Stay busy with Get Busy, your source for Detroit culture and things to do

Detour Detroit is expanding our culture, entertainment and events coverage with the relaunch of Get Busy, the Detroiters’ guide to Detroit. Get Busy is a weekly newsletter and vertical for stories about up-and-coming artists making waves, the best things to eat and drink; how to have a great time and support your community in the city; shopping, music, film, wellness and plenty more. 

Above all, Get Busy is a celebration of the people across our city — the creators, makers, hosts, small business owners, service providers, friends, family and neighbors — that make this city vibrant, joyful and rich. Because a true guide to Detroit won’t just show you the best places — it’s the people that cultivate and fill those spaces that make this city a true original. 

Sign up for the Get Busy email for the guide to Detroit that goes beyond the basics, with the Detour fun and flavor you already love (or will soon!):

Since Detour’s early days in 2018 we’ve been all about rallying our community, both digitally and IRL — and sharing with readers the things in Detroit that delight us. Soon after we launched, that was shaped into Get Busy, a section in our original newsletter with recommended events and things to do. A few listings here and there turned into an obsessively curated weekly guide to the best things going on in the city — and a reader favorite.

We shared pop-up dinners, dance parties, music fests, art openings and indie film releases. But Detour readers wanted more than the classic weekend going out ideas — they wanted to be busy in mind, body and spirit. So we included favorite parks and free yoga, grief circles, reading groups, volunteer opportunities, game nights, academic panels and workshops on everything from sewing to starting a small business.

Readers wanted info about the happenings that might not make it on a classic events calendar, and they didn’t want to just spectate or be in the know — they wanted to be involved, and they really wanted to understand the cultural fabric of our city. 

With that in mind, Detour got to work early this year planning an expansion of Get Busy to make it a comprehensive guide to getting busy in the city, focused around Detroiters’ work and experiences in their neighborhoods (and favorite local haunts).

When the pandemic hit, our organization shifted course to meet the urgent information needs of Detroiters experiencing health risks, unemployment and other critical issues. Meanwhile, the entertainment industry was scrambling to adapt to the new landscape of virtual events and figuring out how in-person gatherings could be held safely once state restrictions were lifted. 

So we pressed pause on the newsletter, even as we continued to share stories of culture and creators and polled our readers about what they wanted to see in the new Get Busy. 

You told us you wanted to find new things to eat and drink — we feel you on that — and discover new things to do and see in Detroit. But you’re looking for more than restaurant roundups — you said you crave new art, music, podcasts, videos and other work created by Detroiters. 

“There is so much talent in this city that is just waiting to be shared and enjoyed and lifted up to the spotlight,” one reader wrote.

You said over and over that you wanted us to focus on all areas of the city; to know who’s prioritizing worker and customer safety; to hear more about Black-owned businesses and, maybe most strikingly, to learn how to volunteer and give back — and hear about the community heroes doing that work. 

As another reader put it, “What are ways we can help get involved, help build Detroit…and what are ways other Detroiters are stepping up?”

That’s an atypical mandate for a culture and entertainment section, but it’s one we’re eager to take on. 

In the months since spring, COVID-19 concerns haven’t dissipated, issues of racial justice and policing continue to be at the forefront of daily life and we’re coming up on an election so critical it’s difficult to think beyond voting access and politics.

But at the same time… we can’t press pause on joy, or on sharing the things that enrich our lives, make Detroit special and allow us to connect with our loved ones and larger community. In-person events may not be back to normal for a long while, but we can still connect with each other. 

Sign up for Get Busy to find your way through Detroit, even in challenging times — and tap into the community that makes it the best place to be. You’ll be in good company, we promise.