, including price and purchase information for any sculpture included in the 2013-14 exhibit, contact the DCF office at 313-943-5478.

$16,000 donation to Dearborn Community Fund keeps popular horse sculpture in Dearborn

“Gaze,” known as DearUSE GAZE VERT IMG_2235born’s resident mustang, remains standing majestically at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center thanks to encouragement from the community, and a major donation from Kenwal Steel and residents David and Cherie Bazzy, and the efforts of the Dearborn Community Fund.

Deemed a favorite public sculpture by many who saw it at The Center, “Gaze” by sculptor James Oleson first came to Dearborn in 2012 as one of 12 sculptures on temporary exhibit through the city’s Art in Public Places– Midwest Sculpture Initiative. The project is funded by the Dearborn Community Fund with support from the East and West Dearborn Downtown Development Authorities.

A ceremony was held in October 2016 to thank the donors who purchased the sculpture for permanent public enjoyment in Dearborn. With Dearborn’s majestic iron horse standing sentry in the background, Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. and Dearborn Community Fund Chairwoman Susan Rowe thanked the donors who made it possible to keep the popular sculpture in the city where it has become one of the most popular pieces of local public art.

The Bazzys, Kenwal Steel and the company’s CEO Kenneth Eisenberg, together donated $16,000 to purchase the sculpture from Oleson in 2014 so that the pie ce could continue to be enjoyed by Dearborn residents and visitors. The Garden Club of Dearborn and the City of Dearborn provided additional funding for landscaping and display of the sculpture in its new location on a grassy birm

The DCF had just two weeks in early 2014 in which to pony up the $16,000 to purchase “Gaze” to ensure the horse would stay in Dearborn. The city o1 DCF Gaze Dedication IMG_2205f Hastings had offered to buy the metal sculpture from the artist, James Oleson, Jr.

It looked like “Gaze,” made of recycled and found objects, would be moving to the mid-Michigan city, until the leadership of Dearborn-based Kenwal Steel Corp. stepped up.

Kenwal’s president and chief operating officer, David Bazzy, and his wife, Cherie, work out regularly in the fitness area at The Center where they saw a poster promoting the fundraiser to purchase “Gaze.” Cherie is one of many Dearborn residents who became enamored with the sculpture. David Bazzy said,“Cherie thought it was majestic and fit the spirit of Dearborn.”

David Bazzy noted that after he and Kenneth Eisenberg, the chairman and CEO of Kenwal Steel, “discussed the sculpture and its importance to the community, Kenwal agreed to donate the $16,000 to keep the mustang here.”

Mayor Jack O’Reilly said it’s appropriate that “Gaze” stays in Dearborn, home of Ford Motor Co. and its iconic Mustang, which was manufactured at the forGaze Plaque closeup IMG_2240mer Dearborn Assembly Plant for decades.

The mission of the nonprofit 501c3 Dearborn Community Fund is to support cultural and recreational programs and projects to enhance the quality of life in Dearborn. Donations towards DCF projects are tax deductible to the full extent permitted under law.

For more information, contact the DCF office at 313-943-5478 or send an email to: dearborncommunityfund@ci.dearborn.mi.us.