Welcome to Little Village

“In a (let’s face it) disheartening time, visiting Little Village, a vibrant—and radically ambitious—new arts campus in Detroit, is a welcome, uplifting antidote. It’s a place that grows deeply out of the past but feels a lot like the future. One that celebrates art and its power to help build community even more.” — Metropolis Magazine

Guided by four principles—art, architecture, landscape and water—the diverse initiatives that span the grounds place emphasis on both historic preservation and contemporary adaptation in their multifarious designs, functions and offerings. There is a collective interest in new typologies that blur the boundaries between public and private space, resulting in a revitalized neighborhood accessible to all. A budding and vibrant fabric of the artistic landscape in the city, Little Village’s mission uses art as a medium for both inspiration and creativity.

Explore Little Village

Check out the interactive map to navigate Little Village. Whether you’re exploring exhibitions, joining workshops, planning a stay, or grabbing a drink, we invite you to experience Little Village!

“Little Village is an effort to extend Detroit’s renaissance beyond the borders of downtown. The project is the sum of a huge variety of placemaking efforts: rehabilitating a former church, reimagining a distinctive bakery and repurposing vacant surface lots among them.” — Bloomberg

At the heart of Little Village is the Shepherd, a 110-year-old Romanesque-style church. Designed by Peterson Rich Office (PRO), its adaptive reuse includes two gallery spaces, a public library curated by Asmaa Walton of Black Art Library, and community workshop space. The Shepherd’s grounds include ample public green space, Legacy Park, a sculpture park honoring late artist Charles McGee, a skatepark, wine and cocktail bar, patisserie, and more. The Shepherd aims to blur the lines between gallery, institution, and community arts center while creating opportunities for collaboration with arts organizations.

A short block away, Pewabic Pottery is a century-old cultural anchor and today an active working pottery, architectural tile studio, ceramic arts education center, and cultural destination attracting visitors from around the world.

LANTERN transforms a former vacant bakery into a mixed-use arts and education hub designed by internationally recognized architecture firm OMA. It will house Detroit-based arts nonprofits Progressive Art Studio Collective and Signal-Return, music organization Assemble Sound, local businesses Coup D’etat, Cøllect, and Cafe Franco, and several artist studios.

An extension of the Shepherd, a former convent site will become the new home of contemporary art gallery and project spaces Library Street Collective and  Louis Buhl & Co. Designed by LOHA, the complex will include reception, new gallery and exhibition spaces, along with a courtyard.

Stanton Yards will transform a former marina along the Detroit River into a 13-acre cultural destination with more than 80,000 square feet of commercial and creative space, 85 boat slips, and programmed waterfront parks. The project is being led by SO–IL and OSD (Office of Strategy + Design), with views of Belle Isle.

“They took a vacant church, vacant commercial buildings, vacant houses that folks had walked away from, and they are building a very exciting community that I think is going to attract creative talents to that neighborhood,” said Mayor Mike Duggan.