The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC is a top destination for so many tourists and families each and every year. From the Declaration of Independence to moon rocks brought back from the Apollo space missions, the Smithsonian curates and safeguards some of our nation’s most important…

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Chicago epidemiologist named Emily Landon spoke at a news conference ahead of Illinois’ statewide lockdown order, delivering a grim analysis of the impending danger and an eloquent plea for a collective act of radical heroism: staying home and do…

TRAVERSE CITY — Two Traverse City bands representing different parts of the musical spectrum have made an impressive splash with their most recent EPs, and there’s more to come.

GAYLORD — Tim and Zach Croll stopped counting the number of Lego bricks they have in their basement. They measure by weight.

The show must go on as they say in the entertainment world, and, after a year in check, everyone at Old Town Playhouse is bursting to welcome our audience and begin! I know I am. Despite the challenges over the last year and a half, we managed to stay alive and well. We put together a number…

There’s a classic scene from “The Simpsons” where Homer flashes back to his youth as a rock-and-roll-loving teenager, and his dad, Abe, struggles to understand the music. He tells Homer: “I used to be ‘with it,’ but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m ‘with’ isn’t ‘it,’ and what’s …

TRUFANT — While some beloved music festivals such as Blissfest outside Harbor Springs have been canceled for the second year in a row due to COVID concerns, a cozy new Michigan celebration will actually make its debut this summer.

REMUS — One of Michigan’s longest-running, most-revered music festivals will return in September after a hiatus forced by the COVID pandemic.

TRAVERSE CITY — The Dennos Museum in Traverse City will host two exhibits this summer that focus on the Black experience in America, including work from an artist who lives right in town.

Steven Soderbergh in a recent Vanity Fair magazine piece and other outlet interviews seemed to show few regrets at his handling of the 2021 Academy Awards ceremony.

Turns out flying saucers just needed a little rebranding.

TRAVERSE CITY — There’s no escaping the influence and beauty of northern Michigan when it comes to the music of Lord Huron, which officially unfurled its latest album, “Long Lost,” last week.

TRAVERSE CITY — The National Writers Series announced its summer lineup, headlining with an Indigenous author who combines her experience as a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in “Braiding Sweetgrass.”

EAST JORDAN — When she was younger, Madelyn Reece would study the koi fish at the zoo for hours.

Fact: The world we live in is extremely colorful. There’s no arguing it, even if the intensity verges on the side of sensory overload sometimes.

TRAVERSE CITY — As vaccinations roll out and COVID capacity restrictions ease, live music is returning to venues and festivals across Michigan.

After almost 12 years of being the manager and executive director for the City Opera House, I’ve come understand many community members are a bit confused by the relationships that have a longstanding part in how it works. Maybe this will help clarify:

The detective-show bingo card fills up pretty quickly with “Mare of Easttown,” HBO’s big prestige miniseries of the moment.

When I was in college, I attended a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La bohème” in New York.

Over the weekend in Liverpool, England, a few thousand people crowded into a warehouse for a dance party, maskless, to groove and sweat without abandon to throbbing techno music.

INTERLOCHEN — After a COVID-impaired year for live music, this summer’s outdoor concert scene remains a mixed bag for many venues across Michigan.

HOUGHTON LAKE — Jacob Cooley was once gifted a bass guitar by his brothers.

I’ve been on the job as executive director of the National Writers Series for three months now, and as I tell everyone, it simultaneously feels like three years and three days.

The Academy Awards only started honoring achievements in animated filmmaking in 2001, and since then, not surprisingly, more than half of the Best Animated Feature Oscars have gone to the groundbreaking Pixar studio, which has taken the award 11 out of 15 times one of its films has been nominated.

ROTHBURY — One of Michigan’s biggest, most celebrated music festivals has fallen prey to COVID-19 for the second year in a row.

FRANKFORT — Three new Little Free Art Galleries in downtown Frankfort build grassroot connections and inspire the community’s creative culture.