Award-winning jazz bassist, educator and mentor Hayden, at age 68, is today the youngest recipient of Detroit’s highest arts honor and the 17th Detroiter to be anointed for contributions to the region’s cultural communities. She is also the second recipient previously to have been named a Kresge Artist Fellow.

A cornerstone in the Metro Detroit jazz community, musician and educator Marion Hayden is the recipient of the 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist award.

Hayden is the youngest Kresge Eminent Artist at age 68 and the second recipient to have also received a Kresge Artist Fellowship. She is also the third jazz musician to have received the honor; preceding her was trumpeter Marcus Belgrave (2009) and saxophonist Wendell Harrison (2018), who both mentored her.