Each year’s support for a Kresge Eminent Artist includes the commissioning of a film on his or her life and art. The 2022 film on Kresge Eminent Artist Olayami Dabls premiered Thursday, April 14, in a virtual celebration of his Eminent Artist honors. Produced by Reel Clever Films on behalf of Kresge Arts in Detroit, the film includes remarks by members of the panel convened by Kresge Arts in Detroit to select the Eminent Artist and footage of Dabls and his extraordinary campus of buildings and outdoor art installations under the umbrella designation of Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum on Detroit’s westside.

The annual Eminent Artist honor also includes a cash award of $50,000 and the creation of a monograph, which will be released in the late summer or fall.

Films of the previous Eminent Artists and more information about them, going back to 2008, can be found here.