Creative Capital recently announced its 2013 Grantees in Emerging Fields, Literature, and Performing Arts, representing a total of 46 funded projects by 66 artists from 17 states and Puerto Rico. The grantees were selected through an open-call application process from a pool of more than 2,700 applicants. Creative Capital’s investment in each project includes up to $50,000 in direct financial support, plus more than $40,000 in advisory services.

Among the grantees in the Emerging Fields category is Design 99 (Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert), of Detroit, MI. Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope founded Design 99 in 2007 to investigate new models of contemporary art and architectural practice. Initially occupying a retail storefront space, the design studio situated itself in the public realm offering over-the-counter design consultations and marketed $99 house call specials. Now embedded in their residential corner of Detroit, Design 99 seeks out opportunities to experiment with art and design within their community.

In 2009, Reichert & Cope founded Power House Productions, a nonprofit organization focussed on neighborhood stabilization through art and culture. Power House is a test site for ideas and methods, lo and hi-tech building systems, and a point of conversation for the entire neighborhood.

Home Makers Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert with their daughter Eva, at their whimsically painted house in southwest Detroit. Photo: Brian Ulrich for the New York Times.

One of the sponsors of Power House is Juxtapose magazine, which helped to bring six artists, including Swoon, Ben Wolf, Monica Canilao, RETNA, Richard Colman and Saelee Oh, to build and add to the city. Jason Jaworski of Juxtapose interviewed Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert; Tod Seelie made the photographs of Saelee Oh (whose work is archived in AI-AP), below.

Jason Jaworski: Let’s begin at the beginning- how did this all start, the Power House Project and all?

Mitch Cope: Well, before we moved into the neighborhood, we always wanted to buy some sort of property and play with it and we started getting interested in doing something socially interactive that was more artistic. Then, when we bought this house four, almost five years ago, the first thing we did after we moved in was have a talent show out in the studio and invited our neighbors to show up. A couple of them did, most of them didn't, but that was our first initiation into the neighborhood.

From then on we kind of did different things within the neighborhood and tried to talk to the kids about having art shows. The whole idea of infusing art or artists into the neighborhood was always a goal because there wasn't much here and we always thought that everybody needs art, not just the galleries and museums of the world, but that it really benefits your everyday life. [More.]