Central Michigan University

CMU Culture Crawl to expand throughout community

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Topics in this story: Arts and entertainment, Arts and events, College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, History, Libraries, Museum Studies, Museum of Cultural and Natural History

Those planning to attend Central Michigan University's second annual Culture Crawl will get a greater opportunity to enhance their cultural knowledge of the Mount Pleasant community as the event expands beyond CMU's campus.

The 2008 Culture Crawl April 13 will enable visitors to take a tour of many of mid-Michigan's cultural hot spots and will offer enhanced opportunities with two new stops on CMU's campus and two off campus. The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

"With the success of last year's effort in drawing visitors from the local community, we realize what a great benefit it will be to our program to include major cultural resources from the local community," said adjunct museum studies professor Jim Schultz.

The crawl will begin at CMU's Gerald L. Poor historic schoolhouse museum and make stops at the following locations:

• The CMU greenhouse;
• Park Library's art galleries and Clarke Historical Library;
• The School of Music building;
• Bush Theater;
• the Museum of Cultural and Natural History;
• the University Art Gallery;
• Art Reach Center of Mid Michigan in downtown Mount Pleasant; and,
• the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe's Ziibiwing Center.

The Culture Crawl was created by students in CMU's museum education and interpretation class, which is part of the museum studies interdisciplinary minor, and is sponsored by CMU's Museum of Cultural and Natural History. Students from the class will serve as tour guides and also as interpreters stationed at each site.

"Many people do not realize the wonderful resources that are available for free or for a very nominal price," Schultz said. "We hope that students, members of the local community and alumni will participate in the Culture Crawl and come back on their own to attend community events and tour CMU's cultural resources throughout the year."

Complimentary refreshments and other treats will be provided for guests at select stations. Two trolleys will be traveling the Culture Crawl route until 5 p.m. to transport visitors throughout the tour at no cost. The event will take place rain or shine. For more information about the 2008 Culture Crawl, contact the Museum of Cultural and Natural History at 989-774-3829.