01 — THE STORY
A city that built the cars
America drove
Pontiac, Michigan sits just north of Detroit — a small city that once roared with industry. It gave the world the GTO, the Firebird, the Silverdome. It hosted the Super Bowl. It was a place people came to.
Then, like a lot of Michigan cities, the factories closed. The jobs left. The world looked away.
But Pontiac never stopped breathing.
1970s
The Phoenix Center is built downtown — a concert venue and commercial complex meant to revitalize the city core. It's constructed directly over Saginaw Street, physically splitting downtown in half.
2011
The last concert plays at the Phoenix Center. After that, the building sits abandoned — crumbling, blocking the view, holding the city back for over a decade.
2025
Demolition begins. The Phoenix Center starts coming down. For the first time in 40+ years, open sky appears where concrete used to be. The city begins to reconnect.
Now
Pontiac is mid-transformation. Construction barriers and new foundations. 700 county employees moving downtown. New businesses opening. A city that isn't "back" — it's becoming something it hasn't been yet.
Witness Pontiac is the lens — documenting every stage of this transformation through photography, film, and sound.
Pontiac Rising is the invitation — asking everyone to pick up a camera and be part of the story.
02 — THE PROJECT
Art doesn't just hang
on walls. It builds things.
Pontiac Rising is a participatory community art project. It's not one photographer's portfolio — it's an open invitation for anyone to travel through the city, capture what they see, and share their experience.
When you invite people to look at a place through an artist's eye, something shifts. They don't just take a picture — they start to see themselves as someone who creates. Multiply that across a community and you're not making art anymore. You're making connection.
The project proves something: art isn't decoration. It's infrastructure. It brings people together, it puts a spotlight on communities that deserve one, and it shows that creativity can rebuild what neglect tore down.
03 — WALK THE CITY
Three loops.
Your eyes. Your story.
Pick a route. Bring a camera — even a phone. Walk through Pontiac and capture what you find. Post it. Share it. Your perspective becomes part of the story.
The core downtown signal. Feel the pulse of a city in transition — from historic architecture to active construction, from quiet side streets to the energy of Saginaw.
Riker Building → Flagstar Strand Theatre → The Treasury → Fillmore 13 → Liberty Bar → The Crofoot
Pontiac's visual language — murals, weathered signage, peeling paint, new concrete, layered surfaces that tell decades of story in a single wall.
Focus on texture, color, and the marks a city leaves on itself over time.
What happens after dark. The sodium glow of streetlights on wet pavement. Neon reflected in puddles. The city when most people aren't looking — when it's most honest.
Best walked after 9 PM. Bring a tripod if you have one. A steady hand works too.
THE 3–3–3 CREATIVE SCORECARD
At each stop, capture three things:
3
Words
Describe the vibe
3
Photos
Texture, wide, detail
3
Signals
Foot traffic, noise, social energy
04 — PONTIAC RIGHT NOW
A city that's not waiting
for permission
Pontiac isn't planning a comeback. It's already in one. Here's what's happening on the ground right now.
Pontiac Arts Crawl 2026
Every Friday night through May, downtown Pontiac transforms into a free celebration of local art, live music, and community. Over 1,000 people showed up in the first week. The art market rotates to a new location each Friday — and the whole city becomes a gallery.
As seen on WXYZ Channel 7 News Detroit.
Every Friday · 5–9 PM · Free · Historic Downtown Pontiac
New businesses opening downtown. A former building converting to loft apartments. A former General Motors tower under construction as a worksite for nearly 700 Oakland County employees. Affordable studio spaces drawing artists from across the metro. A city government that wants creators here.
Pontiac is artistically alive. Fiercely positive. And ready to be seen.
05 — THE PEOPLE'S ARTIST
Put Pontiac on a
national stage
Pontiac Rising has been entered into The People's Artist — a national art competition presented by Johnny Depp. The winner receives $25,000, a feature in Artforum Magazine, and an exhibition at The Art of Elysium Salon in Los Angeles.
This isn't just a vote for an artist. It's a vote for Pontiac. A win puts this city's story in front of the entire art world and proves that community-driven art belongs on any stage.
Voting is free. You get one vote per day. Consistency wins — come back tomorrow and vote again.
Vote for Pontiac
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