Social distancing, quarantine, staying indoors, and other measures to stay as protected as possible from COVID-19—for those whose lives allow it—have left so many people yearning for the kind of connection that makes civic life thrive. Last summer, a Detroit arts organization decided to take action against isolation.

NOW: FUTURE brought a month of live, mobile, socially distanced pop-up concerts to Detroit neighborhoods, along with theatrical and dance performances on Facebook Live and other digital platforms. The program, run by the equity-and-community-focused arts organization Sidewalk Detroit, featured Detroit-based Kresge Artist Fellows and Gilda Award recipients in a celebration of connection and the knitting together of community fabric in a time of distancing.

Headlining the Neighborhood Concert series, held in a different Detroit neighborhood each Friday between July 24 and August 15, were the Cuttime Simfonica/Urban Requiem Project ensemble, which celebrates Detroit’s industrial past in music; prominent r&b singer Thornetta Davis; singer-songwriter Britney Stoney; and jazz bassist Marion Hayden with percussionist Tariq Gardner, performing a musical-visual work entitled “The Living Room Shed and Other Black Spaces.”

Online, Detroiters (and everyone else) could tune in to an ensemble performance called “Unboxing Care” by A Host of People, in which the performers used the “unboxing” format popular on YouTube to reflect on compassion in a time of trouble; Erika “Red” Stowall’s “Quarantine Chronicle,” a choreographed exploration of household rituals during lockdown; and dancer/choreographer Marsae Mitchell’s “Reflect.Black.Times,” which interprets songs by, and interviews with, legendary vocalist/activist Nina Simone.

The project also held a pair of online panels to allow artists to share their stories of this moment and to discuss the kind of future they want for their community. The first one, featuring a younger generation of artists, kicked off the month’s events; the second, on August 6, invited seasoned elders of the Detroit art scene. The result was a multi-generational vision of the future of the creative community in one of America’s most iconic cities.

Transitioning formerly incarcerated people into life on the outside is crucial in helping them transform their lives and avoid reoffending. The transition begins the first moment they’re outside prison walls, a time of vulnerability, especially for women. Deanna Van Buren, an architect noted for her work designing spaces in which offenders and their victims meet for restorative justice, led a team from her firm, Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS), in creating a unique safe space for recently freed women.

The Women’s Mobile Refuge Center is a trailer will allow women who have been released in the middle of the night (a standard practice) to spend a safe night and prepare themselves for the next phase of their lives. Besides providing safety and shelter at a time when they might otherwise be approached by pimps or other predators, the Center will serve as a drop-in-center to which they can return for support from nonprofit organizations. DJDS and its partner, Five Keys Schools and Programs, are currently in talks with local service providers to set up a deployment schedule for the trailer in the Bay Area.

The project began in spring of 2016 with a workshop at San Francisco’s County Jail #2, in collaboration with Five Keys staff and students. During these sessions, 60 women explained what they wanted in such a space. Van Buren was surprised to learn that they didn’t want a place to sleep. “They wanted to get their hair ready, get a change of clothes, contact their caseworker. They did want comfortable furniture they didn’t have in jail—a Barcalounger!”

Although the trailer has not yet been deployed, DJDS and Five Keys have received a lot of positive response from community members, says DJDS Architectural Associate Shelley Davis Roberts. The most important result they are looking for is “whether the trailer makes women feel safe and supported during what is a very difficult transition,” she says.