Freedom Arts Festival fans across seven Detroit parks

The Freedom Arts Festival will host free parties with art displays, music and dance across seven city parks from July 8 through September.

Driving the news: The festival, hosted by the nonprofit Detroit Parks Coalition for the second year, kicks off with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Playback Theatre at Clark Park.

• There's also a community fun day at Belle Isle July 22, an art and music event centered around the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Detroit address 60 years ago and a Motown tribute Aug. 11 on the riverfront, per the coalition's website.
• Plus, a Tuskegee Airmen plaza dedication ceremony is planned with an air show and high school marching band at Rouge Park Sept. 16.

Details: The festival's goal is reconnecting residents with their parks while "reflecting Detroit’s multicultural tapestry," focusing on "freedom, racial justice, history and connection," per the site.

• The event series "seeks to connect us with challenges to our freedom in history, inspire us to continue fighting for freedom for all and explore the diversity of ways we express and share our stories and lives through the arts," event curator Barbara Barefield said in a news release.

Go deeper: Find a full schedule on the coalition's website.