Executive Committee Meeting 10-15-24

President's Report

Page 47 of 95

EXPLORE DETROIT

NORTH OF DETROIT

in their dedicated Great Apes of Harambee space. However, you won't see any elephants: struggling with Michigan’s harsh winters, they were relocated to California. Under its glass dome (1926), at the entrance to the zoo, the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery shines a light on the relationship between humans and the natural world in different cultures. A 4D cinema, fairground ride, and playground for the youngest children round off the facilities. Cranbrook Educational Community aaa 22 miles from Detroit – 39221 N. Woodward Ave – Bloomfield Hills – bus 462, Woodward & Long Lake NB stop - t 248 645 3000 – cranbrook. edu – Plan on a short day's visit. w The Cranbrook Institute of Science has a cafe. Renowned press patrons and philanthropic collectors George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth, considered the “Medicis of Detroit”, acquired this 173-acre plot of land in 1904 to establish a country house that would later become their permanent home. They then commissioned Albert Kahn to build their mansion (see below) . The name Cranbrook was chosen in honor of G. Booth’s father’s hometown in Kent, England. In the 1920s, they invested their wealth and taste for the arts and sciences to establish this educational and artistic community, which includes several primary and secondary education institutions, now co-ed (more than 1,650 students in 2023).

animals in a natural environment. From south to north, a miniature train crosses the zoo park, which spans 125 acres and has more than 3,000 animal residents, their back stories usually known by the keepers. For example, the three grizzly boys , who arrived very young, were saved after their mother was shot dead in Alaska. One of the lions, Simba, belonged as a cub to the royal family of Qatar who got rid of him when he became too big; another was rescued from a drugstore in Detroit where it was used for security. In 2020, the zoo even celebrated the birth of the lioness Binti, a first in captivity for 40 years! She lives with her pack in an area replicating the savanna. The two polar bears in the Arctic Ring of Life also have a personal story: the young female Suka was born at the zoo in 2012 to a mother who was recovered from a circus. She grew up here with the male, Nuka : the public can pass through a see-through tunnel under their pool and see them in their element, not far from seals from which they are separated by glass. The Polk Penguin Conservation Center is home to one of the largest penguin colonies in captivity, which you can also see swimming thanks to a network of tunnels. The National Amphibian Conservation Center is part of a wetland area that includes a pond where frogs, newts, and other amphibians live. You can walk among kangaroos and wallabies in the Outback Adventure , feed giraffes from a platform at their height, and watch gorillas and chimpanzees

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Ph. Orain/Michelin/Adagp, Paris, 2024

Cranbrook Educational Community: the Orpheus Fountain by Carl Milles, 1937.

The magnificent 318-acre campus was designed as a “total work of art” by Booth and Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950), who carried out his first American construction project here, in the Arts & Crafts style. Saarinen was also the president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art , a prestigious school with a broad curriculum, established in 1932. Each year, it trains around 200 students using cutting-edge educational principles: no lessons for the chosen few, instead of which they work on personal projects in their workshop, under the supervision of artists in residence. The buildings are arranged around passageways, courtyards, and arcades. A bell tower stands over the

large, irregularly shaped courtyard. If you can, take a peek at the canteen, whose high nave is decorated with beautiful hanging lights. At the heart of the campus, the library (Mon.-Thu. 9am-6pm, Fri. 5pm, Sat.- Sun. 1pm-5pm) has a huge collection of 27,000 works in the visual arts. It communicates with the museum via a bold peristyle designed by Saarinen (1942), flanked by fountains by Danish sculptor Carl Milles . Cranbrook Art Museum aa cranbrookartmuseum.org - 11am-5pm (Thu. 8pm) - closed Mon.-Tue. - $10 (children go free, and free entry Thu.). w Lots of the items for sale in the shop were made by former students. This space is home to a fabulous