Inside Michigan Central’s NewLab building in Detroit, the walls of one office are covered in sticky notes of every color.
Buzzing with passion and dedication, the room is where Detroit’s ArtClvb — founded by Dorota Coy, her husband Steve Coy, and Justin Norman — is planning its upcoming Art Fair, set for Sept. 27-29 at several locations across the city.
The Detroit-based group, which officially launched earlier this year on March 13, or “313 Day,” aims to leverage technology to provide more opportunities for artists and buyers in local communities — redefining how collectors, curators, galleries, and art enthusiasts connect and interact within the art ecosystem.
“We’ve been making art for 15 years and there’s so much struggle in getting people to see it,” Dorota Coy says. “There are just not enough opportunities and we are figuring out better ways to broaden those opportunities.”
ArtClvb isn’t really a group, however; it’s an innovative app.
Currently in its first beta phase, the platform merges social networking with marketplace features, allowing users to showcase and sell their artwork through personalized profiles. The app will also facilitate studio visits, scan public art to link with artist profiles, and help collectors discover local talent. Additionally, ArtClvb will offer tools for authenticating artwork, archiving features, and a buying experience that ensures royalty distribution to artists.
“What we want to do is shift thinking and get more people around the U.S. to think about and invest in art or buy it because it has aesthetic value, cultural value, or it means something to them,” Steve Coy says. “What we learned [in Detroit] is that there are so many talented artists that are undervalued and under-recognized, and we’re betting that’s true in most major cities.”
He adds, “There’s a select few that are making it, but the talent gap between the people who are making it and the people who aren’t isn’t significant at all.”
Starting in Detroit, ArtClvb creators hope to later venture into other major cities globally to connect artists and collectors in their own backyards, plus link creative minds from different sides of the country and world.
The upcoming Art Fair will serve as an avenue for ArtClvb to introduce the platform and its mission to the local community and connect with the people who inspired it.
The event will be a three-day celebration showcasing contemporary works from over 180 emerging to mid-career artists, most of whom are from Detroit. It will take place at around seven locations across the city in Islandview, Corktown, and the North End, with price points ranging from $100 to $10,000 to ensure accessibility to the general public.
Each space will feature performances, installations, sculptures, and 2D work, with most of the artists present to connect with in real time. Performances announced so far include Battle Elf, Bella Kiser, and Ackeem Salmon.
By the time of the fair, the ArtClvb app will be in its second phase, offering artist information and the ability to scan and purchase art directly.
Since the beginning of 2024, ArtClvb has hosted events including an exhibit showcasing Detroit artists in Tokyo, numerous gallery shows at NewLab, and Studio Deals — inviting collectors to visit artists’ studios across Detroit to purchase art directly at in-studio-only prices.
Kara Barnes loved Studio Deals so much, and the idea for the app, that she insisted on being a part of ArtClvb. Now, she serves as its Chief Strategy Officer, helping the founders build the technology and its surrounding mission.
“Technology should serve us, the users, the humans, in bringing joy to our lives and value to our lives, and art is definitely one of those ways we can do that.”
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“Even though my husband and I have always loved art, we didn’t always find it financially accessible. We’d only purchase things if we knew the artist because it’s just so intimidating to sometimes go into a gallery,” Barnes says. “When I started talking to them about the app, I was like, ‘Wow, I’d really like to join,’ because I’ve launched other technologies that are for social good, and this feels very much in that lane.”
She adds, “Technology should serve us, the users, the humans, in bringing joy to our lives and value to our lives, and art is definitely one of those ways we can do that.”
Similar to Studio Deals, Art Fair is helping directly connect collectors with artists — on an even larger scale. It’s putting the artists at the forefront for an event that organizers describe as a middle ground between craft fairs and Art Basel. Plus, it’s free for artists to participate and organizers say they accepted just about everyone who applied, aside from those who didn’t align with the mission of the event.
“When we started talking to different people in the arts community, they were really excited about it,” Barnes says. “We couldn’t have done this without the help of our partners or people who donated their building space to us. That’s how we’ve made this completely free to artists and completely free to the public because we have artists who’ve been in the community, or people who own buildings in our community who support the arts and are like, ‘Yes, we can open up our building to the public on a weekend because we believe in you and we believe in the artists.’”
To keep ArtClvb sustainable, as it currently has no budget, the fair will take a 15% transaction fee.
Art Fair’s sponsors include Newlab, Method Development, Spot Lite, Design Core, Michigan Central, and NxWhere — a new gallery opening later this year.
For Art Fair, the ArtClvb app will showcase a map that tells buyers where around the city they can find art, as well as local restaurants around each space to support while in the area, plus local galleries and art spaces outside of the fair.
“The art world has been thought of as elite, so what we also want to do is address that everybody can be part of it and everybody belongs to it, lower down barriers to entry not only for artists, but also for art collectors,” Dorota Coy says. “It’s an ecosystem that only works when we all participate in it, making things a little bit more cohesive, and making things a little bit more collaborative, and making things a little bit more involved, so that everybody benefits from this ecosystem.”
The organizers hope that ArtClvb and Art Fair help push the city and big foundations and corporations to support the arts in Detroit even further.
Art Fair | Detroit is set from noon-7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27 and Saturday, Sept. 28, and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29. The event is free, but attendees can RSVP on Eventbrite to stay updated with new details. A full list of locations and more information can be found at artclvb.xyz.
