Brilliant Detroit Plans a Summer of Family Fun

A percussionist from the DSO performing on the timpani. Brilliant Detroit will be sponsoring a community event with the Detroit Symphony in July. Image courtesy of Jim West

First a big thank you for all your support in participating and sharing all of Brilliant Detroit's programs and events. As Community Engagement Coordinator for Brilliant Detroit’s MorningSide site and an active member of the community, I’m so proud to be a part of MorningSide and Brilliant Detroit. We are all so excited for Brilliant Detroit’s spring and summer kickoff of programs and events in our Eastside communities.

We’re inviting MorningSide residents to help us create a design for our outdoor space at the new Brilliant Detroit site at 5048 Balfour. In partnership with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, Brilliant Detroit is throwing a “Design Party” on Tuesday, May 18 from 3-7 p.m. Put on your creative “thinking caps” because you can be a builder, an architect, or a landscape/playscape developer for the evening, working with a great team of DCDC designers.

They will help us design our new community outdoor playscape and gathering place for youth and families. We’ll be building models using recycled materials to share all the great ideas. Remember Legos? This will be an in-person but safe and socially distanced event.

BD Morningside will also come together with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to host a Community Concert and Jam Session on July 10th at Noon at Chandler Park. Community members are asked to bring their kids, masks, and even their instruments to learn about music and experience the boogie.

We are also on the lookout for any members of the community that have an interest in gardening. MorningSide has started a gardening team that will pick the location and seeds to awaken the five senses of the MorningSide community by starting a pocket and/or conversation garden.

While we’re at it, it’s time to get fit and kick these quarantine blues with a little Yoga, Zumba, and Family Hustle for our families who want to have some fun while getting physically fit! It’s open to all ages.

During the spring and summer months, we will also be partnering with Center for Success and Springboard, to offer free tutoring to all Morningside families. This is open to all our little community members ranging from age 5 to 8.

Programs for the spring and summer months will be mostly virtual with a few socially distant face-to-face events. I would like to share our link tree account, https://linktr.ee/Morningsidebd, which will take you directly to all event sign-ups and registrations.

We are excited that the Brilliant Detroit MorningSide Hub has come a long way, with 75% of renovations completed; we are looking to have it fully furnished in June and will host a grand open house as soon as it’s ready. Stay tuned for details. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us! We are so grateful for all of you and excited to be in the community together.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me any time at wbrown@brilliantdetroit.org or (313) 528-7217.

The interior of the Brilliant Detroit house in MorningSide will receive a complete renovation. Image courtesy of Zak Bratto