I have lived in Lansing most of my life (minus a wonderful year or so in New York City), and I am constantly inspired by the plethora of events, offerings, and outlets that Lansing, and Michigan has to offer for its residents.  But I am supposed to be talking about my hope for the Lansing region.  Well thank goodness this is an ON-GOING blog, because I could list a lot of things that fall under my hope for the Lansing area, my town, the place I love.  I was fortunate to b...

In the Greater Lansing area, over 30 festivals celebrate arts and culture through exhibits, performances, cultural activities, and educational opportunities.  These popular festivals, in many cases nationally-recognized, attract 500,000 from near and far, making Greater Lansing an attractive and vibrant place to live, work and play.  To spotlight these many festivals, the Greater Lansing Festival Alliance (GLFA) was formed in 2009 with the help of the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. T...

 View the Cultural Economic Development Plan in its entirety.

When I went to college in the 1990's and received my formal art training, there was an idea that one must live in one of the country’s cultural centers like LA, New York or Chicago in order to achieve any level of artistic success.  So with my MFA in hand from an art school on the East Coast, I returned briefly to the Lansing region to see friends and nearby family on my way to Chicago to start my artistic career.  During my Lansing "stay over", I not only kept the momentum of making a...

 Denyse Ferguson, Leap President & CEO welcomes users to GreaterLansingNext.com.