Detroit, the abandoned motocity has found a new lease with the Red Bull House of Art ad. As rightly pointed out by the folks at Curbed, the brand new advert is a 'melancholic' tour of Detroit's budding 'revival'.
While Curbed is calling the ad an 'accidental tour of Detroit's revival', it feels more like a deliberate comparison. The project's mission is to give wings to creative ideas brewing among talented people. This ad blends the mission with Detroit's rich culture and its current infrastructure development.
In the ad, the city always known for its rich cultural heritage is being showcased with artists promoting what can be done in and for the city. It gives ample shots of the upcoming Red Wings Arena, Edmund Place, Arena District and the work-in-progress M1 Rail. Check the video out below:
The Red Bull blog reads:
The city's art scene overflows from the canvas into the streets, where an independent Detroit is starting to learn more about itself by learning from the past.
Detroit's Past
Detroit filed for bankruptcy July 2013. The 'motocity's' debt was evaluated to be something between $18- $20 billion, the largest municipality bankruptcy filing in the history of the United States. The city bled population. Thousands that once thronged central parts of the bustling area, left.
The Strife for Revival
However, several Detroit natives, like Tylonn J. Sawyer, narrator of the ad, want to change the pitiable condition of the city. Dan Gilbert, Chairman of Quickens Loans who also belongs from Detroit, has taken up the responsibility to rejuvenate two square miles of central Detroit. He is also renovating Greektown, the famous casino, reports the Detroit Free Press.
According to CriticalDetroit.org, there are about 39 buildings that are currently undergoing some renovation and many have yet to be counted. One of the many buildings includes the Forest Arms Building, a 56,000 square feet high-end residential structure that was built in 1905. It apparently had a roof decorated with copper cupulas and had a waiter service that delivered groceries to residents living on the upper levels of the building, reports Mlive.com.
The Red Bull ad ends with Sawyer saying that the House of Art is probably one of the best things to happen to Detroit, adding that it gives artists an opportunity to make their dreams come true.
Perhaps Sawyer dreams of a better Detroit. Perhaps Gilbert shares them too. These efforts will definitely restore Detroit to its well deserved and once scintillating glory, justifying its moniker 'The Renaissance City'.