Flint cultural center
Alfred P. Sloan Museum
Sloan Museum and the Buick Gallery & Research Center are an under-used treasure, devoted to the documentation and interpretation of local history. Like many local museums, the emphasis is on smart, funny, and pertinent artifacts and testimonials; you won't find the sort of technologically-driven and eye-arresting exhibits common to museums in larger cities. Sloan makes up for this quite ably with discretion and creativity in the way it exploits its collections.The first half of the museum is given to featured exhibits, such as the current "Strange Matter" and "It's a Nano World." The second half is given over to the compelling and narratively driven Flint and the American Dream, a thoughtful exposition and discussion of Flint's long and tumultuous relationship with the automotive industry. Encompassing figures ranging from the anti-union philanthropist C.S. Mott to the muckraking documentarian Michael Moore, and events including the sit-down strike and the 1960's sit-in for the dissolution of racist housing compacts, this exhibit offers a dizzying amount of material for political, social, and cultural discussion.Included in the admissions price, visitors should not neglect the Buick Gallery and Research Center, located one block away at 303 Walnut Street. This display permanently features several dozen classic G.M. cars, including several concept designs. Sloan also periodically offers workshops and lecture series and a collection of 125,000 including the Perry Archives of historical documents and photographs. Many of the local car shows are supported and promoted by the museum. The Halfway Cafe is located at the midpoint of the main museum, but is only stocked with vending machine fare, so you may want to pack a lunch.
Flint Instutute of Arts
Considered to be one of Michigan's most impressive collections outside of Detroit, the Flint Institute of Arts was regarded as outstanding even before the $7.15 million expansion of its Charles Stuart Mott Gallery in 2006. While the permanent collection of some 7,000 works might be considered modest by some standards, this is belied by the near-encyclopedic scope of the galleries. Works representing six hundred years of art on five continents are on permanent display, with highlights being a colorful and exquisite collection of 18th and 19th century paperweights' and 17th century French tapestries on display in a cavernous room at the back of the museum. Paintings by Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, and other artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist period are prominently displayed. The Bishop Gallery features the work of local artists, students, and Institute faculty. The institute also offers a series of exhibitions, often with a heavy emphasis on contemporary work. Upcoming exhibitions include "Beyond the Frame: African American Comic Book Artists" and "Magic Moments: Works on Paper by Ed Fraga." The Institute offers classes through its Art School see below as well as other programs and special events. Check the website for details.
The Cultural Center is a campus constructed in the 1950s and 60s alongside Mott Community College see below with local support and funds from the General Motors. Arranged in a parklike setting along both sides of Kearsley Street just east of 475, this area hosts nine separate entities managed under the organizational umbrella of the Cultural Center, and is often touted as Flint's crown jewel. The Cultural Center includes the Mott Applewood Estates, Bower Theatre home of the award winning Flint Youth Theatre, Longway Planetarium Michigan's largest, the Flint Institute of Arts Michigan's best endowed after the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Flint Public Library, the Flint Institute of Music home to the Flint Symphony Orchestra, Sloan Museum and Automotive Gallery, The Sarvis Center, and The Whiting Auditorium which often hosts touring Broadway productions.
Sarvis Center
The Sarvis Center, a sloping slab of black and white stone set off to the north of the main campus, is Flint's main convention center and is currently managed by the Flint Board of Education. It offers little of interest to tourists, but a number of civic organizations such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Flint and the Optimist Club hold their meetings here.
Downtown flint
Downtown Flint covers approximately one square mile near the center of the city, bounded roughly by Fifth Avenue to the north, I-69 to the south, I-475 to the east, and Thread Creek to the west, with most commercial activity focused along Saginaw Street and the University of Michigan-Flint Campus.
The Walking Tour of Downtown Flint is an effort sponsored by the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau see above is intended to tout the local economy and encourage investment. This simple self-guided walking tour includes a map of the downtown district with an emphasis on local architecture. Flint's skyline features a surprisingly diverse and well-preserved collection of significant Art Deco construction, as well as their generally less well-loved successors.
What's Up, Downtown?
Another Downtown tour, this marketing initiative is co-managed by the Ruth Mott Foundation one of several prominent local cultural players and the for-profit Uptown Reinvestment LLC. Uptown is notable in Flint for having acquired dozens of buildings downtown and around Flint, but even more significantly because they operate the popular Downtown Tours. While definitely biased one of the emphases of the tours are the pricey condos the company is developing here this tour is a good way to become acquainted with the downtown area, and the vicissitudes of its fortunes throughout the decades. Tours typically operate during the spring, summer, and fall, but call ahead for details. Tour frequency is subject to demand.
Flint Farmers' Market
Based out of a long, squat building that resembles a cross between a greenhouse and a factory, the local farmers market is one of the more surprising local success stories. Even as the surrounding neighborhood weathered the travails of AutoWorld and Saginaw Street's pedestrian experiments, the Farmers' Market has spent thirty years building a loyal customer base and taking advantage of the diversity of agricultural activity in Southeast Michigan. Typical midwestern crops, such as corn and beans are common south of Flint, while the Flint area boasts a number of small orchards, and sugar cane is cultivated further north. As a result, the produce offered here is varied and fresh. With the success of the last ten years, the Farmers' Market has expanded its hours and operation, and now offers classes and events such as the Rustic Twig Class and the BBQ Battle. Also, the market has become host to several small shops, such as the Art at the Market Gallery, and a diner, which provides a nice break from Flint's ubiquitous coney islands. Hours vary from season to season, so call ahead.
Crossroads Village
is a family-friendly attraction reminiscent of a late 19th-century town. It features a cider mill, the Huckleberry Railroad, and the Genesee Belle steam boat.
The Motor Cities National Heritage Area -- Flint
is an undertaking of the National Park Service to present and teach the public about the growth of America's automotive industry. Pick up literature at Sloan Museum see above, and go on a walking or driving tour of such sites as the former Buick-City automotive plant, used in the manufacturing of Sherman tanks during World War II, and the Fisher Body Plants, where a sit-down strike during the bitter winter of 1937-38 led to the official recognition of the United Auto Workers UAW. Such tours are largely unguided and will have to be self-motived, but they can also be among the most poignant of what the city has to offer. They take the extremes of Flint from the square miles of brownfield left by the recent demolition of Flint's largest factories to the still-beautiful bungalows built for autoworkers in the struggling Civic Park neighborhood, or the stately neoclassical manors of the still-affluent Woodcroft neighborhood. Be aware that many of the areas included in these tours are far off-the-beaten-path. Travelers would be well-advised to travel in groups and during the daytime.