Crescendo was founded by alum Damien Crutcher in 2013. It’s an after-school program for children ages 5 to 18 that develops music and dance programming to promote artistic excellence and character building. Crescendo has worked with roughly 125 students in Detroit and also has partnerships with institutions like U-M and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

University of Michigan graduate Ryan Myers-Johnson, founder and executive director of Sidewalk Detroit, created the festival as an annual event to honor the charm and uniqueness of Detroit’s neighborhood streetscapes.The festival celebrates the vibrant culture and heritage of the Northwest Detroit neighborhood of Old Redford, known for its rich history and diverse community.

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, eight artists gathered at the University of Michigan Detroit Center to share some of the tough conversations around Detroit hip-hop culture and whether the musical genre is still relevant.

After a year-long pause due to Covid-19 precautions, the 21 students in this year’s “Children in Peril” class undertook a semester-long project collaborating with School of Music, Theatre & Dance graduate music composition students, Alfredo Cabrera and Nicholas Felder.

“I did a lot of guest consulting at a lot of suburban schools. And I noticed that when I crossed Eight Mile, I didn’t see kids with instrument cases walking down the street. At that time, most of the schools in Detroit did not have music programs. So I decided to start Crescendo to make sure students had the opportunity to be in music.”

~ Damien Crutcher

“…bringing “American Rhapsody” home both geographically and artistically is something that I’m really looking forward to. And I think that the Detroit audience is really going to enjoy the piece because so many of the issues are very germane to Detroit and to our community,”
~ Aaron Dworkin

The U-M Detroit Center’s theme this year was Standards with a Twist. With a house band, the Sean Dobbins Trio, many different artists from the School of Music, Theater and Dance, as well as local talent came together with their own twists on traditional holiday classics.

 “We take great care in our curation and love creating a platform for objects that goes against the grain of mass production. Detroit is a special place right now in that there are many small businesses with distinct visions, and it is so important to shop from locally owned stores.”

~ Erin Wetzel

Daring Dances, a curatorial program created by Clare Croft, an associate professor of dance and American culture at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, announces its first public events: three upcoming performances in Detroit and Ann Arbor.