Community Calendar

Piano Technician D Marie Jones will discuss the complex and fascinating process that goes into determining which of The Gilmore’s fleet of Steinway pianos is chosen for each performance and artist. Learn the specifics of how musical programming choices play one of the deep roles in pre-selection for the artists. The talk will be followed by a light reception.

Join us on April 11, 2026, at Cornerstone Theological Seminary for Cornerstone University’s 24th annual ESL Conference! Educators, ministry leaders, and volunteers are invited to explore how teaching English can be a powerful ministry of welcome, relationship, and gospel witness. This year’s theme highlights the role of language learning in building authentic community, fostering hospitality, and creating space for meaningful conversations that point to Christ. Together, we will consider practical strategies and relational approaches that equip us to serve our students not only as learners, but as neighbors and friends.

Few cars have captured the imagination quite like the DeLorean. Bold, futuristic, and instantly recognizable, the DMC-12 was born from one man’s radical vision—and quickly became a cautionary tale.

Join automotive historian Chris Duvall for an engaging look at John DeLorean’s rise, the ambition behind his iconic car, the challenges of manufacturing abroad, and the factors that led to the company’s dramatic fall. The program also explores how the DeLorean legacy lives on through a community of enthusiasts today.

Sunday, April 12 | 1–2 PM
$5 for General Admission | Free for members
49965 Van Dyke Ave., Shelby Township, MI

Tickets & details:
https://www.packardprovinggrounds.org/Apr12-HSS-PPG

The Rise and Fall of the DeLorean Motor Company

Historical Speaker Series | Packard Proving Grounds

Few cars have captured the imagination quite like the DeLorean. Bold, futuristic, and instantly recognizable, the DMC-12 was born from one man’s radical vision—and quickly became a cautionary tale.

Join automotive historian Chris Duvall for an engaging look at John DeLorean’s rise, the ambition behind his iconic car, the challenges of manufacturing abroad, and the factors that led to the company’s dramatic fall. The program also explores how the DeLorean legacy lives on through a community of enthusiasts today.

Sunday, April 12 | 1–2 PM

$5 for General Admission | Free for members

49965 Van Dyke Ave., Shelby Township, MI

Tickets & details:

https://www.packardprovinggrounds.org/Apr12-HSS-PPG

Read and discuss the gripping narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic story of a remarkable young Texan pianist, Van Cliburn, who played his way through the wall of fear built by the Cold War, won the hearts of the American and Russian people, and eased tensions between two superpowers on the brink of nuclear war. The discussion will be followed by a light reception.

Join us on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at 4:00 PM for a special virtual presentation featuring environmental diversity expert Audrey Peterman.

Presenting is Audrey Peterman, celebrated environmental advocate, President and Co-founder of Earthwise Productions and author of several books including From My Jamaican Gully to the World and Back: The Environmental Journey of Audrey Wright Peterman.

Her journey began in 1995 with a road trip across the U.S. National Parks, where she and her husband noticed a startling lack of visitor and employee diversity. Through their experience, they resolved to activate change to ensure that public lands are accessible to all.

The impact of Peterman’s work resonates across the National Park System and beyond. Most notably, her advocacy was instrumental in shaping President Obama’s 2017 official memorandum requiring national parks to actively engage with diverse and underserved communities.

Peterman has served on the boards of numerous national conservation organizations, including the Board of Trustees of the National Parks Conservation Association and is a leader in the Next100 Coalition. As an author, she has also written Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care and Our True Nature: Finding a Zest for Life in the National Park System. In 2014, she cofounded the Diverse Environmental Leaders Speakers Bureau.

Audrey’s memoir From My Jamaican Gully to the World and Back: The Environmental Journey of Audrey Wright Peterman follows her transformational journey from humble roots to environmental champion. It is a call to action and highlights that one’s background does not limit their potential to make an impact.

To Learn more and register for this event: https://wegespeakerseries.com/

The California Gold Rush sparked a movement that reached far beyond the West. This Historical Speaker Series program explores how local residents became part of the ‘49er migration, tracing their journeys from Michigan to California and examining what they encountered upon arrival. Presented by local historian Debbie Remer.

$5 for general admission | Free for members

Register at PackardProvingGrounds.org/Apr26-HSS-PPG

Join Cranbrook Academy of Art at deSalle Auditorium for the Knoll Lecture in Design delivered by Nifemi Marcus-Bello.
Nifemi Marcus-Bello’s Knoll Lecture in Design, Material Affirmations, will explore material affirmations as acts of care, agency, and transformation; revealing how materials shape meaning, memory, and identity. Through an iterative, inquiry-based design practice, it examines making as dialogue, embracing tactility, imperfection, and embodied knowledge to cultivate more attentive, ethical, and materially engaged ways of creating.
The Knoll Lecture in Design was established in 2004 by Knoll, the residential furnishings company founded by Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate Florence Schust and her husband, Hans Knoll. Each year, the endowed Knoll Lecture Fund brings the world’s most distinguished and innovative designers and thinkers to the Cranbrook campus to speak about their practice and to work with tomorrow’s design leaders studying at the Academy. Past speakers have included Steven Haulenbeek, Aldo Bakker, Martino Gamper, Bertjan Pot, Lindsey Adelman, Stefano Caggiano, and many others.

A true multihyphenate, Sean Hickey is an active composer and arranger, an instrumentalist, and a record label executive, currently serving as Managing Director of Pentatone Music, one of the world’s leading independent classical labels. In this public talk, MUSICIAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE TOOLS OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY, he will share insights drawn from his 35 years on both sides of the business, exploring how today’s artists can navigate a fractured media landscape, the rise of Big Tech, and the ubiquity of AI while using the many tools available to best promote their work. Hickey will also discuss the idea of soft power—how music, in a fractured world, can and should offer escape, comfort, and motivation—and on the importance of centering culture as a tool of diplomacy on the world stage.

Join Cranbrook Academy of Art at deSalle Auditorium for the 2026 Swanson Lecture, delivered by community designer and educator Joseph Kunkel, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. Kunkel is focused on sustainable development practices for Indigenous communities.

Kunkel’s lecture, "Land Back – Design Forward", reframes the Land Back movement beyond questions of ownership, property, or acknowledgment. For Indigenous peoples, connection to land has always been defined through relationships—relationships of stewardship, responsibility, and reciprocity that have guided communities for millennia. Yet contemporary systems shaping our built environment have rarely recognized these ways of relating to land. Through examples, his lecture will explore architecture, planning, and design approaches that begin to unravel these deeper relationships, moving beyond development toward practices that support cultural continuity, ecological stewardship, and community resilience.