While a dozen cultural institutions move forward with a plan to activate the outdoor space in Detroit's 83-acre anchor cultural district a mile up Woodward Avenue, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is doing the same for a courtyard in its backyard.

The orchestra has secured over $1 million in grants for summer programs and planning efforts aimed at creating a more permanent stage in the secluded courtyard, which is tucked behind the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center on Parsons Street between Woodward and Cass avenues.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation "have shown interest in seeing us take advantage of this green space we own," said DSO President and CEO Anne Parsons.

The DSO has invited people to bring lawn chairs to events hosted episodically in the courtyard, like a concert during the annual Concert of Colors music festival or digital MaxCasts of live orchestra performances on the south wall of the Max M. Fisher Music Center. But it doesn't get used all the time, Parsons said.

"We're going to go through a reimaging process for that space," she said.

The effort aligns with the work of the cultural district to activate public spaces for the benefit of the community, she said.

Laura Trudeau, principal of Trudeau Consulting and retired managing director of the Kresge Foundation's Detroit program, is chairing a stakeholders committee which began meeting in late June. The goal is to develop a request for proposals for a consultant to get public feedback on what people would like to see in that space, whether it's public music, a lunch spot or something else.

The committee includes Midtown Detroit Executive Director Sue Mosey, who has taken the reins of the cultural district plan; representatives from Broder & Sachse Real Estate Services Inc., which purchased the Orchestra Place Building from the DSO in 2017; and the family of late Redico President and CEO Robert Sosnick, for whom the courtyard is named.