CAID was founded in 1978 by a group of Detroit area artists, including Charles McGee and Jean Heilbrunn .
[1][2] In the years since its inception, CAID has existed in several different forms, and has generated many events that have directly supported the arts in Detroit.
After little activity during the mid to late 1990s, CAID re-emerged on the Detroit art community in the fall of 2002 with the four-part series LINK.
unCAGEd featured a varied group of Detroit and Ann Arbor-based exploratory artists, musicians and performers working/playing in the Cage frame of chance, reflecting the pure energy felt in Cunningham's guided improvisation.
In November 2004, after 25 years of nomadic existence, CAID took up residence at 5141 Rosa Parks Boulevard, in the space formerly occupied by the Detroit Contemporary [2] Archived 2004-12-29 at the Wayback Machine.