Michigan State University will offer free educational programs in Detroit’s soon-to-be-built MusicTown, a venue designed to host and celebrate music, culture and entertainment in the city of Detroit.
CBS RADIO Detroit, in association with Olympia Entertainment, will soon begin construction on MusicTown, located inside Hockeytown Café, within the 50-block, mixed-use sports and entertainment development known as The District Detroit.
There, the College of Music and Community Music School-Detroit will host educational workshops, musical performances and lectures by MSU professors and musicians, said James Forger, dean of the College of Music.
“We are proud to partner with CBS’s MusicTown to empower, inspire and encourage the growth of a musical community of excellence,” he said. “The partnership with CBS Radio represents an extraordinary way MSU can continue to contribute to the resurgence of Detroit’s creative economy throughout Southeast Michigan.”
MusicTown will consist of a new broadcast studio, recording studio and performance space, in addition to national and local artist performances inside the City Theatre adjacent to Hockeytown Café.
The MusicTown broadcast studios will serve as the radio stations’ downtown studios (for 99.5 WYCD, 98.7 AMP Radio WDZH, 104.3 WOMC, 97.1 The Ticket WXYT and WWJ Newsradio 950 WWJ-AM) when broadcasting from major events in the city, keeping them directly involved and in touch with the local community.
“We are strongly committed to continuing Detroit’s tradition as a great ‘Music City,’” said Debbie Kenyon, senior vice president/market manager, CBS RADIO Detroit. “By identifying new talent and sharing the many music stories that Detroit has inspired, this initiative will help reignite a once booming industry in our great city, stimulating significant economic growth in the region along the way.”
Olympia Entertainment, a Detroit-based company founded by entrepreneurs Michael and Marian Ilitch, is one of the country’s most diverse sports and entertainment companies and the largest organization of its kind in the Midwest. The company owns and operates Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, Fox Theatre, the intimate City Theatre and also books and operates Joe Louis Arena and books Comerica Park.