GM funds Detroit arts, opens Art + Cars exhibit linking concept vehicles and local artists

GM awarded $250,000 to the College for Creative Studies and opened an Art + Cars exhibit in Detroit featuring three concept vehicles and Detroit-area art, while lending a historic Charles Sheeler painting to the DIA for a decade.

General Motors has committed $250,000 to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit to support educational programming and career pathways into automotive design. The grant announcement coincided with the public opening of GM’s Art + Cars exhibit at its Entrance One space at Hudson’s Detroit, 1232 Woodward Ave.

The exhibit pairs three GM concept vehicles—the Buick Wildcat, Cadillac SOLLEI and GMC HUMMER X pickup—with work by Detroit-area artists, highlighting the intersection of automotive design and local creative culture. GM said the installation is free and open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through November 1.

In a related cultural move, GM is lending Charles Sheeler’s 1956 General Motors Research painting to the Detroit Institute of Arts for a ten-year loan; the piece was originally commissioned for GM’s Warren Technical Center. For Michigan car enthusiasts and designers, the combined grant, exhibit and loan signal GM’s investment in fostering design talent and strengthening ties between the auto industry and Detroit’s arts institutions.