A growing demand for commercial businesses that supply filmmakers with equipment and services is creating more opportunities for small businesses, new startups, and entrepreneurs to take advantage of emerging niche markets in Michigan.

A movie obviously needs lights and cameras before a director can call, “Action.” Lest we forget that there is much more to making a movie than that. Imagine you are a filmmaker with a shopping list of items. Now imagine how convenient it would be to have access to places like prop shops, antique stores, costume shops, and other specialized establishments.

The Detroit Free Press featured an article last week, entitled “Prop supply on the rise in Michigan,” which profiles how three local Michigan businesses are taking advantage of this emerging niche market. Events and design company Display Group, in Detroit, already had a massive amount of props that they use at “high-profile events and corporate events,” which “can also be used for the movie industry,” according to President Rick Portwood.  Royal Oak antique store Heritage Co. II expanded to rent and sell props to some big time film producers. Sam’s Prop House in Hazel Park got its start after co-owner Julie Juran and her daughter scored some props that a film crew was going to throw away.

Jennifer Eberbach is a professional journalist and writer. Find contact information on her website www.jenthewriter.info

The Michigan Humanities Council has awarded 13 public humanities projects with nearly $155,000 in grant money. The funding is supporting programs and exhibitions at museums, heritage festivals, research and publishing projects, theater programs, and other types of arts and culture programming in cities across Michigan. Find out what the 13 arts, cultural, and educational institutions plan to accomplish with the money. Recipients are spread out across the state in Sault Ste. Marie, Hancock, Marquette, Traverse City, Holland, Kalamazoo, Whitehall, Saginaw, East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Dearborn, MI. The money will go a long way towards ensuring that these culturally enriching projects succeed and fulfill their potential.

Also, the Arts & Humanities Touring Program is accepting grant applications for traveling exhibits and performances happening until September 30, 2010. The award supports “touring performers, artists, exhibitors, and humanities presenters listed in Michigan's 2009-2012 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory,” an online directory offered by the Michigan Humanities Council and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Eligible applicants include “any Michigan nonprofit organization, institution, school, library, museum, chamber, association, or local government agency” that is “the sponsoring organization,” according to the program’s website. Grant applications will be accepted through September 2, 2010.

Jennifer Eberbach is a professional journalist and writer. Find contact information on her website www.jenthewriter.info