🎼 Arts center's next phase

Community arts nonprofit Garage Cultural is using a recently awarded grant as a "springboard" to build up its new campus.

Driving the news: The Kresge Foundation gave Garage Cultural $150,000 this summer to fund an outdoor stage, workshop and green space around the nonprofit's new southwest building.

What's happening: The space is at a "pivotal stage," Garage director Amelia Duran tells Axios.

• It's expecting to invest around $500,000 over the next couple years into infrastructure improvements that will increase capacity for programming, she says.

The big picture: Duran's father, Ismael "Bandolero" Duran, was a Latin American folk musician and immigrant who founded Garage Cultural in 2011 for artists and activists.

• Ismael, who died in October, aimed to give young people opportunities to immerse themselves in arts and music, and to ensure cultural traditions weren't lost.
• "He was really the heart and soul of Garage," Amelia says.

Flashback: The nonprofit had been trying to buy the building it had been in for a decade, but the agreement fell through, according to Amelia.

• They then bought Garage's now-headquarters and 12 vacant lots in late October.

What's next: Garage Cultural is working on SW Fest, a group of young creatives' free music and art festival, on Aug. 27 at the Senate Theater.