DETROIT (WXYZ) — The City of Detroit is being honored in the national spotlight yet again. Time Magazine has included Detroit's "Little Village" on its annual “World’s Greatest Places” list.
Created just last spring, Little Village is a cultural arts corridor where you’ll find art galleries, a bed and breakfast, a Tony Hawk skate park, and more.
Anthony Curis and I took a walk through the awe-inducing art gallery inside “The Shepherd.”
"Everything we do here is free and open to the public," said Curis.
The Shepherd is a 110-year-old church that Curis and his wife, JJ, transformed into a cultural arts center — it’s truly the centerpiece of their community, Little Village, which they started building nearly one year ago in a rather empty area of east Detroit.
"It’s a cultural corridor within the larger East Village neighborhood," said Curis.
Little Village is about 3.5 acres, it starts with The Shepherd and also includes a bed and breakfast attached.
The gardens include sculptures by Detroiter Charles McGee and a skate park designed by Tony Hawk.
"We’re not trying to do anything that’s heavy-handed and branded or districty, really just trying to create a space where people that are interested in anything from culture to community can find a landing spot," he said.
It may be called Little Village now, but this community is growing rapidly, Curis tells me a bar, multiple artist spaces, restaurants, and homes are currently being built here.
Down the street from The Shepherd, a multi-use arts hub called Lantern houses a shopping boutique, bar, and Anthony Marcellino’s non-profit Progressive Arts Studio Collective.
"We have anywhere from 50 to 100 artists a week who work through the studio," said Marcellino.
There, Marcellino provides a studio and exhibitions for artists with developmental disabilities.
"You know, it’s really achieving our goal here to help people build careers, artwork is starting to really sell here ... and the enthusiasm for what we’re doing is just growing and growing," he said.
With so much going on — it should almost come as no surprise that Time included Little Village on its 2025 World's Greatest Places list.
Curis said he was surprised and excited.
Curis and his wife’s work within the arts are truly transforming this Detroit community in a not-so-little way.
"We kind of see this as really the beginning of the work that’s happening here, so to have that recognition early on is really incredible," he said.
