Hello everyone! Welcome back to Culture Canvas.
I took last week off to attend the Education Writers Association conference in Las Vegas! The national seminar is three days full of sessions on important issues and topics in K-12 schools and higher education. I learned so much and was able to connect with my fellow Detroit education reporters across the country. I can’t wait to report on some of the story ideas I came up with during the conference.
But now, it’s time to get back to the arts and culture beat.
This week, after six years of construction, Ford Motor Co. is hosting a series of grand opening events for Michigan Central Station. I got a recent sneak peek of the formerly abandoned train station as part of a media preview.
The restoration work is breathtaking, as Ford went to great lengths to restore the building as much as possible to its original state when it opened in 1913, said Michigan Central CEO Joshua Sirefman.
One of those projects included tracking down the original quarry that provided the limestone used for the exterior of the building in 1910. Located in Indiana, the Dark Hollow Quarry closed the same year Michigan Central did in 1988 and had become inaccessible, said Dan Austin, the director of communications at Michigan Central. However, the team at Ford plowed new roads to get to the quarry, harvesting the limestone from the same site.
In addition to the behind-the-scenes restoration stories, I learned what’s happening in the near future as the station begins its reopening. Some of the plans include:
- A park space on the south side of the station will connect to the Southwest Greenway and eventually the Detroit International RiverWalk and Joe Louis Greenway. The park will also feature gardens and gathering spaces.
- Ford employees will occupy three floors of the tower in Michigan Central beginning in the fall and ground-floor retail is also anticipated this fall.
- A hotel is planned for some of the floors in the tower, Sirefman said. The brand of the hotel wasn’t named at the preview.
- Besides Ford, other tenets in the building include Google and its Code Next program, which will bring free coding education to high schoolers across Michigan.
In one of my previous newsletters, I mentioned that Ford is having an 11-day celebration, filled with open houses, exhibits and an outdoor concert. Tickets for the concert and open house are sold out, but the first floor of the station will be open to visitors for self-guided tours from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays from June 21 to Aug. 31.
Hope you all get a chance to see the new and improved Michigan Central sometime this summer. While I never experienced what the station was like in its heyday, it’s nice to see a Detroit landmark that was once an eyesore transformed back to its former glory.
Have a great week!
Cheers,
Micah
313 Scene
- Diana Ross, Big Sean, Jack White, Slum Village and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra are some of the artists performing Thursday for “Live From Detroit: The Concert” at the Corktown train station. The sold-out event will stream live exclusively on Peacock Thursday at 8:30 p.m. and on NBC in an one-hour special Sunday at 7 p.m. Locally, the concert will stream on Local 4+ and ClickOnDetroit.com.
- The CEO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy resigned Friday and its CFO was terminated amid an FBI probe into more than $40 million in missing funds, the nonprofit confirmed. Mark Wallace, who has led the nonprofit focused on revitalizing the land around the riverfront since August 2014, stepped down but will remain with the organization as a transitional advisor. The conservancy board also voted to fire CFO William A. Smith and “explore all legal avenues to protect the interests of the riverfront, including a potential civil lawsuit against Smith.”
- Carla Vecchiola, a lecturer in history at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, did a deep dive on the history of Detroit techno and the gentrification of the Movement festival, which was held on Memorial Day weekend.
- R&B singer, Detroit native and Grammy nominee Freda Payne is bringing jazz great Ella Fitzgerald back to life onstage at Meadow Brook Theatre’s “Ella, First Lady of Song,” at the Rochester Hills venue on the campus of Oakland University. The show runs until June 23.
What’s Going on in the D?
- The 12th annual Michigan Fashion Week begins Wednesday, bringing together hundreds of designers, vendors and models from around the world. The four-day event will include four showcases on streetwear and high fashion at The Godfrey Hotel Friday and Saturday. Tickets begin at $25.
- Pewabic Pottery is hosting its annual house and garden show Friday through Sunday at its east side location, featuring strolling tours and artisan wheel throwing and sculpting demos by visiting artist Laurie Sharkus. The event is free to the public.
- Motor City Pride is back at Hart Plaza Saturday and Sunday, celebrating metro Detroit’s LGBTQ+ community and its allies. The event will feature dozens of performances across four stages, such as Detroit DJs Problematic Black Hottie, Raedy Lex and Stacey Hotwaxx Hale, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 star JAX, local drag queen Sabin and the PRISM Men’s Chorus. The pride parade starts Sunday at noon. Admission is $5.
