Mission and History
Mission
We are Detroit Art. Detroit Artists Market is a non-profit gallery committed to contemporary art and to connecting artists, collectors and communities.
Vision
The foremost destination to exhibit, collect and learn about contemporary art in Detroit.

History
The Detroit Artists Market (DAM) was founded in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression. A group of local art patrons, led by Mrs. H. Lee Simpson, recognized that local artists needed a place to exhibit and sell their work. Originally called Detroit Young Artists Market, the gallery was created to provide a source of income for artists under the age of 30.
In 1936, the gallery’s name changed to Detroit Artists Market (DAM), which reflected the growth of the organization as it began to exhibit both emerging and established Detroit artists of all ages and stature.
In addition to providing artists with the means of a livelihood, DAM’s founders had another goal: educating public taste through the exhibition and sale of work by the finest of Detroit’s local artists. DAM ran solely on the help of volunteers and board members, up until the first salaried manager in 1969.
Today, the gallery is rooted in the history of Detroit art and culture, and continues to be one of the finest nonprofit contemporary art galleries in the Midwest. DAM has a distinguished history of creating a lively culture characterized by experimentation and artistic creativity.


Staff
Kelly Farrell, Gallery Manager
kelly@detroitartistsmarket.org
Hailey Hayward, Membership Associate
Charlene McNary, Bookkeeper
Mike Kearns, Art Installer
Board Members
Kate Baker, Chair, Oakland Housing, Inc.
Doug McElroy, Vice Chair, Treasurer & Circle of Art Chair, Retired CFO
Meighen Jackson, Exhibitions Committee Chair, Artist
Megan Winkel, Secretary, Henry Ford Health System
Denise Freitag, Freitag & Co.
Leslie Graves, Attorney and Art Consultant
Raquel Hardy, Michigan State Police
Robert-David Jones, Independent Production & Logistics Consultant
Hubert Massey, Artist
Carole Morisseau, Artist
Chizoba Onwuzurike, Artist
Monique Riley, Girl Scouts
Philip Rivera, Director, Visitor Services, Detroit Institute of Arts
Exhibition Committee Members
Anita Bates
Jetshri Bhadviya
Veronica Bielat
Darcel Deneau
Maureen Devine
Gary Eleinko
Laura Gibson
Dan Graschuck
Leslie Graves
Tracy Irwin
Meighen Jackson, Chair
Stephanie James
Melissa Jones
John F. Korachis
Holliday Martindale
Andrew Thompson
Megan Winkel
Elizabeth Youngblood