Culture and Education

Orchestra Hall is the home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. During the summer the orchestra performs in the Meadow Brook Music Festival in suburban Rochester. Each September Hart Plaza, in the Civic Center, is the site of the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival. Stage productions are presented at Fisher Theater, at Music Hall Center, and on the campuses of the University of Detroit and Wayne State University.

Some of the city's major museums are grouped together with the public library on Woodward Avenue in an area known as the Cultural Center. The most prominent of these is the Detroit Institute of Arts, with one of the nation's outstanding art collections. Nearby is the Detroit Historical Museum, which specializes in the history of the city. On Belle Isle is the Dossin Great Lakes Museum with exhibits of Great Lakes vessels. Also in Detroit is Historic Fort Wayne, a military museum.

Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, in Dearborn, re-create life in America from the 1600's until the early 20th century, with emphasis on technological developments.

The largest institution of higher learning in Detroit is Wayne State University. Smaller schools in or near the city include the University of Detroit Mercy, Marygrove College, Oakland University, and the Dearborn branch of the University of Michigan. Lawrence Technological University specializes in engineering and other technical fields.

The Detroit Public Library has special collections on automotive history and the settlement of Michigan and the Great Lakes region as a whole. In addition to the main library building in the Cultural Center, there are branches throughout the city. Other prominent libraries are associated with the major educational institutions.