Detroit Creative Corridor Center to Host DRINKS X DESIGN UNESCO Status Celebration

Three exciting design venues will be featured through a self-guided Design Crawl, as part of a special event to celebrate Detroit securing its UNESCO City of Design status. The Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3) will host Drinks x Design: UNESCO City of Design Celebration from 5:30-8:00 p.m. Thursday, September 8, 2016. Guests (21+) are invited to be the first to experience the Skyy Vodka Lounge, a pop-up space located on the first floor of 1505 Woodward Avenue, before embarking on a self-guided Design Crawl of some of Detroit's most iconic design studios.

On December 15, 2015, UNESCO designated Detroit, the nation's first City of Design, making the city part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The globally-recognized UNESCO designation, connects Detroit to a network of 22 cities in 18 countries across the world. The designation will serve as a catalyst to build public awareness and a common vision for Detroit City of Design, a ten-year initiative to grow the creative sector.

"Since receiving the UNESCO designation in December, we've been planning a way to celebrate with designers and the community," said Olga Stella, Executive Director of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center. "By expanding our popular Drinks x Design event to a Design Crawl, attendees will experience not only some of Detroit's design legacy, but also a taste of the future of design in our city."

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required by signing up at www.detroitcityofdesign.eventbrite.com.

Studios include:

• Skyy Vodka Lounge, One Woodward Ave., 2nd Floor, Detroit, MI 48226

• Detroit Lives, 645 Griswold St. Detroit, MI 48226

• dPOP, 711 Griswold, Detroit, MI 48226

The celebration will begin at One Woodward Avenue, the first skyscraper designed by Minoru Yamasaki, then will be followed by two more destinations, including the debut of Detroit Lives!, a new studio space at the one-time home of the Detroit Stock Exchange. This will be the first time the studio is open to the public since its $150,000 renovation. Next, visit dPOP! located in a 132-year-old vault beneath downtown Detroit's Chrysler House, which dPOP!'s designers have scavenged and repurposed into one of Detroit's hippest commercial design studios. After visiting all locations, guests can return to the Skyy Vodka Lounge to collect a prize.

The event precedes DC3's sixth-annual Detroit Design Festival held from September 21-25, the five-day citywide celebration of design, which has attracted more than 100,000 people. This year, the festival's theme is "Designing Detroit's Future" and will feature a Design Summit to kick-off the visioning process for the initiative.

DC3 is an economic development organization that works to strengthen Detroit's creative economy and connect people to it. DC3 provides services to creative businesses and designers, offers widespread opportunities to engage with Detroit's creative sectors, and champions Detroit's creative economy. DC3 is a partnership between Business Leaders for Michigan and College for Creative Studies.

On December 15, 2015, Detroit became the first and only city in the United States to receive the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) City of Design designation. Obtaining this designation has been part of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center's (DC3) strategy to grow Detroit's creative economy since Business Leaders for Michigan and the College for Creative Studies launched the organization in 2010.

To learn more about the designation and Detroit City of Design, visit www.detroitc3.com. To learn more about the Detroit Design Festival, visit www.detroitdesignfestival.com.

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