While the arts and humanities are facing defunding and disinvestment nationally, there’s a brand new space to experience the arts in Detroit’s Live 6 neighborhood. 

The Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre opens next month with a production of Shakespeare's “Twelfth Night.” It is the university’s first permanent theater on that campus, despite a 150-year history of theatre productions.

Previously, students in the award-winning theatre program had practiced and performed in temporary buildings and spaces, including a space in the YMCA in Downtown Detroit.

Jocelyn Boryczka, Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science at University of Detroit Mercy, joined Tia Graham to discuss the new Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre and what it means for the future of arts programming in the Live 6 area.

She says the vision for the theatre extends beyond the university walls and invites residents of the Live 6 neighborhoods to be a part of the theatre now and in the future.

The Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre’s first production will be Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” with performances November 7-16. Tickets available online.

Michigan attorney Huwaida Arraf helped lead a humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza earlier this month. The ships were intercepted by Israeli forces, and she was detained before being deported.

She tells The Metro’s Robyn Vincent why she keeps returning to sea and what she’s witnessed as aid access to Gaza remains restricted.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Last week, the local campaign to implement ranked choice voting took a hit. That’s because the Michigan Association of County Clerks came out against it. What are clerks' concerns? And, can they be resolved?

Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown joined The Metro to explain. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

For almost 30 years now, InsideOut Literary Arts has helped countless Detroit students find a love and passion for creative writing.

InsideOut was founded by Dr. Terry Blackhawk, a Detroit Public Schools teacher, who had a goal to inspire young people through the written and spoken word. Since 1995, the organization has expanded, offering classroom instructions, free performances and career opportunities after participation.

This year, the organization made it a point to fill spaces throughout the city with youth poetry. They purchased 30 billboards, replacing ordinary ads with student writing. And as you drive through the Avenue of Fashion, you’ll see a new mural by artist Oshun Williams. 

To cap the end of its 30th year, a party at The Norwood celebrates the joy and impact InsideOut Literary Arts over the past three decades.

Suma Karaman Rosen is Executive Director of InsideOut literary Arts. Hajjar Baban is an InsideOut Alum and has a master's in fine arts from University of Virginia. She is an award-winning poet and currently a poetry reader for Muzzle Magazine.

They joined The Metro's Tia Graham to talk more about 30 years of poetry and more.

The Detroit Public Library continues to expand its offerings in the community with a celebratory event blending Halloween with “Day of the Dead." The day of dancing will have music from Filipino EDM artist With Love, Harlow and Erika Irie.

With Love, Harlow joined The Metro to talk more about Filipino “Day of the Dead”. We were also joined by Detroit Public Library Manager Cully Sommers.

The event will take place at Detroit Public Library, its main branch, on Saturday, November 1 from 2-5 p.m. 

The Detroit Women's Commission is a new group in the mayor’s office.

They’re meeting monthly to discuss challenges women face in Detroit and how to improve the lives and experiences of women calling Detroit home. It’s getting started at an interesting time. Detroit could have its first woman mayor in November, a mayor that this commission would be working with.

Producer Jack Filbrandt spoke with Detroit Documenters Colleen Cirocco and Noah Kincade to learn more about Detroit's Women's Commission.

It’s flu season, and that means public health departments are promoting vaccinations. Over the past few years,  local vaccination rates have been down, and more people have become wary of vaccines.

Oakland County Health Officer Kate Guzman joined The Metro to discuss how her office is trying to change that. 

Donald Calloway has worked as an artist in Detroit for more than 30 years, constantly finding new ways to express his creativity. His work spans figures made from found and repurposed wood and metal, as well as portrait paintings and abstract sculptures.

A 2025 Kresge Artist Fellow and College for Creative Studies alum, Calloway has exhibited his work at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the National Conference of Artists Gallery, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The internet can be both a useful tool for connection and simultaneously amplify some of the more unsettling parts of society.  This plays out with consumer reviews. They are both a useful way to find out the quality and value of an item or service, but there can be unintended consequences to these platforms.

Some issues stem from walking the tightrope between serving customers and businesses. It's also hard to be truly representative when not everyone decides to leave reviews. 

Michael Luca is a professor at Johns Hopkins whose work focuses on the design of online platforms. He joined the show to provide some perspective on how the platform and technology works.

While much of the media’s attention on November’s elections has been on Detroit’s mayoral race, there are many other political contests happening outside the city. 

One of them is in Madison Heights. That’s where a one-term city council member is running for mayor against the current Eastpointe police chief. 

If elected, the council member would be the city’s first Black mayor. But what’s also interesting about this race is that he — not the police chief — won the endorsement of the Michigan Fraternal Order of Police.

How did City Councilor Quinn Wright do it? And why does he want to be mayor? 

Last week, Producer Sam Corey spoke with Wright about that and more. 

The Metro reached out multiple times to Wright’s opponent, Chief Corey Haines. We still have not heard back from him.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.