How SXSW taught me what I already knew about Detroit

This is an excerpt from a blog written by Matthew Lewis for Model D. For the full article click here

Over three weeks in March, more than 70,000 people converge on Austin, Texas, to listen to some of the biggest names in the tech, film, and music industries share their visions for the future. (They do some partying, too.) What began three decades ago as a modest regional music festival, South by Southwest (SXSW) has mutated into a conglomeration of conferences on virtually everything people care about.

For the past two years, the New Economy Initiative (NEI) has been a sponsor of Michigan House, an official SXSW venue that showcases the work of Michiganders who are shaping better futures for their communities. This year, NEI sponsored four leaders of innovative projects in Detroit and Highland Park—Jackson Koeppel of Soulardarity, Diana Nucera of the Detroit Community Technology Project, Ezekiel Harris of MACC Development, and Shu Harris of Avalon Village—to attend SXSW and partake in a panel discussion titled “Big City Problems, Neighborhood Solutions.” (Check out a video of the panel discussion here.)

Again, this is an excerpt from a larger piece written by Matthew Lewis. For the full article:

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