Unlock your creativity in this polymer clay workshop! Learn techniques to mix colors, shape beads, and create unique designs. Whether you're a beginner or looking to expand your skills, you'll leave with handmade jewelry, keychains, or accessories.

Trice Clark, Detroit’s Handy Woman, is a mom and maker with a passion for art. From selling school jewelry to showcasing her work at Eastern Market and Michigan Fashion Week, she’s known for using limited resources to create innovative pieces. With skills in woodworking, welding, and more, Clark has spent the last decade teaching DIY workshops and empowering others to craft while saving money.

This program is made possible in part by the PNC Foundation

Watch your colorful design shrink to nearly half its original size in a toaster oven, then use it to create your very own keychain or pendant.

Uchiwa is a traditional style of paper fan commonly found in Japan. Learn about the history and tradition of making uchiwa as you design and create a fan of your own.

The Girl From Chicago (1932) is an early sound film by the legendary African American writer, director, and producer Oscar Micheaux. The film explores Micheaux’s career-long interest in the cultural divide between urban and rural life, contrasting criminal activity in Harlem, New York, and Batesburg, Mississippi. It also features Micheaux’s lively, trademark musical numbers, including a memorable scene set in a nightclub called the Radium Club.

Micheaux’s 1937 crime drama, Underworld, delves into similar themes. It tells the story of Sol Johnson, a young college graduate who moves from the South to Chicago, where he becomes emotionally entangled with a married singer (Bee Freeman) and a cunning gangster (Alfred "Slick" Chester).Total running time: 145 minutes.

The Friends of African and African American Art will present the 32nd Annual Alain Locke Awards to artist Titus Kaphar.

Kaphar will receive the Alain Locke International Award for his work as an artist, sculptor, and filmmaker, creating socially and politically powerful works that reflect on the experiences of Black Americans and his own life story. 

Kaphar "confronts history by dismantling classical structures and styles of visual representation in Western art, which, in turn, subverts centuries of art historical traditions." A Michigan native, Kaphar lives and works in New Haven, CT. 

He received an MFA from the Yale School of Art and is a distinguished recipient of numerous prizes and awards including a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2018 Art for Justice Fund grant, a 2016 Robert R. Rauschenberg Artist as Activist grant, and a 2015 Creative Capital grant.

The Alain Locke Recognition Award will be received by Detroit-based artist Rashaun Rucker, renowned for his drawings, sculptures, printmaking and installation art.

Free with registration. A reception will follow the awards event.

• 2 – 3:30 p.m. Awards, Lecture Hall
• 3:30 – 5 p.m. Reception, FJC Dining Rooms

Featured Performances:

• Sorhogton | Performed by The Throat Singer
• Binakbak Na Diwa (Strip my Soul) | Performed by Martha Bryan and Caitlyn Giles
• Heart Lantern – Yunnan Flower Lantern | Performed by J. Z. Dance Studio, Choreographed by Joanne Zheng
• Loi ve xom nho (To the Countryside) | Performed by Vietnamese American Association of Michigan-Dance Team, Choreographed by Trisha Tuyet Nguyen
• Dunhuang Fairies | Performed by J.Z. Dance Studio, Choreographed by Joanne Zheng
• Peacocks |Performed by Inner Action Dance, Choreographed by Sharon Kang
• Hmong Dance | Performed by Hnub Qub Cia Siab (Star of Hope), Choreographed by Cynthia Ly and Stephanie Yang
• Bhangra Dance Performance | Performed by RVD Academy, Choreographed by Monick Mehta
• Taiko Journey from Japan to the Great Lakes | Performed by Great Lakes Taiko Center (GLTC) Taiko Arts Collective
• Lion Dance | Performed by Linh Son Buddhist Youth Group

Weekend Family Programs at the DIA are generously presented by the MSUFCU Desk Drawer Foundation.

Hobey Ford's Animalia takes audiences on a journey through the magical world of animals, featuring his unique "foamies" – intricately carved puppets that come to life with realistic movements thanks to their innovative mechanical design. Breaking away from traditional puppet theater, Hobey transforms the entire theater into his performance stage. 

Animalia introduces the audience to the wonders of metamorphosis, including the transformation of a butterfly and a tadpole, as well as exploring various ecological systems and endangered animals.

For families with children of all ages. Seating is limited – please arrive early as seating begins 30 minutes prior to the performance.

Join us in the DIA’s Lecture Hall for this captivating and educational experience!

Weekend Family Programs at the DIA are generously presented by the MSUFCU Desk Drawer Foundation.

Join us for the closing event for Tiff Massey’s celebrated exhibition, 7 Mile + Livernois, on May 9, 2025 from 6:30–9:30 p.m.! 

Get a last look at Massey’s exhibition before it closes to the public on May 11, 2025, and dance under the stars on the Woodward Avenue Plaza during special performances from Detroit-based DJs KESSWA and Donavan Glover.

Cash bar available.

DJ sets will not be seated.

Schedule

Exhibition open all day, starting at 10:00 a.m. Last entry at 9:00 p.m.

DJ experience: 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Last entry at 9:00 p.m. Approx. Set times:

• Donavan Glover: 6:30 - 8 p.m.
• DJ KESSWA: 8 - 9:30 p.m. 

Advanced registration is now CLOSED.   Only guests who are pre-registered may enter the outside DJ performance area from Woodward Avenue.  Guests needing to check-in without registration, including DIA members and residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, must do so at the Farnsworth or John R entrances and enter the DJ performance area from inside the museum through the Woodward Avenue door.  

Admittance to DJ area, exhibition, and dining venues will be subject to capacity limits.  

Click here for information on dining, parking, and museum admission.

Additional self-parking is located at WSU Rackham Structure (45 E. Warren), and WSU Welcome Center (61 Putman).  Debit and Credit cards accepted, no cash. For information on parking fees at Wayne State University visit their website.

About the performers

Detroit native Kesiena Wanogho didn’t really get to hear the music she wanted on the local scene, and her longing for a calming and grounding element within electronic music soon turned into her mission. DJ Kesswa now blends jazz and electronica, soul and ambient music with the rhythms and structures of traditional Nigerian music to create a common feeling: a meditation and affirmative attitude towards the world. In 2020, Kesswa was granted a tandem residency in Berlin and Detroit, during which she collaborated with DJ, radio host, and curator Tereza. 

Born in Detroit’s lower-eastside, and raised downtown in King Homes, Donavan Glover discovered the knack for the arts at a young age. He began making a name for himself in the photography and documentary spaces as early as 2010, with high profile directing and videography credits for acts such as Talib Kweli, Slum Village, Amp Fiddler, Dej Loaf, Royce Da 5’9, Dave Chappelle, jessica Care Moore, Travis Scott, Saul Williams, Vic Mensa, and countless Detroit acts. Glover’s work led him to win multiple awards and fellowships, before embarking on his next artist journey as a music producer and DJ in 2018.

Friday Night Live has showcased music by renowned composers Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud and Lowell Liebermann, all of whom have performed at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Grossman Family will perform these iconic works written for violin, viola, cello, piano, and voice.

Hailed by The New York Times as a “Brilliant soloist,” violinist Eric Grossman “possesses a strikingly beautiful sound" (The Strad Magazine). He will be joined by his gifted musical family, Russian-Cuban pianist Lida, their two daughters Cecilia (cello) and Vera (voice) and their two sons Misha (violin), Sasha (piano). Special guests Colette Abel (viola) and Benjamin Abel(violin).

Asian Sound Revolution is a groundbreaking ensemble that fuses traditional Asian instruments with modern creativity. Featuring Jin Hi Kim on komungo, Min Xiao-Fen on pipa, and Gerry Hemingway on drums and percussion, the group innovatively blends ancient musical aesthetics with contemporary techniques. Each musician is internationally renowned for their boundary-pushing work, transforming classic instruments and vocal styles to create unique, fresh sounds.