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Museum Hours

  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 10am-6pm
  • Thursday: 10am-6pm
  • Friday: 10am-6pm
  • Saturday: 10am-8pm
  • Sunday: 10am-6pm

We are closed on New Years Day, Memorial Day, Easter Sunday, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve

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Motown Museum is the beating heart of the extraordinary Motown legacy—a destination that brings together people and ideas from different generations, and celebrates the past while simultaneously building a bridge to the future.

About Motown Museum

To ensure our vast collection maintains public visibility, and to keep things fresh for our guests, Motown Museum changes its main gallery exhibit 1-2 times per year. Here is what’s currently showing at our museum.

Current Exhibit

Motown Museum transports you into an era of musical magic. From the moment you step on the plaza, you’ll be immersed in the Motown sound and will experience a profound sense of history.

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Hitsville NEXT Programs

Our uniquely curated community programs emphasize education, entrepreneurship and equity—with experiences, mentoring and exposure that nurtures and elevates tomorrow’s history makers. Museum programs cultivate creativity and entrepreneurship in budding talent, allowing great art, big ideas and innovation to flourish.

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Ignite Summer Camp
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Ignite Summer Camp


9 - 12 Grade | July 9 - 19

Ignite is a two-week program designed for high school-aged singers who want to take their musical talents to the next level...

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Spark Summer Camp


6 – 8 Grade | August 6 - 16

For middle-school students passionate about music, we offer Spark, a day camp that helps students write and perform music together...

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Events

From memorable galas and concert performances, to community celebrations and educational programs, we host a range of special events throughout the year.

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Motown MIC: The Spoken Word Competition Grand Finale


September 20, 2024

The Cube, Detroit

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Private Events

Interested in hosting your own event at Motown?

Facility Rental

Motown Legacy

As an irresistible force of social and cultural change, the legendary Motown portfolio made its mark not just on the music industry, but society at large, with a signature Motown Sound that has become one of the most significant musical accomplishments and stunning success stories of the 20th century.

Discover The Legacy

Like many other African Americans in the early 20th century, Berry Gordy, Sr. and his wife, Bertha Fuller Gordy, came North from Georgia to find a better life for themselves and their family.

Gordy Family

Motown is an extended family of some of the most iconic and influential artists, musicians and songwriters of our time. Brought together by destiny through their love for making music, they found themselves making history.

Motown Artists

The culmination of years of planning, hard work and generous contributions from dedicated donors, the highly anticipated, $50 million Motown Museum expansion project will grow the museum campus to a 50,000-square-foot world-class entertainment and education tourist destination.

Expansion

Support Motown Museum

When you contribute to the Motown Museum, you become part of a rich musical and cultural legacy. We are a 501(c)(3) not for profit, tax-exempt organization in Detroit.

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Museum Hours

  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 10am-6pm
  • Thursday: 10am-6pm
  • Friday: 10am-6pm
  • Saturday: 10am-8pm
  • Sunday: 10am-6pm
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🎙️ Saturdays at 2pm ET: Live From Motown Museum on SiriusXM's Smokey Soul Town (ch. 74)

Exhibition

Claudette Robinson: A Motown HER-story

November 2023

The Motown Museum unveiled its latest exhibition—Claudette Robinson: A Motown Her-Story—at an exclusive event on Thursday, November 9, 2023. The private unveiling, attended by Motown alumni, Museum board members, and friends and family of Claudette Robinson, offered an intimate insight into her childhood, career, and legacy as portrayed in the exhibition. 

Claudette Robinson was a member of The Miracles, the first group to sign to Motown. The group’s track, “Shop Around,” marked Motown’s first million-selling record. Recognized for her success as a woman in a male-dominated group, she earned the title “First Lady of Motown,” as acknowledged by Berry Gordy in his book, “To Be Loved.” 

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Claudette Robinson married fellow Miracle, Smokey Robinson, and together, they had two children—Tamla and Berry. Tamla, working alongside the Museum’s associate curator, Kemuel Benyehudah, played a crucial role in curating materials from Claudette’s personal archive collection, ensuring her narrative was authentically portrayed. 

“There’s a great story about [The Miracles], but a really, really inspiring story about Claudette Robinson” – Robin Terry, Chairwoman and CEO of Motown Museum 

The exhibition chronicles Robinson’s life, beginning with her humble childhood in Louisiana and tracing her success with The Miracles at Motown. On display are artifacts such as photos, awards, news clippings, and the uniform she wore on the cover of the “Hi, We’re The Miracles” album. 

“I did not wear long gowns. I dressed like the guys, with the exception of I had a skirt and they had pants. We thought we were pretty cool, to tell you the truth.” – Claudette Robinson.  

Attendees had the opportunity to partake in a Q&A session surrounding the exhibit and Claudette’s life experiences. Discussions touched on her relationship with Esther Gordy Edwards, activism with Rosa Parks, and her time as a sharpshooter in the Marine Corps. 

The event concluded with a guest asking Tamla and Claudette to share what inspires them most about each other. Tamla praised her mother as a strong yet graceful role model, leaving a lasting positive impression on everyone she meets. Claudette spoke on her daughter’s hard work in organizing the family’s archive collection and collaborating with the Motown Museum to bring the new exhibition to life. 

The exhibition is now open to the public and included in the Motown Museum tour. Plan your visit today to experience firsthand—Claudette Robinson: A Motown Her-Story—and learn more about this unsung hero of Motown. 


 


Virtual Exhibition

This year’s Mile, Pushin’ Culture Forward, demonstrates how Motown’s iconic sound continues to be a creative springboard for musicians of all genres and generations. The outdoor exhibit shows the various ways in which contemporary artists continue to look to Motown Records for creative inspiration through covers, samples, and interpolations.

Virtual Exhibit

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