Amelia Duran was born, raised, and still resides in Southwest Detroit, where she has actively sought to create positive social and cultural impacts in her community over the last twenty-two years as a community developer, organizer, curator, mixed-medium contemporary installation artist, and writer. Rooted in popular education models that uplift intergenerational and non-hierarchical learning, Duran develops outlets for creative self-expressions based on her experiences growing up in an urban context and seeks to encourage others to collectively challenge current socio-political norms, hierarchies, and oppressive structures that keep much of our communities disenfranchised. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Garage Cultural, a multi-faceted community development center that uplifts social justice values through resident-led arts and cultural production.

Garage Cultural serves as an arts and cultural anchor in Southwest Detroit by providing a variety of events, public art installations, and educational programs to the residents of its communities and empowering the community to utilize art as a tool of exploration, expression, and disruption. The center serves as an incubator for local artists, arts educators, organizers, activists, entrepreneurs, and youth in the community, assisting them in pursuing their personal and collective goals as they produce and exhibit in the space's multipurpose areas, galleries, and mercaditos.