Arts Saginaw

06/03/2026

Hot off the presses!

The annual Saginaw Celebrates Summer brochure listing up to 175 fun things to do June through August in Old Town, downtown and along the riverfront within city limits. Mostly free.

Fairs and festivals, concerts, the farmer’s market, museum exhibits, bike rides, movies indoors and out, children’s play dates in parks, wildlife hikes, summer reading programs.

Copies of the brochure are available at Jazz on Jefferson, Andersen Enrichment Center, all area libraries, Children’s Zoo and Children’s Museum, upcoming Art & Garden Festival, Red Eye, airport, YMCA, Saginaw Art Museum and more.

06/02/2026

Positive Results Downtown Saginaw today (June 2) announced the lineup for its 28th Annual Friday Night Live Concert Series, featuring six weeks of free live entertainment in Morley Plaza in Downtown Saginaw from July 17 through Aug. 21.

"This year's lineup truly reflects our organization's 'We Love Saginaw' theme," says Ann Marie Batkoski-Sullivan, executive director of Positive Results Downtown Saginaw. "From celebrating America's 250th Anniversary to showcasing hometown talent."

The concerts take place Friday evenings from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Bring your own seating. Dancing platform. Concessions galore. Adult beverage area.

2026 Friday Night Live Schedule:

Title Sponsors: Team One Credit Union, Nexteer Automotive, Covenant Healthcare

— July 17: All American 250th Anniversary Celebration

The Saginaw Eddy Concert Band, celebrating its 100th anniversary, and headliner SHAKEDOWN: The Bob Seger Experience, featuring Saginaw’s Sheriff Bill Federspiel.

— July 24: Fiesta on the River

Latin music featuring Grupo Vicio and Desastre.

— July 31: We Love Saginaw: Hometown Hits

The Sound Poets and The Blue OGs. Opening act Major Chords for Minors

— Aug. 7: Downtown Hoedown.

The Legends of Country. Opening act Claim Jumpers

— Aug. 14: Riverfront Rock

Todd Michael Hall and Nameless, delivering classic rock favorites. Opening act Pesky Kid. All three are also local.

— Aug. 21: Motown Night

Featuring Soul Street. Opening act Charles Allen

06/01/2026

We’ll start the season with an easy 7 miles. Something like this. Finish line has sno cones! Meet at the corner of Hamilton and Van Buren! 7pm lift off tonight. Welcome back
MAKE SURE TO AIR YOUR TIRES AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR CHAIN AND SPOKES!
First ride will go a lil smoother if we all maintain our vehicles.

06/01/2026

The Old Town Saginaw Lawn Chair Film Festival, a long-running summer film series, is moving from Sunday nights to Saturday nights.

06/01/2026

Art After Dark: Sunset Soiree Tuesday, June 23 | 7:30-9:30pm | $30 / person | Ages: 21+ Join us for Art After Dark, an evening of art, music, and summer vibes under the setting sun. This 21+ event invites guests…

06/01/2026

It’s June 1st, and you know what that means … the wildlife drive is OPEN!

The wildlife drive is open daily June 1st to September 30th from dawn to dusk. It begins at 6000 Bishop Road in Saginaw, and then tours seven miles through the refuge’s wetlands, prairies, and forest habitats, providing excellent opportunities to see wildlife and the great outdoors. Please follow all regulations in the refuge for the safety of both wildlife and visitors. Enjoy the wildlife drive!

Photo Credit: A. Martinson/USFWS

05/30/2026

On display through Sept. 5 at the Saginaw Art Museum is a solo exhibition by Saginaw artist Jessica Harvey that is full of whimsy and humanity and kinetic motion.

Here are videos of two of the 22 pieces in the show, many of which move either by themselves via electricity or with the help of visitors who flick switches, rotate levers, whisper and shout.

— Video by Janet I Martineau

05/29/2026

Welcome to the art world via the common mobile device.

Studio 23/The Arts Center in Bay City is hosting “ iPhoneography: Crossroads,” an exhibition of experimental photography with an emphasis on capturing, manipulating and altering images using mobile devices.

The exhibition featuring work by 15 participants ranges from complete abstraction and surrealism to traditional photography with unexpected twists, revealing the depth, creativity and personal vision possible within the medium of iPhoneography.

An attached graphic names all the artists. They are from the towns of Midland, Saginaw, Freeland, Mount Pleasant, Clarkston, South Lyon, Bloomfield Hills, Petoskey and Livonia.

“Crossroads” brings together two groups of practicing iPhoneographers for the first time in one exhibition, the Great Lakes iPhoneography Group and the Intermediate iPhoneography Group.

Both groups were founded and are led by Midlander Armin Mersmann, who in addition to iPhoneography is known for his hyper-detailed graphite drawings and as a renowned artist and instructor.

Mersmann describes the process and the captivation of iPhoneography:

“What makes iPhoneography unique is not simply the device, but the shift in perception it creates. When the term was first coined, it described ‘the art of taking pictures with Apple’s iPhone,’ yet the medium quickly evolved far beyond that definition.

“Because you always have a camera with you, you begin to notice the overlooked — fragments of light, textures, reflections, cracks in pavement, passing gestures, fleeting shadows — things that once disappeared into the background but now become the starting point of the iPhoneography process.

“iPhoneography emphasizes not only capturing a decisive moment, although that may still be the objective, but also constructing an image through layering, distortion, addition, subtraction and experimentation.

“In this way, the process often resembles painting, collage or assemblage more than conventional photography. The artist builds the image rather than merely recording it, allowing the work to move fluidly between observation and invention.

“The various methods, subject matter and artistic views of the exhibiting artists culminate in a captivating exhibition that is worth taking your time to explore and investigate the details.”

“Crossroads” remains on display at 901 N. Water through July 11. Studio 23 gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.– 6 p.m.

05/28/2026

The challenge is on

Think you've got what it takes to be smarter than a librarian? Come find out.

Join us for three evenings of pub-style trivia featuring five quick rounds of mixed categories — pop culture, history, science, books, and more. Compete as a team, enjoy complimentary cookies and non-alcoholic drinks, and take home bragging rights (and a prize) if your team wins.

📅 Wednesday, June 10 📅 Wednesday, July 8 📅 Wednesday, August 5

🕕 6:00–7:30pm 📍 Hoyt Library, Saginaw, MI

👥 Teams of up to 4 players, Adults only

Register online for our June event at: https://www.saginawlibrary.org/event/are-you-smarter-librarian-trivia-night-3403

05/27/2026

Story and photographs
By Janet I Martineau

First a question to ponder — is Saginawian Jessica Harvey a sculptor or a mechanical engineer? Maybe both? Art blended with science.

Do yourself a favor and head to the Saginaw Art Museum and Gardens, 1126 N. Michigan, to view her solo exhibition on display through Sept. 5. It is both fun and fabulous, full of whimsy and humanity and kinetic motion…and touchable.

And if you feel like a pair of eyes there are following you, well they are.

The exhibition features 22 of her creations that invite viewers to whisper, shout, pull or rotate levers, flick switches, insert their fingers into metal fingers and just plain play.

A couple move on their own (those eyes) with no visitor assistance needed. Many of the pieces sport electrical cords plugged into circuits with timers attached.

And the pieces are collectively made of sound sensors, stoneware, ceramics, gears, steel, motors, logs, iron, bronze, wire, camera sensors, metal, assorted objects and such woods as sycamore, walnut, poplar, mahogany and cherry.

All of the above unusual in art museum exhibitions.

Let the pictures attached do the talking because written descriptions are futile.

Harvey is a recent MFA graduate from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and in 2018 received her bachelor of fine arts with high honors from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

She also studied art and design at Delta College and in 2016 won a design award there and designed the cover for the Delta College Poetry Magazine.

Among her numerous exhibitions, many of which won awards, she was in the 2023 Regional Biennial Juried Sculpture Exhibition at the Marshall M. Fredericks Museum in Saginaw and participated in several of the Great Lakes Bay En Plein Air Festival competitions as a painter.

Harvey is currently on the adjunct facultys at Saginaw Valley State University and Delta College.

Saginaw Art Museum hours are noon to 5pm Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 dollars for students and seniors, free for children 12 and under and museum members — and free on the second Saturdays for all ages.