Somewhere in Detroit right now, Andrew Stein believes, is the next Diana Ross. The next Tim Meadows. A young person with extraordinary creative potential who may not yet know what they can become.
What happens next depends on whether they ever get the opportunity to find out.
“What would be an absolute shame is if that young person didn’t have access to music in schools or didn’t have an after-school program that got them onstage,” says Stein, president and CEO of the Children’s Foundation of Michigan. “That’s where the next generation of artists comes from.”
MARK EVAN JACKSON
That belief is the foundation of an important new Detroit initiative.
On September 25 and 26, actors, comedians, musicians and other Detroit-connected celebrities will come home for The Coney, a new celebrity charity weekend created by the Children’s Foundation of Michigan, actor Marc Evan Jackson and the Detroit Creativity Project.
The weekend culminates September 26 at the Detroit Opera House with a variety show featuring Jackson alongside a growing roster that includes Tim Meadows, Sam Richardson, Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, J.K. Simmons, Diona Reasonover and others. Attendees can expect music and comedy, but also the unexpected – with everything from celebrity Motown karaoke to a Coney eating showdown potentially on the lineup.
But in addition to the fun, The Coney has a much larger purpose.
The Coney will provide immediate grants to Detroit organizations offering youth arts education and creative development while establishing an endowed fund intended to support that work permanently.
And somewhat fittingly for an event built around improvisers, it began with a chance encounter.
ANDREW STEIN
Stein describes it this way: “At the Children’s Foundation we wake up every day thinking about how to make life better for Michigan children today, tomorrow and decades into the future. Sometimes an intentional strategy like this meets a one-off opportunity, and that’s what The Coney is. I met Marc, we started talking, he had the idea and I said yes.”
Jackson, whose credits include The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Recreation, began his career at Detroit’s Second City. He and his wife, Beth Hagenlocker, later founded the Detroit Creativity Project, which has provided free improvisational theater programming to Detroit students since 2012.
Jackson had been thinking about Kansas City’s Big Slick, an annual celebrity fundraising weekend created by hometown stars including Paul Rudd and Jason Sudeikis.
What if Detroit had something of its own?
Jackson envisioned bringing Detroit-connected entertainers home for a weekend that could become both a celebration of the city and a reliable source of funding for youth arts.
Stein’s response was straightforward. “Yes and yes,” he recalls. “It was completely fitting that The Children’s Foundation be part of this.”
From there, the idea moved quickly. The inaugural event has already raised approximately $2.4 million toward a $3 million goal, according to Stein.
The goal is to support organizations large and small working across music, dance, visual arts, theater and other creative disciplines throughout Detroit.
Both Stein and Jackson strongly believe that the arts are a critical part of a young person’s development.
“Arts are not a nice-to-have,” Stein says. “They are part of what makes a kid healthy.”
Jackson has watched that impact play out for more than a decade.
The Detroit Creativity Project uses improvisation to teach skills that extend far beyond performing. Improv requires students to listen, respond, make decisions, contribute ideas and enter situations without knowing exactly what will happen next.
“You can’t do improv unless everybody shows up,” Jackson says. “It teaches you to become a team. Everybody has to play.”
For a young person who is afraid of being wrong, that can be powerful.
Jackson has watched students who initially hesitate to participate become the ones jumping out of their seats when instructors ask for volunteers. They begin to recognize that their ideas have value and that the group needs their contribution.
He says some students discover that they want to become actors, writers or other working artists, but that isn’t the only goal. “We’re looking to create the next generation of well-rounded humans.”
That thinking also drives how The Coney will operate. A portion of the money raised will be distributed through grants to Detroit youth arts organizations beginning this year. Another portion will build the Endowed Fund for Youth Arts at the Children’s Foundation of Michigan, creating a permanent source of annual funding. And the vision is for The Coney to become an annual tradition.
“We hope this isn’t a one-and-done,” Stein says. “We want to shine a spotlight on all the amazing programs that take place in Detroit.”
Jackson says the timing feels right. He describes a community of Detroit natives and former Detroiters in Los Angeles who remain deeply invested in what happens back home.
“We all watched the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit from the West Coast thinking ‘please go well.’ And it did. We then watched the opening of Michigan Central. It proved to me Detroit is ready for and deserves an annual charity weekend supporting the future.”
Looking ahead, Stein and Jackson hope The Coney becomes known for far more than its celebrity lineup.
Jackson thinks about the neighborhoods beyond Detroit’s resurgent urban core and how opportunities should reach children throughout a vast city. Stein thinks about the arts organizations that could count on support year after year. Both think about young Detroiters getting the chance to encounter an instrument, a stage, an easel, a camera or an improv class and discover something in themselves they didn’t know existed.
“In the end, all kids deserve that,” Stein says.
The Coney takes place September 26 at the Detroit Opera House. Public tickets are available through the Detroit Opera House Box Office and The Coney website.
As always, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates on all things Detroit and more.
