UMS at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse

Texas-based songwriter and guitarist James McMurtry is a supremely insightful and inventive storyteller who crafts searingly honest lyrics set against a rock/Americana backdrop. His Ypsilanti Freighthouse debut draws from his 2025 album The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy.

In this collaboration with iFFY, filmmakers who live or work in Washtenaw County will be invited to create a series of short silent films, all of which will be set to live, improvised music.

This special interactive performance for families invites you to explore music and dance from the Arab World. Led by Chloé Gray of Ypsilanti’s Fun Girl Dance Company and music educator and oud player Raphique Barakat, the event will focus on the dabke, a traditional line-and-circle folk dance featuring energetic stomping, jumping, and kicking to rhythmic music.

Known as “Detroit’s Queen of the Blues,” Thornetta Davis has captivated audiences across the United States and abroad for over 30 years, sharing stages with legendary Blues and R&B greats including Ray Charles, Etta James, and Buddy Guy.

Ypsilanti, it’s time to take the stage! Open Mic Night at the Freighthouse is back, and we want to hear from you.

Nidia Góngora brings the soul of Colombia’s Pacific coast to the stage, with a powerful, earthy, and luminous voice that carries centuries of Afro-Colombian tradition in this dance floor-ready event performed with marimba and percussion.

Joe Reilly is a singer/songwriter, social worker, and Michigan educator who writes songs from his heart. The Italian, Irish, and Native American (Cherokee) singer draws from his children’s albums of environmental and community songs in this concert for families. After the performance, families are invited to stay for a hands-on activity.

At this free community event, meet the moment through music by composers Jessie Montgomery, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and more. Voce Velata — a local youth-led chamber ensemble — joins professional musicians to explore cultural idioms that are in dialogue with both our past and present.

Join us at the Freighthouse for two hours of beginner line dancing with Ashley, set to country hits.

Detroit’s Ian Fink brings a next-gen jazz combo to the intimate Ypsilanti Freighthouse.

Beyond This Point, composed of Chicago-based collaborative percussion/arts trio Adam Rosenblatt, John Corkill, and AJ Morrissey, straddles the disciplines of music, theater, and science through gesture and ingenuity.