jøn kent, Co-Founder, Sanctuary Farms
jøn kent is an actor, activist, and community developer dedicated to transforming how we live in relationship with land, one another, and ourselves. His life’s work centers on service, whether through performance, sustainability, or policy, as a means to heal, connect, and empower. As Co-Founder of Sanctuary Farms and Founder of Sacred Spaces, he has helped build a movement on Detroit’s eastside rooted in food sovereignty, environmental justice, and circular economies. Their team turns local food waste into nutrient-rich compost, cultivates organic produce, and restores access to green spaces in historically disinvested neighborhoods. These spaces are more than farms; they are acts of reclamation and collective self-determination.
kent’s path began in the arts. As a young actor and lifelong member of SAG-AFTRA, he discovered the liberating power of empathy, the essence of both acting and human understanding. That same empathy now guides his work as a planner and organizer.
He has been recognized as a Dow Sustainability Fellow, Rackham Non-Traditional Fellow, and Transformative Food Systems Fellow, and to have received the Taubman College Eric Dueweke Service to the Community Award, the MLK Spirit Award, and the Eastern Market Hazen Pingree Award for community impact. His work and voice have been featured at the National Urban Agriculture Conference, Circularity25, and Global Citizen Now Detroit, where he speak on the intersections of urban agriculture, climate resilience, and justice. At his core, kent is guided by a deep love for life and care for those who lack access and power.
jøn’s work is grounded in the praxis of deep ecology and land reparative justice, acknowledging the sacred relationship between people and the earth, and striving to restore both ecological balance and social equity. he envisions Detroit as a model sustainable city, where vacant land is reborn into climate-resilient, community-led landscapes that honor ecology, ancestry, and shared stewardship. Whether on stage or in the soil, his purpose remains the same: to activate empathy into action and demonstrate that sustainability, like art, is a practice of love, imagination, and service.
