With ESPN making it official, Detroit has been named one of the top 20 sports cities in the US vying for the official tag of TitleTown, USA.  All Creative Class activists are encouraged to head for Comerica Park this Sunday, July 13 at 11am to be a part of the filming of the finalist episode for ESPN Sportscenter.  You have a chance to celebrate one of the D’s many strengths, along with fellow sports enthusiasts.  For more info, check this Detroiter Online article.

The Detroit Windsor International Film Festival is kicking off tomorrow afternoon with some excellent films being shown in eight separate venues including a feature film debut at the DIA and continuing on through the weekend on both sides of the river.  Take a look at Tom Hendrickson’s video highlights or go directly to the festival website to purchase tickets and attend.  Support the successful and rapidly growing film industry in Michigan and have fun while you do it!  Where is the down side here?  Thanks ModelD!

Just when you think the hype on this event can’t get bigger - it does!  My list of the huge number of online resources for this year’s Detroit Electronic Music Festival is the tip, but this is a big iceberg!  Wikipedia does the ‘Fest justice, giving the history and current stats, Paxahau is a big promoter this year, along with Synthtopia, get the details at the official DEMF BLOG and of course the DEMF site itself.  Videos and attendee info can be found on MySpace, last.fm and afterparty action at detroitluv.  One more reason the ‘D’ owns the music world!  Don’t miss this party!  $40 for a early purchase weekend pass, $25 per day, $50 weekend at the gate, $175 VIP!

No, we are not talking about rappers - this is film baby!  Michael Moore discusses his latest project, a sequel to Fahrenheit 911, brought to us courtesy of a QIK stream from a cell phone!  Go figure!  Click here to see the clip.

Only in Detroit will you see the likes of the The Stooges, White Stripes and Kid Rock relegated to the category ‘Outstanding National Single’.  That leaves plenty of nominations open for the tons of local talent showcased at this year’s Detroit Music Awards!  The range of music and categories being celebrated Friday night at the Fillmore are only surpassed by the talent themselves!  Check nominees for 2008 awards, determined by nominations from local musicians and music industry professionals and voted for over the web.

The DMA has featured performances and guest appearances by Eminem, Kid Rock, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and many others.  Tickets for this year’s event are $20, and you can either get tickets through ticketmaster or at the door.  Thanks to Detroitcity.com for the heads up!

Coming soon! DetroitMakeItHere.com: a user-centric information and
networking hub for creatives in Southeast Michigan.

The Web site, which will launch this spring, is powered by Crain’s
Detroit Business and an element of Detroit Renaissance Inc.’s $80
million Road to Renaissance economic revitalization plan. Detroit
Renaissance is the founding sponsor of the site.

The site will identify the region’s creative assets and map them,
present news and information about and important to the creative
economy, provide a forum for social networking and a space for
user‑generated content. It will also feature a calendar for creative
business events, as well as career and business related resources for
creative professionals.

This Web site will be a unique resource for the region, providing
detailed content for creative users that does not currently exist. Rest
assured the creative community will be fully immersed in the development
of the site. In fact, there is a group of nearly 40 local creatives who
are serving on the site’s advisory committee.

Keep visiting the CreateDetroit site for the launch date!!

Corrections and updates to February 22 post on Creative Cities Summit from Eric Cedo, CEO, BrainGain Marketing:  “The event will be held at the Renaissance Center. The first Creative Cities Summit was held in Tampa 4 years ago. The one referenced in Philadelphia is not affiliated with Peter Kagayama, Creative Cities Production or Cool Cities. We’ll be adding new functionality to the site in coming months. If you are on Facebook you can join the CCS2.0 group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8705139076. Also, Peter’s company is Creative Cities Productions - formerly Sextant Marketing.”

The Downtown Detroit Partnership is making a video tomorrow, February 29th, to be shown at it’s annual meeting on March 17th and for the general promotion and excitement of everyone. The intent of the video is to characterize life in the ‘D’ for the 21 to 34 year old denizen of the Detroit Urban Jungle. The video will be a ‘day in the life’ that shows the fun work, the after hours events, and the cool loft lifestyle available to those willing to try downtown on for size. You can download the PDF that explains the concept Lets Meet Downtown, and you can contact Bob Rossback, the guy spearheading this project, bob@rossbach.tv or call him at 313-402-9831.

Thanks to Fusion Detroit for the heads up.

Colgate & Starbright foundation are sponsoring a really neat event, the construction of Fun Centers at children’s hospitals all over the country.  There are 8 major hospitals that are already going to receive one, but a second fun center is up for vote, and right now Detroit Children’s Hospital has just moved into 1st place.  To vote, you only have until visit the site by February 29th.  Read more from Fox News, or you can just vote now.

There has been a lot of hype in the local Detroit media about hosting this Second Creative Cities Summit October 13-15th since Governor Granholm announced it and blogged about it February 15th. No location for the event has yet been identified. Neither the link in the MiLifeMiTimes article nor the Cool Cities page of MSHDA seem to provide any detail. MiLifeMiTimes goes on to say the first Summit was held in St. Petersburg Fl. in 2004, which is also listed in the Freep article released in the same media salvo on this issue. Digging in a bit further, I find that an organization called UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) hosted what they thought was the first one in Philadelphia last year, partnering with a local organization called Innovation Philadelphia. So I am confused - when was the first summit? From MiLifeMiTimes, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s (MSHDA) Cool Cities Team is a key organizer of the event. Freep also mentions Creative Cities Productions, which doesn’t seem to exist, at least to Google. Peter Kageyama, who is mentioned in conjunction with Creative Cities Productions is very active in Creative Class activities, more of which you can read about here. I am hoping to get some people engaged in this worthy effort, so I hope more information on this event is provided soon!