Michigan Tech’s arts and entertainment scene is vibrant and diverse. The University is home to the area’s premier performing arts venue, the Rozsa Center, and the unique black-box McArdle Theatre in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.
Whether you have a taste for fine art, drama, music, films, lectures, or cultural diversity, it all happens right on campus. The Keweenaw as a whole also offers endless ways to have a memorable outing and take in the Copper Country’s culture.
The Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) (see map) sponsors a variety of events throughout the school year. Performance venues include on-campus locations, such as the Rozsa Center and McArdle Theatre, as well as off-campus locations, such as the Calumet Theatre. Students can attend VPA events at no additional cost thanks to the Experience Tech fee.
The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts (see map) hosts a number of performing arts events throughout the year as artists, performers, musicians, and lecturers make their way to Houghton. Big-name performers and acts at the Rozsa Center have included Bob Saget, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, Garrison Keillor, Yellowcard, and the Alan Parsons Live Project, just to name a few. The 80,000-square-foot facility includes a main stage, as well as an art gallery, recital facilities, a ticketing office, a concessions stand, practice rooms, dressing rooms, a scene shop, classrooms, conference rooms, and offices. The building’s architecture reflects the inclined look of the local copper mine hoists and shaft houses.
The flexible black-box McArdle Theatre (see map) is host to theatrical performances, productions by the Tech Theatre Company and Visual and Performing Arts students, concerts, music festivals, film festivals, art shows, and more. The theater’s pitch-black interior, boxy design, and adaptable seating allow it to be transformed to fit a production’s unique needs. Located on the second floor of the Walker Arts and Humanities Center, the McArdle Theatre is housed in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.
The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum (see map) boasts one of the finest collections of minerals in North America. Be awed by the artistic beauty of nature's creations. Stop by to inquire about tours and to have your mineral and geology questions answered. A small admission fee is charged (Michigan Tech students get in free with a student ID).
The Ford Center (see map) is located in the heart of the extensive hardwood and jack-pine-plain forests of the beautiful Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 1954 the Ford Motor Company donated 1,700 acres to Michigan Tech. Today, the Center occupies 4,609 acres and consists of a conference center, the University’s research forest, and the historic village of Alberta and sawmill museum (open to the public).
More than 100 limited-edition prints and original watercolors by three nationally renowned wildlife artists are on display in the U. J. Noblet Forestry and Wood Products Building (see map). The artwork features Michigan scenes and indigenous wildlife.
For more information, please contact the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at 906-487-2454 or forest@mtu.edu.
The Keweenaw is full of events and activities for all seasons!
Explore the Copper Country’s storied mining history, have an outdoor adventure, celebrate winter during Winter Carnival or Heikinpaiva, enjoy multicultural events such as the Parade of Nations, listen to local musicians, attend a Michigan Tech Athletics event, or take in the spectacular fall colors during Family Weekend or the Copper Country Color Tour. There is so much to see and do in the beautiful Upper Peninsula.
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Michigan Technological University is located in Houghton. Michigan Tech and the Copper Country have a small-town feel. Students and community members say it’s just right—not so big that it’s easy to get lost, but not too small, either. An ideal place to call home, Niche.com ranks Michigan Tech the safest public college in Michigan.
The area is home to 12,000 residents, and active with locally owned shops, eateries, high-tech companies, music festivals, and parades. Students, staff, and the community enjoy the University-owned ski, snowboard, and tubing hill, golf course, and recreation trails, and other outdoor adventure opportunities the Keweenaw Peninsula offers.