Theaters and Performing Arts

The performing arts are a pillar of the Ann Arbor creative scene, admirable for both quantity and exceptional quality. You can always count on hearing live music when you’re in Ann Arbor. Whether your preference is orchestral music by the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, jazz at the Blue LLama Jazz Club, folk shows at The Ark, or beyond – you name it, you can find it here in Ann Arbor.

In addition to the area’s regularly scheduled programming, Ann Arbor is home to several top-notch performance festivals that return year after year. The Ann Arbor Folk Fest kicks off each year with two dynamic nights of folk and roots music. The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America and serves as one of a handful of Academy Award®-qualifying festivals in the United States.

Shakespeare in the Arb is an incredibly unique production put on yearly by the University of Michigan. This one of a kind performance draws thousands each year – as the scenes change, performers and audience members move throughout Nichols Arboretum, with the beautiful, natural landscape poised as the perfect backdrop for the production. The University Musical Society brings world-class music, dance, and theater to University of Michigan, presenting 60+ performances annually. Performances like this are just few ways that the arts community advances and continues to thrive in Ann Arbor, a catalyst of creativity.