JULY 14, 2023 ART SPACE GROUNDCOVER NEWS New Ypsi cafe focuses on community, promotes local art, provides healthy meals The Deep End Cafe & Gallery opened in Ypsilanti just three months ago, and owner Candace Cavazos hopes to use the space to benefit the community in multiple ways: to promote local artists, make healthy eating affordable and provide free meals to people in need in Washtenaw County. Being from Detroit, Cavazos never planned to open a store in Ypsilanti, but she found out about the space and thought it was a good fit for her vision. Cavazos was aided and inspired by the mission of The Squeeze Station in Detroit, making healthy eating accessible. “Their mission is to basically bring healthy eating to the community, especially in Detroit where there's a food desert,” Cavazos said. “We learned that this area in Ypsi has similar issues when it comes to getting access to affordable healthy foods.” So, The Squeeze Station helped Cavazos put together a food menu that includes a variety of breakfast items, wraps, salads, quesadillas, tacos and more. The cafe also offers coffee drinks, tea, smoothies and fresh pressed juice. Most recently, The Deep End has begun a program called “Each One Feed One” to help provide free meals to people in the community. Customers can purchase any beverage, meal or treat for someone in need and get 10% off of their order. The cafe will have a sign outside that states how many free LAYLA McMURTRIE Deputy Editor meals are currently available. Cavazos wants to do more than just provide meals and beverages though. As a poet herself, she hopes to promote other local artists. “My personal mission is to just make a space for underrepresented artists, make space for people that come from low-income backgrounds,” Cavazos said. “My goal is to just really provide a high-quality experience to people that come and engage with the underrepresented artists that come through here.” Cavazos features a new local artist each month and allows local creatives and organizations to host events in the space and sell locally created art prints, books and products inside the cafe. The name “The Deep End,” comes from the feeling throughout her own life of being in the deep end, and being successful in her creative pursuits anyway. She hopes to show other people with Founder of The Deep End, Candace Cavasos, behind the register at the cafe and gallery. Photo by Mike Jones. hardships that they can do so, too. “I come from a very low income background; my parents both struggle with addiction and it was hard for me to achieve college and achieve all these things that statistics said I was not going to achieve, so I feel like I was born under pressure,” Cavazos said. “If you feel like you have to break cycles in your family, then I think that the pressure of that can sometimes be crippling. But if you are encouraged and you're in a community where people can inspire you and encourage you and validate you, then you can become a diamond and that's kind of what the brand is for The Deep End — ‘Be where the pressure is and become a diamond under pressure and let's celebrate all the people that decide to keep fighting and keep swimming and not let the pressure fold them so that they can also become diamonds.’ ” To learn more about The Deep End Cafe & Gallery and stay up to date on specials and events, follow their Instagram @tdecafe, visit their website www.tdecafe.com, or go to the brick and mortar at 310 Perrin St. in Ypsilanti. 11 STUDIOS from last page invoking (at least for this writer) Lenin's question "Liberty for whom?" “Washtenaw is the worst county for upward mobility. This city thinks it’s liberal. It's a place for students and [property] owners.” “Others are just here to be paraded, tokenized and to tick boxes,” Petals says. “The cognitive dissonance of this place is crippling. There's a serious disconnect between the brochures and what plays out on the pavement.” During the Ann Arbor Art Fair, Now Studios activates “an entire militia” of artivists. It's an attempt to “un-Karen” hitherto ignorant people and put queerness in front of the masses. It's powerful, but also a tough process for those putting their bodies on the line, Petals says. Now Studios, in addition to hosting community arts events creates space for civic enagegment with City Council meeting watch parties, protests, Beating heart Of course there should be anger and rage, says Petals — without it, there's no push back to the status quo. “But love really is at the center of this,” they say, referring to the multiple free events the studio puts on to build community and understanding. In May, Now Studios converted Main Street into one big art and community space during the weekend’s closed streets. Crayons and big canvases, hula hoop rings and a silent disco drew families and friend groups alike. The street was packed with happy people enjoying themselves and each Selfie taken after storming the June 20 Ann Arbor City Council meeting. Individuals pictured were advocating for the passage of an ordinance that would restrict police from conducting traffic stops for minor violations. It was approved unanimously. political performance art, clubhouse mind-share and issue-based community organizing. “We don't fit into the cookie cutter box; we're human, with rotting teeth and rent and dreams, not just the town jester — put your hand on my heart, it beats.” other. It was joyous and fun, easy and free (of charge). The asphalt was covered in crayon messages of love. This writer, who was there, wonders if anyone ever stopped to ask: Who made this possible for me and why?
12 Publizr Home