Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies. To share a business or nonprofit story, please send us a message.
Detroit Opera Hosting 2024-25 Season Preview March 14
Detroit Opera is hosting a preview of its 2024-25 opera and dance season from 5-8 p.m. March 14 at the Detroit Opera House in downtown Detroit.
Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director Yuval Sharon and Artistic Advisor for Dance Jon Teeuwissen will be presenting.
The evening’s agenda is as follows:
- 5-6 p.m. — Cash bar, try out seats, chat with Detroit Opera staff, lobby tours.
- 6-7 p.m. — 2024–25 season presentation, hosted by Associate Artistic Director Christine Goerke with a welcome by President and CEO Patty Isacson Sabee.
- 7-8 p.m. — Pick up 2024–25 season packets and materials, renew or purchase onsite, try out seats, chat with Detroit Opera staff.
To register to attend, visit here.
Among the performances to be previewed is Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s opera “Breaking the Waves,” coming to the Detroit Opera House for three performances on April 6, 12, and 14.
Soprano Kiera Duffy will sing the lead part of Bess in Detroit. Baritone Ben Taylor (Schaunard in Detroit Opera’s 2022 La bohème), will sing the role of Jan, and rising conductor Stephanie Childress will make her Detroit Opera debut leading the cast and Detroit Opera Orchestra in Breaking the Waves.
Detroit Pistons Unveil Designs of J. Dilla-inspired Retail Capsule
The Detroit Pistons Wednesday unveiled the designs of a six-piece retail collection with Grammy Award-nominated and platinum-selling rapper, producer, and songwriter Royce 5’9” celebrating the life and legacy of Detroit-born producer, songwriter, and rapper J. Dilla and his impact in music and culture.
The retail capsule features a two-piece in-arena exclusive available only at the Team Store at Little Caesars Arena on March 13 as the Pistons celebrate 313 Day against the Toronto Raptors, as well as four additional designs available at both the Team Store at LCA and Pistons313Shop.com.
The six total pieces — a t-shirt, two hats, and three hoodies — each pay homage to J. Dilla, his work, and his non-traditional style including reimagined looks to his classic album cover “Donuts,” a nod to the Detroit Stars hat he proudly wore, a unique design including two of his musical instruments, the Minimog Voyager Synthesizer and Akai MPC3000 MIDI, over a map of downtown Detroit and the two in-arena exclusive pieces blend the sentiment of Dilla’s debut studio album, “Welcome 2 Detroit” laid over Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge and the J. Dilla Donut shop.
“When designing the capsule for the J. Dilla Pistons partnership, our aim was to honor Dilla’s essence,” Royce 5’9” says. “Our interpretation of the iconic “Donuts” album cover was pivotal to the collection, as the album holds significant historical importance within hip-hop circles.”
For more information about the collection visit Pistons.com/JDilla. To purchase the collection on March 13, visit Pistons313Shop.com or purchase tickets to the Detroit Pistons game as they take on the Toronto Raptors at Pistons.com/Tickets and visit the Team Store at Little Caesars Arena.
Model 1 Enters a National Distribution Agreement with The Shyft Group in Novi
Indianapolis-based bus service provider Model 1 Commercial Vehicles has signed a national distribution agreement with The Shyft Group in Novi.
The agreement gives The Shyft Group access points into new markets and a national distribution and upfit footprint. For Model 1, the agreement adds an expansive commercial product offering, which supports vehicle upfitting and second-stage manufacturing.
Model 1 will carry Shyft Group brands – DuraMag, Royal Truck Body and Magnum – and offer local upfit services nationwide. This agreement brings a larger in-stock product offering to Model 1 customers, expands The Shyft Group’s footprint nationally, and creates a one-stop-shop option for fleets, municipalities, and work truck end users in services, such as plumbing, heating, HVAC, landscaping, oil and gas, and general contracting.
“Model 1’s vast geographic footprint with 23 brick and mortar locations, combined with their ability to access chassis pools, makes for a really strong distributor partner,” says Matt Duggy, national sales director for The Shyft Group. “Through Model 1 dealerships, Shyft and Model 1 are giving fleet management companies and end users better visibility, control and speed that others cannot unlock on their own.”
Two Lawrence Tech Professors Win $447K NIH Grant to Find Safer Plastics
Lawrence Technological University in Southfield has received a $446,867 grant from the National Institutes of Health to create close chemical cousins of Bisphenol A, more commonly known as BPA, which been used since the 1950s to produce strong and resilient plastics.
But a growing body of scientific evidence shows BPA, which mimics the effect of estrogen in the body, affects the development of reproductive tissues, and could increase the risk of miscarriage and birth defects. Some studies also have shown links to diabetes and heart disease. Efforts to find alternatives have so far resulted in molecules with similarly negative impacts on human health.
Principal investigator Shannon Timmons, chair of the LTU Department of Natural Sciences and an associate professor of chemistry, says her undergraduate students will work in the lab to create new “bisphenol analogues, similar in structure to BPA but a little bit different.”
The BPA molecule is constructed of two six-membered rings of carbon atoms with various hydrogen and oxygen atoms attached. Her students will work to change the atoms attached to the rings, using atoms such as bromine and fluorine, to create novel bisphenol structures.
Then, principal investigator Aleksandra Kuzmanov, an assistant professor of biology, will test these bisphenol analogues for toxicity, using a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans.
Kuzmanov says C. elegans is being used as a test animal because it’s inexpensive, reproduces quickly — allowing toxicity assays to be completed in a short period of time — and most important, because it responds to toxic substances in a manner very similar to humans.
In related LTU news: The Great American Eclipse of 2024 will take place Monday, April 8.
Members of the public, along with the LTU community, can learn more about the eclipse in a free program on Thursday, March 28.
“Eclipse 2024—And Before And After” begins at 7 p.m. in the Marburger Auditorium, Room S100 in LTU’s Science Building (Building 7). Ample free parking is available nearby in Parking Lots D and E.
The event also will be livestreamed on LTU’s YouTube channel.
Backwater Spirits Bringing Ready-to-drink Cream Cocktails to Michigan
Iowa-based Bushwacker Spirits is bringing its ready-to-drink cream cocktail — in 750 ml and 50 ml formats — to Michigan stores by the end of the month.
Describing how the traditional Bushwacker cocktail is created, co-founders Carter Echols and Michael Smith explain “It’s four or five different ingredients depending on which recipe you’re using, and you can’t always find them.” Smith says, “We were like, ‘This needs to be in a bottle.’ So, that spurred the idea.”
Bushwacker Rum Cream is an homage to the traditional Bushwacker cocktail, that’s solved the problem of hunting down hard to find ingredients and keeping them readily on hand by combining premium Caribbean Rum and real dairy cream with decadent flavors of chocolate, coffee, and coconut.
For more information, visit here.
Davenport University in Grand Rapids Launches Bilingual Degrees Program
Leaders at Davenport University in Grand Rapids have launched an initiative that leads to bilingual degrees with professional proficiency in English and Spanish. Casa Latina at Davenport has a unique approach by offering courses with one week fully in Spanish and the next week fully in English.
Graduates of this program at Davenport should enhance the pool of bilingual talent for businesses, while offering a solid path to careers in business, technology, health care, urban education, and the sciences.
Casa Latina, which is the only program of its kind in the nation, represents a new era in higher education with 12 undergraduate and graduate degrees tailored to students who will not only become experts in their fields, but will join the workforce ready to lead in a bilingual world. Degree programs include accounting, business administration, education, human resource management, health services administration, and technology project management. Students can apply now for courses beginning fall 2024.
The Casa Latina program is fully online, giving students the flexibility they need to begin and finish their degrees. The program will be available worldwide, and Davenport will consider work experience and education credits, reducing the time it takes to earn a degree. Scholarships are available for full-time students: $9,200 for undergraduates and $5,000 for graduate students. Students attending part-time will be awarded a prorated amount.
For more information about Casa Latina at Davenport University, visit here.
Troy’s Walsh College Awarded Top-tier Global DBA Ranking by CEO Magazine
Walsh College in Troy has been recognized as a leading institution for Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program, as ranked by CEO Magazine in its 2023 Global DBA list.
This acknowledgment places Walsh College in the company of other world-renowned institutions such as Harvard Business School, Copenhagen Business School, and Pepperdine University.
This Global DBA list evaluates programs based on several critical factors, including accreditation, quality of faculty, geographical location, and international standing. The aim is to highlight the premier DBA providers in the market, offering prospective students a guide to the institutions that will offer them the best in advanced business education.
International Hearing Society Marks World Hearing Day
The Farmington Hills-based International Hearing Society (IHS) celebrated World Hearing Day (WHD) March 1 at its newly opened world headquarters.
Several local dignitaries and representatives attended the event, including Farmington Hills Mayor Theresa Rich, IHS President Patrick Kochanowski, Farmington Hills Economic Development Director Cristia Brockway, and U.S. Senator Gary Peters’ Regional Representative Robin Daniels.
IHS, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), shared information about the role hearing plays in overall health and the work that IHS members are doing to help more people hear better around the world.
Participants engaged with local hearing aid specialists and attendees learned about the profession of hearing aid specialist and were shown what IHS is doing to support and expand the profession. IHS also showcased IHS Consumer Awareness and WHO promotional materials and invited visitors and staff to note their favorite sounds and what they are doing to “change mindsets about hearing care,” the theme of 2024’s World Hearing Forum’s World Hearing Day.
SIM Detroit Planning Second Spring Tech Conference for April 11
The Society for Information Management (SIM) Detroit, a group of local IT leaders, is planning to host its second Michigan Technology Leaders Summit on April 11 on the 16th floor of One Campus Martius in downtown Detroit.
The summit is designed to bring together IT leaders and thinkers, focusing on key players from the Michigan region to network, discover the latest trends in information technology, and share ideas.
All of the profits from the event will be given back to the community via charitable initiatives by SIM Detroit and its partner, Michigan Council of Women in Technology. These initiatives include scholarships and other programs intended to help the less fortunate and strengthen metro Detroit’s technology position by educating those who have the desire — but not the means — to pursue a career in a STEM-related field.
The group’s goal is to draw 100 to 200 technology leaders, including members of SIM Detroit and our partner organizations. A cadre of more than 50 regional leaders has agreed to re‐join the event’s Advisory Board.
For more information, sponsorship opportunities, and to register to attend, visit here.
The Zekelman Holocaust Center to Screen ‘One Life’ at Emagine Novi March 18
The Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills is sponsoring a showing of “One Life,” a film depicting the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to the U.K. in the lead-up to WWII March 18 at Emagine Novi at 6:30 p.m.
Nick Winton Jr., the son of Sir Nicholas Winton MBE, who organized the Kindertransport, will discuss the legacy of his father, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in the new Warner Bros. film.
The Kindertransport (German for “children’s transport”) was an organized rescue effort of children from Nazi-controlled territory that took place in 1938-1939 during the nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II. The 29-year-old Nicholas Winton, who was supposed to be on a ski vacation but instead visited Prague at the request of a friend, ended up organizing a rescue operation that brought approximately 669 children from Czechoslovakia to safety in Great Britain just prior to the outbreak of the war.
Additional details about the Kindertransport are available at The Zekelman Holocaust Center, including displays in the recently renovated Core Exhibit.
Tickets are $10 for HC members and $15 for non-menbers. To register, visit here.
This Mission Is Possible Celebrates Women’s History Month with March 15 Awards
This Mission Is Possible Foundation (TMIP) in Grosse Pointe Farms is sponsoring a conversation about women, girls, philanthropy, and social impact from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. March 15 at the War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms.
The Women’s History Month celebration includes a three-course luncheon with views of Lake St. Clair; Keynote Speaker, Global Humanitarian Storyteller of Human Connection, Mallory Brown; and the 2024 Who Is SHI (Spirit, Heart, & Imagination) Awards, which honor and showcase nonprofit leaders working on the front lines, representing diverse challenges faced by women and girls within our communities.
For ticket purchasing and event reservations, visit here. To learn more about This Mission Is Possible, visit here.
Expect amazing entertainment and poetic performances, complemented with coffee and desserts.
Celebrating 13 Social Impact Leaders – The WHO IS SHI Nominees:
Thirteen gynocentric nonprofit organizations stand nominated, representing the diverse challenges faced by women and girls in our community. From Cloth Connections Outreach Charity to Helping Women Period, Inc., each nominee is a testament to the resilience and commitment to change. The thirteen 2024 nominees include:
Financial Resources, Breast Cancer: The Pink Fund
- Financial Resources for Impoverished Women: Our Biswas
- Violence Against Women: A Starr’s Initiative, D’s House of Angels (Recipient of the Spirit of Detroit Award, 2023), Lacasa, Exodus Foundation
- Protected Relationships Women and Girl Mentorships:T.Y.L.E., Girls Group
- Period Poverty & Self- Care Hygiene: The Clean Love Project, Cloth Connection Charity Outreach, Helping Women Period, Inc. (Featured in O Magazine)
- Teen Pregnancy & Young Mother Resources: A Girl Like Me (Featured on the Drew Barrymore Show, fall 2023)
- Women Incarceration and Re-Entry Support: S&D PJ Housing
“Women’s charities are the least funded charities out of all of the ones out there,” says Teysha, Owner, and Founder of the Cloth Connection Outreach Charity, “it’s an uphill battle worth fighting. [Women] just need help.”
TMIP’s mission is clear: elevate philanthropic investments for women and girls from 2% to 25% annually. TMIP is a platform developed by Christine Gavin and Company, a 24-year-old international philanthropic fundraising consulting firm. Its mission is to create an exceptional formation of compassion and humanity by building fundraising pathways for those who are in need and have few resources to make a difference, and connecting them to altruistic individuals, corporations, and foundations.
Teaser Link: https://youtu.be/TRrJedazpp4?feature=shared
