Culture Archives - Ann Arbor Observer

Harmonica Master

Mar 31, 2024 | Culture, Nonprofits |

Peter “Madcat” Ruth was fifteen when he first heard blues duo Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry on...

Angkor Complex: Cultural Heritage and Post-Genocide Memory in Cambodia

Mar 25, 2024 | Culture, Event Reviews |

Sopheap Pich’s 2012 Seated Buddha—Abhaya Mudra, made of bamboo and rattan, greets visitors to the...

Bookseller Jay Platt

Mar 25, 2024 | Business, Culture, Profiles |

Every time Jay Platt walked past the building on his way to work, he thought it would be an ideal...

Fifth Avenue Studios

Jan 25, 2024 | Community, Culture |

Gorski works on the Ann Arbor District Library’s outreach team and hosts The Gayest Generation, an...

Lives of the Artists

Jan 25, 2024 | Culture |

Artist Dylan Strzynski started interviewing art fair artists in 2013. It was easy to find...

Susan Pollay’s Whimsies

Jan 25, 2024 | Community, Culture, Featured, Profiles |

“I joke that other people go to the lake to relax by the water,” says Susan Pollay. “I just enjoy...

FestiFools Returns

Dec 22, 2023 | Community, Culture |

“I felt some community responsibility to bring it back,” says Tucker, who’s art director and...

Saving the Speakeasy

Dec 22, 2023 | Culture |

For almost thirty years Johnny Williams hosted concerts in the basement of his home on Dexter Rd....

Do the Humanities Have a Future?

Dec 22, 2023 | Culture, Education, Featured |

A distraught woman stares into the middle distance against an ominous red background; from a jagged voice bubble comes her anguished cry: “… NOW WHAT?”

Centennial Celebrations

Dec 22, 2023 | Community, Culture, Featured |

On February 27, 1924, Ann Arbor celebrated its first centennial with a big birthday party at the...

Event Preview: Tiny Expo

Nov 27, 2023 | Culture, Event Reviews |

If you love art but hate the crowds and heat of the city’s summer art fairs, you’ll swoon over the...

Whenever Karen TenBrink talks about music, her eyes light up. From her earliest years, it’s brought her joy, and it’s brought people together. For the past decade she’s been sharing those pleasures as director of the Ann Arbor...

Broadcasting from Briarwood

Nov 27, 2023 | Community, Culture |

On Saturday, December 9, shoppers in Briarwood Mall will encounter ringing bells, singing choirs,...

Art on the Wall

Nov 27, 2023 | Community, Culture |

Last summer and into the fall, a constellation of crocheted geometric tapestries graced the side...

Onward and Upward with the Comic Opera Guild

Nov 27, 2023 | Culture, Featured |

In 1963, a fellow U-M art student heard Tom Petiet singing while working in class and suggested...

Book Glut

Nov 27, 2023 | Business, Community, Culture |

“You have so many books you can’t put them all out,” adds the owner of Motte & Bailey Booksellers. “I have some books on my sale table for two or three dollars that, a couple of years ago, might have been six or seven and on...