Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546515
B M & T ••• September/October 2026 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 22 History seats 500 under the Ford Freedom Rotunda's glass dome and 317 in the GM Theater, the largest institution of its kind in the world. The Motown Museum sits inside the recording studio Berry Gordy built. The Heidelberg Project trans- forms a two-block stretch of Heidelberg Street into a living installation of salvaged objects, painted houses, and large-scale sculpture draw- ing international attention since 1986. The Livernois Avenue of Fashion stretches four walkable blocks of Black-owned boutiques, gal- leries, and neighborhood restaurants that keep groups engaged beyond the convention floor. Detroit carries the highest concentration of Black-owned businesses per capita in the Midwest, with deep roots across catering, pro- duction, photography, and floral running through the Detroit Regional Chamber Black business directory and the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce. SavannahBlue serves Northern Soul cuisine downtown. Fixin's Soul. Kitchen in Paradise Valley delivers comfort food with full commitment and a crowd that keeps coming back. From Huntington Place to Hitsville U.S.A., Detroit puts planners inside a city where the his- tory still lives, the culture still moves, and every evening of a week-long program has somewhere worthy to land. C Grand Rapids B Grand Rapids earns its reputation on density - everything a planner needs sits within three walk- able blocks. Gerald R. Ford International Airport connects to 35-plus nonstop destinations. DeVos Place delivers 162,000 square feet of exhibition space connected directly to the Amway Grand Plaza and JW Marriott Grand Rapids via a cli- mate-controlled skywalk. The Amway Grand Plaza features 656 guest rooms and suites along- side 47,000 square feet of meeting space. The JW Marriott Grand Rapids offers 337 guest rooms and 15,300 square feet of event space. ArtPrize draws nearly one million visitors each fall. The Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives holds 30,000 square feet of West Michigan Black history, open for private group tours. Garden District and Social Misfits own the evenings. Grand Rapids meets planners where the work is. C Lansing B Lansing sits easy at the center of everything - Malcolm X grew up here, and that history runs through the city with quiet power. Capital Region International Airport sits 10 minutes out. The Lansing Center delivers 71,000 square feet of river- front space and a 12,000-square-foot ballroom, connected to the DoubleTree via skywalk. The DoubleTree by Hilton Lansing features 256 guest rooms and 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The AC Hotel Lansing University Area offers 156 guest rooms and 5,000 square feet of event space. The Malcolm X Homesite and Michigan History Center open for private group programming. Capital City BBQ and Green Door Blues Bar own the night. Lansing shows up ready. MINNESOTA Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport runs nonstop service to 150-plus destinations, and the Metro Transit light rail Green and Blue lines connect both downtowns, the airport, and the Mall of America on a single fare, giving groups car-free movement across the full meeting area. September and October give planners the city at its most avail- able and most alive. Minneapolis delivers 475,000 square feet of connected exhibition space and 9,000 downtown hotel rooms, with 4,000 linked directly to the main convention space. Across the river – one light rail ride - Saint Paul carries the kind of weight that only comes from generations of Black families who built something and held it. The Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers and the Twin Cities Black Chamber of Commerce put local talent within reach across every category. Minnesota gives planners two cities, one grid, and a Black cultural foundation deep enough to ground an entire gathering. C Minneapolis B Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport sits 15 minutes from downtown and connects directly via light rail into the 11-mile skyway sys- tem linking 4,500 downtown hotel rooms to the Minneapolis Convention Center. The convention facility delivers 475,000 square feet of primary exhibit space and a 3,433-seat fixed auditorium that divides into three soundproof lecture halls.