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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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MOTOWN MIC: The Spoken Word Competition


Ages 16+ | Open Auditions

Motown Mic: The Spoken Word was created to pay homage to Motown Records’ Black Forum Label— a Motown spoken word label created by Berry Gordy and the Motown Corporation in the ‘70s....

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Ignite Summer Camp
application Closed

Ignite Summer Camp


9 - 12 Grade | July 11 - 21

Ignite offers a day program for high-school-age singers and songwriters to engage deeply in artistic visioning, collaborative performance, group lessons, and workshops focused on artist development....

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application Closed

Spark Summer Camp


6 – 8 Grade | August 1 - 11

Spark is a day camp that provides middle-school-aged participants the opportunity to write and perform music together, explore career opportunities in the music industry, dig into the legacy of Motown, and foster creativity and artistry....

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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.

Calendar of Events
Hitsville NEXT Events

Motown MIC: The Spoken Word Competition


September 22, 2023

The Cube, Detroit

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AMPLIFY: the Sound of Detroit Finale


March 15, 2023

Gem Theatre 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.

Support Motown
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Motown Museum

Expansion Campaign

Expansion

Museum Hours

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

Motown Museum transports you into an era of musical magic! Book a Tour

application Closed

Lyric Project

Ages 14-18 | June 20 - 30

Program Dates

June 20 - 30

Program Time

9:00am - 4:00pm

Age Range

14 – 18

Location

Hitsville NEXT Campus

Application Deadline

June 12th

Program Details

On the heels of a successful 2022 program whose participants performed for Motown legends and local dignitaries at the opening of the Motown Museum’s Rocket Plaza, Hitsville NEXT opens its doors to 10-12 songwriters between the ages of 14 to 18, who will have the opportunity to engage deeply in lyric development, music production, and authentic expression, grounded in the legacy of Motown.  

Participants will explore the process and tradition of songwriting at Motown as well as the changes and developments in popular music in the decades since Hitsville USA was founded in 1959. Songwriters will share ideas, receive feedback, and collaborate with each other and teaching artists in small group sessions, in clinics with current recording artists and legendary Motown Alumni. The young artists will have the opportunity to record their original music with award-winning sound engineers in the Elaine and Leo Stern Foundation Recording Studio in Hitsville NEXT. The conclusion of the two-week program will feature each independent artist in a showcase of original material generated in the workshop. 

ELIGIBILITY 

  • Open to youth ages 13-18 years old 
  • Songwriters with at least 1-2 years of experience 

APPLICATION PROCESS 

Extended Application Deadline: June 12 

Application Checklist 

  • Complete the online application form using Acceptd 

Your application must include: 

  • Audition video recording of an original track 
  • PDF of the original lyrics from your track 
  • 1-minute personal statement video that shares with us who you are as an artist, what your goals are as a songwriter, and why you desire admission into the Lyric Project 
  • Most recent school report card that shows your name, grade and school 

ADMISSION NOTIFICATION 

Application Deadline for all materials to be submitted has been extended to June 12th. 

Review, admission, and notification for applications will be on a rolling basis. Space is limited. Admissions decisions will not be given by phone. 


 

Admitted campers will be provided a full scholarship to attend this program thanks to the generous support of:

  • Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation
  • JP Morgan Chase & Co.
  • National Endowment for the Arts
  • Michigan Arts & Culture Council

FAQs

Will Motown Museum require students to have obtained a COVID vaccine in order to participate in programs?

Motown Museum programs are not currently restricted to those who have been vaccinated. Motown Museum continues to monitor the situation and will keep students informed of any changes to requirements. Note that regardless of vaccination status, students should anticipate that there will continue to be COVID-19 related restrictions and students will be required to adhere to all rules and regulations throughout their program.

How will Lyric Project activities be adapted to comply with local guidance on COVID-19?

All activities will follow local social distancing and other COVID-19 guidelines and CDC recommendations. For more information visit Motown Museum’s Safety Measures page.

I am under the age of 13 or over the age of 18, can I participate?

The curriculum framework for the workshop is research-based and developmentally appropriate and is therefore only open to young adults aged 13-18 during the time of the workshop. Youth who are younger are encouraged to check out our Spark Summer Camp!

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