Detroit arts legends celebrated at Detroit ACE Honors ceremony

There’s a lot to celebrate in Detroit these last few months, and the city’s rich arts scene is yet another of its accomplishments that’s being lifted in honor.

Friday morning at One Campus Martius, the city of Detroit’s Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (ACE) marked its fifth anniversary by announcing the 2024 Detroit ACE Honors winners, celebrating fine and performing artists who have given 25 years or more in service to Detroit arts.

In a conversation with former WDIV-TV (Channel 4) anchor Carmen Harlan during the event, ACE director Rochelle Riley praised Mayor Mike Duggan for establishing the office in 2019 and said it’s her pleasure to fight for the city’s artists.

“I’ve been to 28 countries,” Riley said. “We need to understand that we have the respect that we keep searching for, begging for, demand. People love Detroit. People know our Detroit artists; they are globally recognized. We don’t pay attention. So my job is to make sure people know we’re there.”

Still, she acknowledged major misconceptions about Detroit in other parts of the country, especially among those who’ve never visited or come around in a long time.

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“(Some) still think it’s 1967. They still think that people burn cars, they still think that kids burn stuff on Halloween," Riley said. "These are all things that have been attached to Detroit in a way that people don’t see Detroit. All you’ve got to do is get people here. I have friends who would not visit Detroit, (and) I finally got them to come. We rented a bed and breakfast … we went to the Motown Museum and went to a baseball game, and we had such fun, and they said, ‘This is how you live?!’ I said, ‘What did you think I was doing?’

“Everybody in Detroit doesn’t live in poverty. Everybody in Detroit doesn’t need help. And those of us who can help, we do that just like you’d do anyplace else. So, if we can get people to see the Detroit where we live, where we listen … Detroit has to claim it and own it. That’s what I want us to do.”

2024 Detroit ACE Honors recipients

2024’s class of ACE honorees include:

• Marion Hayden, a Detroit-born jazz bassist and educator mentored by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. Hayden has been performing since age 15 and has performed with such luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Regina Carter, David Alan Grier, James Carter, Joe Williams and more. She is a co-founder of the touring jazz ensemble Straight Ahead, the first all-woman jazz ensemble signed to Atlantic Records. Among her many other honors are a 2016 Kresge Artist Fellowship and a Jazz Hero Award bestowed by the Jazz Journalists Association the same year.
• Madelyn Porter, actress, storyteller, comedian and creator of several one-woman shows. She is connectivity and engagement manager for Detroit Public Theatre and was recently seen in Plowshares Theatre Co.’s “The House That Will Not Stand.” Porter, a recipient of the 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit Creative Non-Fiction Literary Arts Award and honors from the YWCA and the National Organization of Women, is founder of Mad’s World LLC and Street Life Theatre Co.
• Pianist, composer, director and singer Alvin Waddles. He began studying piano at age 8 and has since played in over a dozen countries across several decades. Since 1995, he has served as director of music at Hope United Methodist in Southfield, and served as musical director for The Three Mo’ Tenors for over a decade. He has worked with some of the world’s finest musicians including Aretha Franklin, Margaret Hillis, Placido Domingo, Brazeal Dennard, George Shirley, Minister Thomas Whitfield, Anita Baker, Marcus Belgrave and Stephanie Mills.
• Master visual artist Hubert Massey, whose vibrant work can be found throughout metro Detroit. Massey is the only commissioned African American fresco artist in the U.S. Among his masterpieces are the 30-foot-high Hellenic mural at the Atheneum Hotel, the 18-foot-high frescoes at the Detroit Athletic Club, “Genealogy,” a 72-foot diameter terrazzo at the entrance to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and “Detroit: Crossroad of Innovation,” a 30-by-30-foot permanent fresco at the Huntington Place convention center. A 2011 Kresge Fine Arts Fellow, Massey is also an art educator.
• George N’Namdi, art dealer, gallery owner and renowned curator and collector. An educator with master’s degrees in education and psychology, he began collecting art in 1968. In 1981, he opened Jazzonia Gallery with a partner. The following year, he launched his family-based G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, later expanding his holdings to include galleries in Chicago and New York City. The gallery, located in Midtown, continues to display fresh and daring art by respected creators.

An award was also presented to The Ford Foundation for nearly a century of supporting the arts in Detroit.

This group is the second class of honorees since ACE's advent; the previous ceremony was held in 2022.

Catching up with the honorees

“Art has been an integral part of my life,” N’namdi said in a written statement, “and it’s so important for us here in Detroit because it is one of the things that binds us to each other and to our varied communities no matter what obstacles arise. I started the gallery to create a sense of community through art.”

Porter, who was on hand with her entire Detroit Public Theatre team supporting, was elated.

“I’m humbled,” Porter told the Free Press after the ceremony. “I am dedicated to this city. … I wasn’t born here, but once I got here, I got entrenched. I want to encourage and inspire especially seasoned artists. There’s so many of us, and so many of us are still alive and thriving and working in our craft.

“Keeping the arts alive in the city is paramount, and the city’s coming back big and bold. So I’m honored to be among the giants. My motto is, ‘What we need is quality theatre by any means necessary.’”

Hayden, in a written statement, spoke of Detroit as her inspiration and guiding force.

“I love my city,” she said. “I’m a hometown girl. I represent Detroit, literally, wherever I tour, and I talk about our beautiful city and our beautiful people and especially our artists, through my music. Detroit is a constant source of muse for me in my creative career.”

Massey, who’s been in Detroit 47 years, said it’s “mind-blowing” to be among legends as an ACE honoree.

“Public art begins with the community it will serve,” he said. “In fact, after nearly decades of creating large-scale public works of art for various cities, communities and neighborhoods throughout the Midwest, it is my belief that public art should be, first and foremost, meaningful to those who surround it.”

Waddles spoke of his love for Detroit and for helping others through music.

“It’s tremendously humbling to be thought of that well for a lifetime of work,” he said. “I’ve always loved this city, and it’s always been a pleasure and honor to work here. I’ve had many opportunities to move elsewhere. But I’ve always thought it was important to add what God has given me to help try to enrich the community which I was born into."

Making a positive impact

During the ceremony, Detroit ACE also released The Quint Report, a 120-page book outlining the accomplishments and impact of the office over the last five years as it works to strengthen the city’s creative workforce.

“Art is business,” Riley said during the event. “If you’re a dancer, you’re a small business. If you’re a musician, you’re a small business … until you become a big business. And no matter what you do, if that’s what you do, and if that’s your passion, I don’t want people to feel that if you are in Detroit … this has to be your side hustle. That is your job. That is a career. And I want to make sure that people have successful careers here in Detroit.”

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.