2018 Events

1xRUN is proud to announce the event lineup for Murals In The Market 2018, Detroit’s premier mural festival that was recently named by Smithsonian as one of ”The Top 5 Mural Festivals In The World!” Join us to participate in the critically and socially acclaimed mural festival, as we return to Detroit’s Historic Eastern Market for the fourth consecutive year! Featuring 14 events over the course of 9 days, Murals In The Market will give Detroiters and art fans from around the world the chance to see live painting from over 50 local and international muralists, as well as participate in artist talks, lectures, cultural events and concerts, including a massive family friendly Family Reunion Block Party featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff on September 15th!

Murals In The Market will also introduce several new partnerships that will continue to affect change throughout the city one brush stroke at a time, with efforts that will extend well beyond the 9 day festival. Teaming up with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Michigan, festival alumni Tylonn J. Sawyer will create a new mural on the ACLU’s Woodward Avenue offices to illustrate the extensive civil rights work the organization has done in the community, working to protect the civil liberties of Detroiters since 1955.

Kicking off in August, MITM has once again teamed up with Green Living Science to host our third annual children's workshops in Eastern Market’s Shed 5. This year’s workshops will be expanded to 3 days, with a grant by Flagstar Bank providing festival goers 2 additional chances to learn how to take a fresh look at sustainable living through educational workshops on finding, preparing and eating healthy and nutritious foods, as well as recycling in the city.

Returning for the second year, the festival will partner to help raise awareness for Our Issue, an ongoing campaign against sexual assault started by former Detroit Lions player DeAndre Levy. Lead by alumni Sydney G. James, this panel will create a conversation with leaders from the Detroit community on sexual assault, how we all have a role in fighting it, and why public art is an important part of that fight. Our friends at Detroit Hustles Harder have also teamed with AskewOne & Sydney G. James to create a limited edition t-shirt of their 2017 Our Issue mural. All proceeds from shirts will benefit Enough SAID (Sexual Assault In Detroit), Wayne County SAFE, and The SASHA Center to support the ongoing effort of investigating the backlog of rape kits in Detroit and providing direct services and care to survivors.

This year Murals In The Market will also work to expand beyond the walls, with new large scale public installations and exhibitions from some of Detroit’s most influential sculptural artists. Scott Hocking will unveil Seventeen Shitty Mountains, a new found object sculpture and installation located at the North East side of Eastern Market, while Bob Sestok will be creating and installing a sculpture in front of Shed 5 featuring elements of what made Detroit the Motor City. The festival will also welcome back 2014 MITM alumni the Hygienic Dress League who will create a special 3D piece that will be making appearances throughout the market during the festival.

The massive Murals In The Market Opening Night Exhibition at the MITM HQ will feature a new original artwork exhibition and limited edition print from 2018 participating artists, as well as an expanded second floor exhibition showcasing a new body of from alumni Amy Fisher Price, featuring her iconic oversized tapestries that can be seen throughout the city replacing signage on defunct businesses and accenting abandoned buildings. Chris Turner & Dave Krieger will showcase their latest interactive exhibition Context Out Of Context, while Eileen Lee & Christopher Taylor will bring AURA AURA to this year’s festival, creating experiential aura portrait inspired color photography, allowing patrons to take their own personal “Aura” photo. Detroit duo Michelle Tanguay and Camilo Pardo will also unveil a new body of work of collaborative paintings. 1xRUN will also be pulling prints from their extensive vaults of over 2,000 limited edition releases, showcasing rare gems from some of the world’s most sought after artists.

Joining forces to bring a musical line up as big as the visual line up, we’ve partnered with Detroit’s electronic music tastemakers Paxahau, The Crofoot and Detroit Hustles Harder to bring the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff to Detroit for Family Reunion, a massive all ages block party in the heart of Eastern Market. Joining DJ Jazzy Jeff for the festivities will be DJ Dez Andres with special guest, The Soul Clap Revue featuring Midnight Magic, Lovely C of Soul Clap, Underground System, Bamboozle aka Eli Soul Clap, Sheefy McFly, Count Mack and We are Culture Creators. A limited amount of discounted presale tickets are now available on seetickets.us.

This all ages event will have a curated selection of artist driven activations featuring Clifton Perry, Alchemy, Trae Isaac, Armageddon Beach Party, Ashley McFadden, Detroit Electronic Quarterly and Mary Williams, as well as food trucks, vendors and bars. In addition, Community Push will join the festival roster this year, as director Derrick Dykas and his team will build an entire skatepark from the ground up, filling an entire alley in Eastern Market to create a public skatepark throughout the week of the festival.

With dozens of new murals going up this year we are proud to announce that Motor City Paint is now the official bucket paint sponsor for Murals In The Market, and the Detroit-based paint shop will also be providing over 10,000 free mural maps! Explore Eastern Market on your own find all the murals yourself, or join RiDetroit’s and Jason Hall for the official Murals In The Market walking and bike tours. Visitors will have a chance to walk and ride with the MITM team, hear behind the scenes stories from the source, get the history behind these massive murals and more from the team behind the city’s only international mural festival.

The Siren Hotel will welcome all our traveling artists to the newly opened boutique hotel, giving them a taste of the city in the heart of Downtown Detroit, while still being just a quick ride to Eastern Market. We will also welcome Utopia Gardens as one of our sponsors this year, joining us from our new home in The Heidelberg Arts District to provide a safe and clean alternative medicines.

Last but not least, our friends at Detroit Hustles Harder will once again return to create the 2018 Murals In The Market Merch Capsule! Working with alumni Jesse Kassel & festival creative director Dan Armand, DHH has curated a special capsule collection that will be released at Division Street Boutique on September 7th. The first 50 people will receive a very special gift from the DHH crew while Mural in the Market's own Jesse Cory curates the soundtrack for the night.

Building upon the resounding success of the festival’s first three years, Murals In The Market will continue to expand Eastern Market’s walkable footprint, giving visitors locally and internationally a look into businesses and areas often unseen and underutilized, with more than 150 public murals strategically placed throughout the Market District. Local and national foundations and sponsors will help make 2018 a memorial year as presenting supporters from the William Davidson Foundation, along with the Knight Foundation and 1xRUN will be joined by Eastern Market Corporation, Motor City Paint, Quicken Loans, Flagstar Bank, Detroit Hustles Harder, Montana Cans, Brooklyn Outdoor, Utopia Gardens, Paxahau, Faygo, RiDetroit, Motor City Brewing Works, Inside Out, Community Push, Siren Hotel, Recycle Here, Green Living Science, Detroit Electronic Quarterly, Detroit Design Core, 900 Tower + Terrace, Patronicity, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the ACLU of Michigan.

The Family Reunion Block Party is supported by 1xRUN, Paxahau, The Crofoot, Red Bull, Faygo, Quicken Loans, Absolut Vodka, Jameson Whiskey, Almeca Altos Tequila and Motor City Brewing Works.