Attraction
Earl Young Mushroom Houses
Charlevoix's curving stone homes by self-taught builder Earl Young. They are private, so you see them from the street on a self-guided tour.
Several towns in this guide have galleries, performance venues and summer art fairs. Event pages list only dates the organizer has published.
Places for arts and culture
Waterfront
Bay Harbor
A resort village and marina on Little Traverse Bay west of Petoskey, with Bay Harbor Golf Club, a lakeside inn, a performing arts center and a public park.
Historic site
Bay View Association
A Victorian summer community above Little Traverse Bay and a National Historic Landmark, with summer concerts and lectures open to the public.
Attraction
Crooked Tree Arts Center
Petoskey's arts center in a restored 1890 church on Mitchell Street, with free galleries, a 220-seat theater and classes year-round.
Museum
Dennos Museum Center
Traverse City's art museum on the Northwestern Michigan College campus, known for its Inuit art collection, with a hands-on Discovery Gallery.
Historic site
Garden Theater
Frankfort's 1923 Main Street movie house, renovated and run by a nonprofit, showing first-run and independent films and home to the Frankfort Film Festival.
Attraction
Glen Arbor Arts Center
Glen Arbor's community arts center on Lake Street, with free gallery exhibits, classes for adults and kids, and Plein Air Weekend in August.
Attraction
Interlochen Center for the Arts
The arts camp and boarding school founded in 1928 between two lakes south of Traverse City, with student and guest-artist concerts open to the public.
Museum
Muskegon Museum of Art
Muskegon's art museum, founded in 1912 as the Hackley Art Gallery, with American and European paintings, studio glass and a newly doubled building.
Historic site
Ramsdell Theatre
Manistee's 1903 opera house, on the National Register of Historic Places, restored and still staging plays, concerts and live broadcasts.
Historic site
The Playhouse at White Lake (Howmet Playhouse)
Whitehall's 1916 theater, renovated and renamed the Playhouse at White Lake, with summer theater, Michigan music, films and youth theater.
On the map
Arts and culture: places on the map
11 places on an OpenStreetMap map
Recommended towns for arts and culture
Towns an independent source (such as the DNR, the National Park Service or Pure Michigan) singles out for this. Listed by town size, not ranked.
Benzie & Sleeping Bear
Frankfort
A beach-and-lighthouse harbor town: a Lake Michigan beach at the end of Main Street, a breakwater light off the sand and Point Betsie up the shore.
Ludington & Manistee
Manistee
A Lake Michigan port city where the river meets the lake, with a historic downtown riverwalk, three city beaches and a pierhead light to climb in season.
Charlevoix & Petoskey
Petoskey
A walkable bay town for stone hunting, shopping the Gaslight District and riding the Little Traverse Wheelway, with historic Bay View next door.
Grand Traverse & Inland Lakes
Traverse City
A bayfront city at the head of Grand Traverse Bay, with a walkable Front Street downtown, bay beaches, cherry orchards and two wine peninsulas close by.
Benzie & Sleeping Bear ยท Small town
Glen Arbor
Your base for northern Sleeping Bear Dunes: a small town between Lake Michigan and Glen Lake, about 4 miles from the Dune Climb by trail.