The Coney brings Detroit-connected stars to the Opera House to fund youth arts education

The Children's Foundation of Michigan is launching The Coney, a new annual initiative designed to provide immediate funding and build permanent resources for youth arts education across Detroit, on September 25 and 26, 2026. The weekend culminates in a star-studded performance at the Detroit Opera House on Saturday, September 26.

That performance features a host committee of Detroit-native or Detroit-connected artists and entertainers including Kristen Bell, Tim Meadows, J.K. Simmons, Sam Richardson, Marc Evan Jackson, Dax Shepard, and Diona Reasonover.

The real payoff is what the weekend leaves behind. Proceeds go toward building the Endowed Fund for Youth Arts, established at the Children's Foundation of Michigan, to provide permanent annual funding for youth arts education in Detroit. That structure is the point. An endowment is meant to pay out year after year, so one celebrity weekend can keep feeding art rooms and rehearsal spaces well after the lights at the Opera House go down.

The Foundation is not waiting on the endowment to start moving money, though. By the end of 2026, grants will be awarded to organizations serving Detroit youth and providing arts education and creative youth development opportunities. For a city whose music, design, and stage talent keeps traveling out into the wider culture, a fund aimed squarely at the next generation of it is a bet on the pipeline that made those careers possible.

There is a long history behind the checkbook. The Children's Foundation has a legacy of stewarding philanthropic funds from Children's Hospital of Michigan dating back more than 130 years.

If you want in, a limited amount of public tickets became available June 24 at 12 p.m. ET via the Detroit Opera House.