MIDTOWN IS THE PLACE

Jun 4, 2009 at 1:46 pm

Audio By Carbonatix

[
          {
            "name": "GPT - Leaderboard - Inline - Content",
            "component": "35519556",
            "insertPoint": "5th",
            "startingPoint": "3",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "3",
            "maxInsertions": 100,
            
            "adList": [
              {
                "adPreset": "LeaderboardInline"
              }
            ]
          }
          
        ]

Sad but true, the Detroit Festival of the Arts is not being produced this year.

In a moment of creative re-birth, the University Cultural Center Association (UCCA) and Wayne State University (WSU) kick off their new summer series, Midsummer Nights in Midtown, tonight! The festivities continue every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in June. Thanks for planning ourmonth for us.

There's a ton of cool cultural programing on the docket. From family activities, aerial dance, avant-garde jazz and international music to award winning poets and authors, you won't be at a loss for arts and culture. While catching some street painting and street theatre you'll be introduced (or re-introduced, hopefully) to Midtown Detroit's acclaimed collection of museams, galleries and entertainment venues.

Remember: Admission is free all month!

We're looking forward to browsing around the Detroit Artists Market's 2009 All-Media Exhibition, which features 48 Detroit and Michigan artists. It's free to see and all the art is for sale - paintings, sculptures, photography, metal, clay, glass, you name it. And Thursday night, you can see Caravan of Thieves and Tally Hall there.

One June 6 at theScarab Club, Mark Doty read peoms from FIre to Fire along with other recent and favorite works. This is a must for us.

Couldn't afford that trip to the French Riviera? Well, that's OK, 'cause the French are coming to us at the Detroit Institute of Arts on June 12. Hailing from Paris, France is L&O, a French chansons/swing ensemble. Accompanying them is a medley of history and art called "The Role of Drawing in the Eightteenth Century." Excercise your aesthetic eye as you learn how artistic innovations came out of Napoleon's reign during the socio-political mayhem of the French Revolution. Or just enjoy the swingers . . .

There's almost too much going on! We mean that in a good way. Here are some highlights:

Please refrain from calling him Theo! Jazz bassist Malcom Jamal Warner

brings the noise to the G.R. N'Namdi Gallery tonight, June 4.

Show starts at 9:30 p.m.

Award winning poet Mark Doty performs at the Scarab Club on Saturday, June 6 at the Midsummer LitFest, which not only offers up a nine hour sale( noon to 9 p.m.) of Wayne State University Press book but from 5:30 till at least midnight., poets and authors such as M.L. Liebler, Faruq Z. Bey, Mary Jo Firth Gillett, NYC jazz poet Barry Wallenstein and slam champ Aire Dee will perform among several others. Doty takes the mic at 8 p.m. and Tonja Dudley Bagwell hosts the MDW LitFest open mic at 11 p.m. Check out the schedule.