Culture Bus trips focus on Detroit sites

Culture Bus trips focus on Detroit sites

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s Culture Bus is no ordinary bus. Already in its second year of operation, the bus tours expose University students and faculty to numerous arts and cultural events throughout the metropolitan Detroit area.

The first of the six trips planned for the fall semester is scheduled for Sunday (Sept. 23) and takes participants to the Great Lakes Championship Pow Wow. “The Pow Wow,” says Mary Craig, Culture Bus founder and Arts at Michigan coordinator, “looks at the population of Detroit before the official settlement of Detroit and features Native American contributions to the area.” The Pow Wow features dance and drum competitions, a trader’s market offering traditional arts and crafts, and Native American foods.

The Sept. 29, excursion will travel to the Detroit Historical Museum to view the exhibit “30 Who Dared: Detroiters Who Made a Difference.” The exhibit features Detroiters from more than three centuries of Detroit’s history who have made a positive impact on Detroit, including ceramic artist Mary Chase Stratton and prominent landowner Joseph Campau.

Nancy Lautenbach, Culture Bus program coordinator, says all fall semester trips will focus on cultural and arts events and areas that celebrate Detroit’s 300th anniversary. “This semester’s schedule involves places that highlight different areas of Detroit’s history,” she says. The University’s Detroit 300 Theme Semester faculty also contributed destination ideas, and while many of the sites are meant to coincide with the Detroit 300 Theme Semester class curricula, the tour agenda will be more art-centered. “The Culture Bus links up with the Theme Semester thematically, but its focus is on the arts,” says Lautenbach.

“The Culture Bus provides students with the chance to be part of the history of Detroit 300,” says Craig. “It’s a way for students to immerse themselves in the groundwork of the Southeast area of Michigan that they’re studying.”

Tours for the fall semester will continue through mid-November and are open to all U-M students, faculty and staff. Group accommodations can also be made, and faculty members are encouraged to schedule class trips. Says Craig, “It’s a great way to improve the dynamic of the class and have a different, shared experience.”

Faculty interested in special class tours can access information about chartering both U-M and non-U-M buses on the Arts at Michigan Culture Bus Web site, http://www.umich.edu/~arts/programs/culturebus.frames.html. On regularly scheduled tour days, the bus departs from the Museum of Art, at the intersection of North University and State Street. Information about the Culture Bus schedule of events can also be found at the Culture Bus Web site.

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