Bassist Marion Hayden named 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist

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Each year, Kresge Arts in Detroit selects and awards one eminent artist with a $100,000 unrestricted prize to acknowledge their achievement in the arts and dedication to uplifting Detroit’s cultural community.

Marion Hayden, virtuoso jazz bassist, educator and 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist, joined The Metro on Thursday to talk about the honor and reflect on what inspired her love for music.

Hayden said music has always been a huge part of her life. Both of her parents played piano and they lived in Detroit’s historic Russell Woods neighborhood during a time when art and creative outlets within the Black community were thriving.

Beginning at Cass Technical High School at 16 years old, Hayden connected over music with Marcus Belgrave — known far and wide as a musical savant and mentor — who was also named a Kresge Eminent Artist in 2009.

Use the media player above to listen to the full conversation.

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The Metro

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John Filbrandt
Jack Filbrandt is an assistant producer on WDET's daily news, arts and culture program, The Metro. He grew up on Lake Michigan and has called Detroit home for seven years. He's also a Detroit Documenter, covering local government meetings in the city. He previously worked for Wayne State's student newspaper, The South End, and The Battering Ram.
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Robyn Vincent
Robyn Vincent is the co-host of The Metro on WDET. She is an award-winning journalist, a lifelong listener of WDET, and a graduate of Wayne State University, where she studied journalism. Before returning home to Detroit, she was a reporter, producer, editor, and executive producer for NPR stations in the Mountain West, including her favorite Western station, KUNC. She received a national fellowship from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigative work that probed the unchecked power of sheriffs in Colorado. She was also the editor-in-chief of an alternative weekly newspaper in Wyoming, leading the paper to win its first national award for a series she directed tracing one reporter’s experience living and working with Syrian refugees.
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Tags: Arts & Culture, Detroit Arts & Culture, Kresge Arts in Detroit, Kresge Eminent Artist Award, Kresge Foundation