A new children’s art museum opens in Detroit’s Grandmont Rosedale

The RED Children's Art Museum, a visual arts museum where kids of all ages can make and learn about art, has opened in Detroit’s Grandmont Rosedale neighborhood.

The March opening has come at an opportune time with summer around the corner, when parents will be looking for kid-friendly stimulating activities in the school-less months.

The museum is nestled between a smoothie spot and a bookstore on a commercial strip of Grand River Ave. It is founder Yvette Rock’s second iteration of the museum she initially opened in 2018 on Clairmount Avenue in hopes of filling a gap for local kids.

“I saw there was no children’s arts museum within the [Detroit] city limits and I wanted that for youth and families,” said Rock, 50, who lives in Detroit.

The city has children's museums, but not ones catered to art of the kind Rock saw while touring around New York City as part of her research. One of her main inspirations for The RED was the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling in Upper Manhattan.

As of March 12, The RED is open to kids and families for daily admission Thursdays through Saturdays, and kids birth to 5 years old get in free. A whole family gets in for $12, children ages 13 to 17 get in for $3 each and students 18 years or older for $4.

Different museum membership options are also available for kids in grades K-12, families, artists and community members. Members get free museum admission and free or reduced-price access to programming, like workshops, classes and work opportunities.

What kids and families can do at The RED Children’s Art Museum

The RED — named in part for the primary color, one of the first things kids learn about art — is one large room, split into stations to scratch kids’ varying creative itches.

Thursdays are Open Studio time where materials like colored pencils, paint sticks, markers, as well as collage and construction paper are laid out for kids to work on their own art projects. Often, there will be art samples out to lend inspiration or a sample project with "how to" instructions kids can follow if they want.

On Saturdays, the museum hosts drop-in workshops led by one of the museum's teaching artists or staff. Rock said these art workshops "vary in complexity" so those who haven't signed up ahead of time and are just dropping in can decide whether they want to participate.

Yvette Rock, 50, executive director and founder of The RED: Children’s Art Museum & Gallery, speaks about the mission of her new visual arts museum in Detroit on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.

The different options make it ideal for families with kids of all ages, said Rock.

“You might have a high schooler drawing in the open studio or making something with Legos and the parent can be with their little one in the early learning corner, and you have everyone in view,” Rock said.

Kids can also come to ogle at the variety of brightly-colored, multi-material art hung on each inch of wall throughout the museum — there are Lego structures, prints, marker drawings and paintings made by kids and young people, displayed alongside pieces by local artists. 

Programs, workshops and youth opportunities

In addition to daily admission, the museum will have rotating programming for kids. At the moment, the only live program at The RED is a summer arts employment training program for high schoolers, which is a six-week, paid opportunity (application at https://tinyurl.com/summerartjobs). 

But there's much to come beyond that, Rock said. Her small team is in process of planning more opportunities in collaboration with community partners, including early learning programming like story time and workshops taught by local artists, where students will be able to exhibit and sell their artwork.

Artwork is displayed on a gallery wall inside The RED: Children’s Art Museum & Gallery in Detroit on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The space features visual art alongside hands-on activities for young children.

Programming at The RED's previous location, which moved after new building owners planned to sell, brought in renowned artists like Detroit-based Mario Moore, whose work has been on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Kids learned about Moore's art and then went on a field trip to see his work exhibited at the DIA.

A community space for Detroit families

The RED is meant to be a community space, there for all Detroiters interested in taking advantage of it, said Rock. She has already gotten inquiries from a nearby schoolteacher interested in hosting a student art exhibit, a handful of field trip requests, and a local kids art workshop that rented out the space a few Saturdays in March. Rock says it's this kind of engagement and funding from multiple different streams, from memberships to renting out the space, that will keep the space alive.

"For this place to stay open, there will need to be community buy-in," she said. "It has to be something else besides grants, which always fluctuate."

Why making art accessible to kids matters

The RED's mission goes beyond being a fun space for kids to create.

Making art teaches kids important developmental skills, from coordination and motor skills to critical thinking and problem solving skills, said Rock, who has a certificate in K-12 visual arts education from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

Art also often feels inaccessible because people are taught from a young age that it’s a natural inclination only some are born with, said Rock. But it’s not and she said The RED hopes to counter this flawed idea, by providing an outlet for young Detroiters’ creativity.

A play area is seen inside The RED: Children’s Art Museum & Gallery in Detroit on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The museum offers hands-on visual arts programming designed to support early childhood learning and development.

“You can learn to make that,” said Rock. “A lot of art is education. You want to make a print, let’s make a print. You’d be amazed at what you can do.”

This is also why hanging kids' artwork alongside pieces by established Detroit artists is important, said Rock — to show them, from as young an age as possible, that they too can create something worthy.

What neighbors say about the new museum

Jelani Sowers, 25, is a Grandmont Rosedale native who co-owns Pages Bookshop right next door to The RED.

He said the museum is the best neighbor the bookstore could've asked for, both because of the possibilities for artistic exchange between the two spots (painters next door can come write poetry and vice versa) and because he sees The RED as a major benefit to the neighborhood's young people.

Whether it's because the neighborhood's population is aging or kids are just inside stuck to screens, Sowers said he notices fewer kids around than when he grew up there — an estimation he backs up by pointing to the dwindling number of ice cream trucks in the area during peak summer.

"It's exciting to see more things for young people to do and more welcoming environments for families," Sowers said. "I'm excited that there's more people who are excited to invest in this particular demographic."

Hours, admission and memberships

The RED Children's Art Museum is located at 19556 Grand River Ave. in Detroit.

For the most up to date hours and to keep track of ongoing programming additions for kids and young people of all ages, go to www.livecoal.org/the-red.

The museum is closed Monday and Tuesday. It is open:

• Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (Wednesdays are currently open for school groups and tours only. Contact [email protected] to inquire about these options)
• Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission is free for kids from birth to 5 years old. All other admission prices can be found on www.livecoal.org/admission.

Beki San Martin is a fellow at the Detroit Free Press who covers childcare, early childhood education and other issues that affect the lives of children ages 5 and under and their families in metro Detroit and across Michigan. Contact her at [email protected].

This fellowship is supported by the Bainum Family Foundation. The Free Press retains editorial control of this work.