The Potluck Detroit 2026

The Potluck Detroit is a 4 day Art & Music Festival dedicated to celebrating Detroit culture and providing a safe space for the community to heal together through art, music, poetry, and holistic healing workshops. The Potluck is dedicated to celebrating Detroit culture by spotlighting local artists and embracing artists from around the world to uplift, beautify and celebrate our magnetic city. The Potluck Detroit will take place Memorial Day Weekend from Friday May 22- Monday May 25. The intention behind choosing Memorial day weekend, is to honor and celebrate our ancestors and those who have come before us, while simultaneously holding space for grief and joy. We are committed to normalizing healing in all spaces. We will also hold space for the community to laugh, create, dance, eat, party and heal together in community. This will be accomplished through community mural making, live art performances, art exhibits, live music, poetry, producer showcases, yoga, holistic healing workshops and so much more.

The Potluck will take place from Friday May 22 through Monday May 25, 2026 at The Talking Dolls Studio in Detroit. The Potluck is produced by the Patton Sisters Center for the Healing Arts & The Talking Dolls Studio.

The Potluck runs completely on grant funding, donations, and sponsorships. We invite you to donate here, and contact us at [email protected] to learn about sponsoring portions of our event.

Info: Konstance Patton Ke-nee-go-keshek & Kendra PattonOpening Ceremony & Land Acknowledgement

Info: Join Ruby Flwrs as she creates a showcases a live canvas painting

Info: Join SpokesCouncil Detroit, a formation supporting flow of information and coordination across organizations and movements, as we kick off a Summer of Resistance during The Potluck at Talking Dolls on Movement Weekend!

We’ll be dreaming and scheming around what it looks like to be seen & supported not criminalized, surveilled, snatched, and disappeared - not by ICE, not by cops, not by the city or the Feds!

Be Seen Not Watched Workshops Friday 6:30pm - 8pm / Monday 11am - 12:30pm // Activation stations with screen printing, button making, painting and interactive art installation Friday - Sunday 6:30pm - 10pm and Monday 11-3pm! Come out and bring your neighbors friends & comrades!

Info: Live Family performance

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Info: Join Dr. Chaz Antoine for an art installation featuring durags and the power they hold in the Black community. This will be in preparation for Saturday's viewing that sparks discussion about durags and aesthetics in connection to the aesthetic similarity between Richmond, VA, and Detroit to begin contextualizing what a durag-design that speaks to Black cultural production (i.e., durag fashion and the often-untold stories Black material culture as texts holds) and vibes in both cities. What would a durag line that exclusively sells in Richmond and Detroit shops look like, feel like, and evoke? This session will include sound review, durag viewing from Chaz's own collection, and oral history collection/discussion related to the content above. Join us for this powerful discussion and interactive session. Bring your own durags for personal use and to donate!

Info: Join us at The Talking Doll Studio with Urban City Cowboys! We will have two horses to ride in the space. This is a great opportunity to bring the entire family!

Info: Join Curtis Wallace for this fun and interactive painting workshop- musical chairs style. Participants will paint, and exchange paintings with the musical cues, until all paintings are returned to the original painter- musical chairs style. Painters will practice many moments of letting go, trusting, and collaborating with everyone participating.

Info: Detroit Renowned Muralist Creating murals featuring Konstance Patton Ke-nee-go-keshek, Sterling Toles, Venusloc, Curtis Wallace, Arnisha Smith, children & families welcome to join

Info: Join Muthi Reed for a Neigborhood walk entitled "whylin wildin field recording session" which is a 2-hour walking/listening in the neighborhood of Talking Dolls

Info: Practicing "Presente:" How to Become An Worth Calling On
Grounding ourselves in an everyday practice of intentional recognition of death as a natural part of life and remembrance for those who have passed are often difficult things to do in modern hyper-capitalistic settings that keep us constantly fighting our own humanity. Join us for a conversation about how we carry the work of various ancestors forward, what kinds of grief practices we can pull from the diaspora in honoring our loved ones, and some straight talk about life and death. Bring something that reminds you of someone you love who has transitioned to other worlds. Come ready to share, be vulnerable, do some healing, and leave a little less alone.

Info: Join Two-time Emmy Award winner Joel Fluent Greene as he hosts a poetry workshop entitled "Pulling From Life". Participants will pull from the day to day activities of their life in their writing. The idea is to be less reactionary and more aware. The session will end with an open mic for the workshop participants to share.

Info: An amazing showcase of rising stars from the Metro Detroit area, curated by poet, rapper and activist KHALFANI. The Corner: Featuring KHALFANI., Reggiehobb, Queen Black, Von., Mack Thorsday, Sinne, ShaRod, DJ OV, & Conflict

Info: Join SpokesCouncil Detroit, a formation supporting flow of information and coordination across organizations and movements, as we kick off a Summer of Resistance during The Potluck at Talking Dolls on Movement Weekend!

We’ll be dreaming and scheming around what it looks like to be seen & supported not criminalized, surveilled, snatched, and disappeared - not by ICE, not by cops, not by the city or the Feds!

Be Seen Not Watched Workshops Friday 6:30pm - 8pm / Monday 11am - 12:30pm // Activation stations with screen printing, button making, painting and interactive art installation Friday - Sunday 6:30pm - 10pm and Monday 11-3pm! Come out and bring your neighbors friends & comrades!

Info: Experience the beautiful and talented Ideeyah with her band

Info: Joel Fluent Greene is a two-time Emmy award certified poet, author, event producer, event host, and proud Detroiter. We are honored to have him back to showcase his powerful and soulful poetry. You don't want to miss it!

Info: Join Celeste Hamner, LMSW, and therapist as she leads a workshop on how to clearly communicate and set healthy boundaries.

Info: Join our slow and gentle yoga session designed to stretch and release tension led by Curtis Wallace. Followed by a soothing sound bath led by Kendra Patton. All levels welcome.

Info: Join us for a mindfulness meditation and emotional release session led by Corderio Johnson. And join Jennifer Norton as she leads participants through a writing exercise designed to use cursive as a bridge to our ancestral lineage.

Info: Join Kendra Patton and Ron Watters at the Talking Dolls Studio kitchen for an interactive, hands-on juicing workshop! Learn about the health benefits of juicing, how to choose the right juicer for you and your family, and how to make your own juices with local fresh, organic ingredients.

Info: The Soundscape samples, voices, instruments, and the ambient hum of tea plantation factories weave personal and collective histories, forming a layered dialogue across time and space. It also explores Afrofuturism, cultural memory while reflecting on the possibilities of reconnection under the conditions of capital and the nation-state.

Info: Experience the world-renowned, multifaceted producer and musician 14KT

Info: Experience the world-renowned DJ Set by Buff1 and Tres Styles

Info: Join SpokesCouncil Detroit, a formation supporting flow of information and coordination across organizations and movements, as we kick off a Summer of Resistance during The Potluck at Talking Dolls on Movement Weekend!

We’ll be dreaming and scheming around what it looks like to be seen & supported not criminalized, surveilled, snatched, and disappeared - not by ICE, not by cops, not by the city or the Feds!

Be Seen Not Watched Workshops Friday 6:30pm - 8pm / Monday 11am - 12:30pm // Activation stations with screen printing, button making, painting and interactive art installation Friday - Sunday 6:30pm - 10pm and Monday 11-3pm! Come out and bring your neighbors friends & comrades!

Info: Join SpokesCouncil Detroit, a formation supporting flow of information and coordination across organizations and movements, as we kick off a Summer of Resistance during The Potluck at Talking Dolls on Movement Weekend!

We’ll be dreaming and scheming around what it looks like to be seen & supported not criminalized, surveilled, snatched, and disappeared - not by ICE, not by cops, not by the city or the Feds!

Be Seen Not Watched Workshops Friday 6:30pm - 8pm / Monday 11am - 12:30pm // Activation stations with screen printing, button making, painting and interactive art installation Friday - Sunday 6:30pm - 10pm and Monday 11-3pm! Come out and bring your neighbors friends & comrades!

Info: Join us for The Potluck BBQ Cookout as we commune together for the culmination of The Potluck Weekend. Free for the community starting at 12pm while supplies last.

Info: Pleasure Is a Survival Noise is a live noise ritual by Amelia Winger-Bearskin, using voice, vibration, movement, and distortion to survive, refuse, and repair. A space for ancestors, descendants, power, pleasure, and hope to become loud

Info: Join us for an amazing presentation by Audio Wave Works and Sound House as they present a robust Producer Showcase featuring High Frequency Music Group, Sterling Toles, Jay P, Doc Illingsworth, Kesswa and AK.

Info: Kvngtec Lightworks Light and Musical Performance

Info: Experience world-renowned set by Some Black Folks, 14KT, and Tres Styles

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Host or Publisher Konstance Patton, Kendra Patton, and Wes Taylor