Skip to main content

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

Plan Your Visit
Contact Us

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.

Book A Tour

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.

View All Programs
Ignite Summer Camp
application Closed

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...

Learn More
application Closed

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...

Learn More

Events

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

All Events

Motown MIC: The Spoken Word Competition Grand Finale


September 20, 2024

The Cube, Detroit

Learn More

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.

Support Motown
Museum Donors

Monetary Support

Make a Donation

Donate

Partnership Opportunities

Giving Guide

Learn More

Annual Subscriber

Become a Member

Join Today!

Museum Hours

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

🎙️ Saturdays at 2pm ET: Live From Motown Museum on SiriusXM's Smokey Soul Town (ch. 74)

The Gordy Family

Following the North Star

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. As the parents of eight (Fuller, Esther, Anna, Loucye, George, Gwendolyn, Berry, Jr. and Robert), the elder Gordys instilled strong values in their children — hard work, self-reliance, faith in God and, most of all, the importance of family ties.

Entrepreneurial Inspiration

“Pop,” as his children called the elder Gordy, owned and operated several businesses during his lifetime, including a grocery store and a contracting business. Their mother, Bertha, was also an entrepreneur, who started an insurance agency and supported other family business ventures. Berry, along with his sisters and brothers, learned entrepreneurial skills and the importance of hard work from their parents, as they worked in the Gordy family businesses. 

A tight-knit family, the Gordy kids also learned to count on each other at all times. Gordy Family solidarity paid off for Berry Gordy, Jr., when he requested, reportedly with great trepidation, and received an $800 loan from the family’s Ber-Berry Co-operative. The co-op was the brainchild of eldest sister Esther and provided seed money for the establishment of Berry’s first record company, Tamla.

Family Affair

Berry Gordy Sr with Sons

Following his father’s example, Berry brought family members into the company, giving them important assignments. His eldest sister and founder of the Motown Museum, Esther Gordy Edwards, held several senior executive positions at Motown Records. Berry’s parents and other siblings also played key roles in the company’s management and operation. As staff in the Office of the President, they served as troubleshooters and trusted aides to their son and brother.  

  • Berry Gordy, Sr.–Office of the President
  • Bertha Fuller Gordy–Office of the President
  • Anna Gordy Gaye–Artist Development/Office of the President
  • Esther Gordy Edwards–International Talent Management Inc.
  • Fuller Gordy–Procurement
  • George Gordy–Office of the President
  • Gwen Gordy Fuqua–Artist Development/Office of the President
  • LoucyeGordy Wakefield–Finance
  • Robert Gordy–Jobete Publishing/Office of the President

Motown Note

Ever the savvy business people, Berry’s parents and siblings required him to sign an additional contract that pledged future royalties from his songwriting as security for the loan he used to start Motown Records.

Join Our Newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.