Arts & Culture

Whether it's your show tunes-belting grandma, your Grand Rapids teacher getting Liberian schools named in her honor, or busted graffiti artists using their talents for good, this week Art Pod is a leeetle obsessed with the stories YOU tell us. So check it out, and keep those stories coming. 

Perhaps the most popular event in West Michigan begins Wednesday.  The art competition known as Art Prize runs through October 7th in Grand Rapids.

Now in its third year it’s an even larger event with more prize money for the winners. Brian Burch  is Public Relations Director for Art Prize. He says the visitor just keep showing up.

"This year we'll have about 350, 000 visitors, but that's right from the start. Our first event in 2009 had about 200,000 people. so we just continue to grow," he said.

There are public awards and juried awards that total $560,000.

People are mean on the internet.

This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with chat rooms or the comments sections of blogs. But why do people say things online that they would never say out loud?

A recent article in the Detroit Free Press asked a few experts what they thought.