It Takes an (Artisan) Village
AuSable Artisan Village celebrates 15 years of bringing people (and the arts) to downtown Grayling
When people daydream about their summertime getaways to rural northern Michigan, they think of hiking through dense forests, kayaking winding rivers, and exhaling stress in the great outdoors.
Across Crawford County’s 559 square miles, a majority of which are occupied by the isolated wilderness of the AuSable State and Huron Manistee National Forests, that’s certainly an accurate picture, with visitors trekking I-75 to escape the noise of their big cities and pouring nearly $60 million in annual tourism dollars throughout the county while they’re at it.
But there’s one thing big city folks aren’t getting away from when they visit, and it’s pretty amazing considering the last census estimate of Crawford’s population total hit a rather scant 13,722. The arts scene—which includes live musical and theatre performances and a full calendar of classes hosted by local artists—has been booming since the AuSable Artisan Village (AAV) landed in downtown Grayling 15 years ago.
The multi-building campus, where class field trips and glimpses of artists caught in the act of creating are routine occurrences, is “part gallery, part classroom, part performance space,” explains AAV’s executive director, Radel Rosin. But mostly, he adds, the nonprofit center is a place where people, regardless of their age, the season, or even current artistic abilities are communing with the arts and with each other every single day of the week.
“For families especially, it gives them something to do together that’s creative and engaging,” says Rosin, who first joined the organization in 2022 before taking on his current role in early fall of 2024.
How It Started
So how did a 6,000-square-foot gallery and event space (with a coffee shop in the middle of it all!) plus a brand-new performing arts center make its way into the lower peninsula’s unofficial fly-fishing capital? Well, back in the late 2000s, Grayling had a surplus of creative talent but nowhere to funnel it—no designated stages, no public galleries, and few museums (except for some very cool historical ones).
That led a handful of area artists to come together to create a hub, including muralist Terry Dickinson whose wood and painted murals have been found everywhere from the U.P.’s Michigan Tech campus to buildings all over Bay City.
By spring of 2011, Dickinson—who served as the organization’s first volunteer director and has been integral since day one—and the rest of the AAV found a physical home in the former Ben Franklin five and dime store on Michigan Avenue.
Like a lot of surrounding downtowns at the time, Grayling’s was suffering in a post-housing-crisis economy. Yet within six months of opening the AAV’s retail gallery and selling over 1,000 pieces of their sculptures, paintings, and jewelry, its artists had netted over $20,000.
How It’s Going
A decade later, in 2021, after leading a fully-volunteer run operation, the AAV had grown so much that they were able to hire their first full-time director. Soon after, they outgrew their spot, turning to the community to raise funds to expand their footprint from the packed retail gallery which was now multi-tasking as a performance and education venue too.
The push garnered $67,000 plus a $50,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and allowed the AAV to revamp their original space while opening a new 130-seat performing arts center just down the sidewalk in April of 2024.
“It really showed how much people believed in creating a dedicated arts and performance space for Grayling,” Rosin says of exceeding the organization’s original goal of raising $50,000 from donors.
These days, the AAV not only brings more eyes and dollars to its 70 member artists, but acts as a harbinger of business for the surrounding downtown. When the AAV hosts large events, nearby restaurants and shops have reported up to a 50 percent increase in sales, and while Rosin himself doesn’t have hard data on what exactly those numbers look like, “we definitely see the ripple effect.”
Last year, he and his cohort of 50 volunteers hosted 20 concert, theater, and comedy productions drawing a total of more than 2,000 ticket sales. It’s all been forward motion for a city that’s spent the last couple decades growing beyond their status as a purely outdoor-recreation destination.
Still, Rosin says AAV is fulfilling an even bigger, more intrinsic goal. “One of the biggest impacts has been simply creating access. In a rural community, it’s easy for the arts to feel out of reach,” says Rosin. “But we’ve worked really hard to change that.”
On the Calendar
From youth day camps to classes for adult novices, the AuSable Artisan Village’s calendar is so packed with cool ways to explore the arts this summer that we couldn’t fit it all here. Visit artisanvillage.org to get the full low-down, but for now, here’s your official peek at the AAV’s offerings.
June 9, 16, and 23 at 10:30am – Mindfulness June Series
Somehow, we’re already halfway through the year (!!), which is as good a time as any to slow down, reflect, and reset for what’s ahead. E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) Patty Clark will guide you through breathwork and gentle movement as a catalyst for manifesting your dream life. $30 for the whole series or $15 (exact) cash for drop-ins.
June 20 & 25 (varying times) – Summer Pottery Class for Kids: Animal Sculptures for the Garden
You know it’s gonna be good when the description comes with a warning that you will get messy. Kids ages 5–15 will learn how to sculpt their favorite fuzzy (or scaly) critters in this two-parter. $65 per student.
June 20 at 7pm – Pere Cheney: Plague in the Pines – Michigan Premier Screening
It’s one of Michigan’s spookiest and, as legend goes, most haunted places. Catch a screening of the brand new documentary Pere Cheney: Plague in the Pines, plus a Q&A with its filmmakers as they sort fact from fiction exploring the lore behind Crawford County’s historic abandoned Pere Cheney settlement.
June 27 at 12:30pm – Watercolor Monoprinting
Adult learners will try their hand at watercolor monoprinting—that is, painting on a non-porous surface to create effects and soft color pooling that just can’t be achieved on paper. $65, all supplies included.
July 18 at 9am – Bottle Fairy House, a Friends & Family Class
Pack a lunch! This full-day class invites families to work together to cover recycled bottles with polymer clay, creating cute and clever homes for backyard fairies. $65 for each pair of students.
August 10–13 at 10am–12PM – Summer Camp: Summertime Stage Performance
Budding thespians will learn how to develop characters, improvise on stage, and even get a look at how things work behind the curtain, all culminating in a performance on the new AAV stage. $70 for kids 7–15.