OUR MISSION

Signal-Return is a Detroit nonprofit dedicated to preserving and teaching traditional letterpress printing, and building a community center for art, craft, design and collaboration.

OUR NAME

Think of it as a powerful metaphor for communication: a message (a signal) is sent out, and a response is sent back (is returned).

OUR ORGANIZATION

Signal-Return is leading the Detroit revival of letterpress printing—a technology that radically transformed human communication in the 15th century, and an art and a craft appreciated anew in the 21st century. Since its invention, the printing press has been a powerful change agent, and this idea has guided Signal-Return since its founding in 2011.

Signal-Return's production space, gallery, and retail store are housed within LANTERN in Detroit's Little Village, a growing cultural corridor where arts, education, historic preservation, and community intersect to strengthen Detroit's east side. As one of LANTERN's anchor organizations, Signal-Return helps cultivate a collaborative creative ecosystem that expands access to the arts and creates opportunities for artists, students, neighbors, and visitors to connect through hands-on creative practice.