“The Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Bay Harbor, Mich., will open on July 7 with a performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” writes Robin Pogrebin in Saturday’s (6/30) New York Times. “The $25 million-dollar, 527-seat theater, designed by TowerPinkster, will provide year-round entertainment and educational programming. The center was created as part of a 1999 community cultural plan that identified the need for more performance spaces in Northern Michigan, given that the closest arts facility for major performances is 90 minutes away at Interlochen Center for the Performing Arts. ‘It’s a beautiful part of the country and there is a lot of interest in arts but there wasn’t a large performing arts center,’ said Michael M. Kaiser, the founding artistic director and chairman of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management,” which served as strategic consulting partner on the project. “Programming the rest of the summer will include members of the Joffrey Ballet and the Interlochen Jazz Faculty; the music group Pink Martini; and the singer (and former ‘Glee’ star) Matthew Morrison.” Bay Harbor is approximately 190 miles north of Grand Rapids and approximately 275 miles northwest of Detroit.
Posted July 2, 2018
