The future of Murals in the Market is all mapped out.

The Eastern Market-based street art festival will return this fall on Sept. 13, expanding from nine days to 10 days of painting and programming – including two Saturdays for the first time.  The festival also will add a block party to its roster of auxiliary events like discussion panels and cultural tours.

Now in its fourth year, the festival has made a splash in the historic outdoor market with over 120 murals painted by local and international talent in just three years — a density of street art unrivaled by any other Detroit neighborhood.  There’s so much to see, in fact, that a new pocket-sized map produced by the fest documents each mural by location and name of artist — an often-elusive piece of info for casual observers.

An initial run of 10,000 free maps are available for pick-up at Eastern Market businesses as well as corporate headquarters for the market at 2934 Russell Street.  We wanted to "create a physical piece that people can pick up, take around the neighborhood and interact with the murals on a deeper level,” says 1xRun CEO Jesse Cory.

Cory teased that the family reunion-themed block party scheduled for Sept. 15 will be an all-day affair with live performances by both local and national talent centered in funk, soul and hip-hop genres.

Murals in the Market is the signature annual event of 1xRun, a publishing company that specializes in limited edition, time-released art prints popular as an affordable alternative to purchasing an original work of art. Founded in 2010, 1xRun left its longtime Eastern Market digs last year for a new arts compound last year near the Heidelberg Project on the city’s east side.

With the help of financial support from the Knight Foundation, the William S. Davidson and the Quicken Loans Family of Companies, Cory says that his team now works year-round on the event and believes this year’s festival will be “the best yet.”

“It’s really helping us drive direction to how we bring more public awareness to public art,” says Cory. “We’ve bootstrapped the festival for the first 3 years with 1xRun taking on the expenses that bridge the gap between the support we have from foundations and sponsors.”

Murals in the Market will continue to bridge that funding gap via a crowd-sourcing campaign that launches this summer, adds Cory.  “We are always conscious that funding for a free public art festival is a struggle,” Cory says. “One thing that our funders have impressed upon us is to always be looking for alternative financial support to keep the festival going.”

Dan Carmody, president of the non-profit Eastern Market Corporation that manages the market on behalf of the city, says Murals in the Market has illuminated less trafficked areas of the neighborhood.  “The festival has helped animate part of the Eastern market district filled with 1-and-2-story warehouses without a lot of windows,” says Carmody. “What we’ve seen as a result is more people walking the district and exploring areas away from the public market.”

Carmody sees a parallel between Eastern Market’s incubation of start-up food businesses and the success emerging artists have found by having their work showcased on market walls.  “That’s similar to how people use the market to grow their food business," Carmody says. "It’s great to see people start small businesses and grow it through the concentrated traffic they get through the market.”

A kick-off mural and full artist roster for the 2018 edition of Murals in the Market is set to be announced via press conference on June 29 in Eastern Market.

Special Thanks to Ryan Patrick Hooper and the Detroit Free Press