Community Calendar

“No One Cares About Crazy People”, Presented by NAMI-GT and NW Michigan Supportive Housing as part of COMMUNITY NIGHT AT THE STATE!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10 Doors Open @ 6:00 PM. $10 Tickets ($6 Students). Inspired by Ron Powers’ acclaimed book of the same name, the film is an intimate deep dive into the crisis & chaos of severe mental illness in America.

Join us for an author event with local writer Bryan Gruley as he talks about his most recent work Bitter Frost, which Crimereads has described as "his best work yet!"

Attend in person or register here to join via Zoom.

Enjoy the company of fellow book lovers while discussing “Everything Tuberculosis: Our Deadliest Infection” by John Green.

Free Event.

Sponsored by Alden District Library and held at Helena Township Community Center, 8751 Helena Rd, Alden, 231-331-4318.

“Christmas in Sweden: A Musical Lecture”
Presented by: Ingemar & Lisa Johansson
December 11, 2025, 4 pm*
The Mills Community House & ZOOM

Join the Benzie Area Historical Society for an afternoon lecture presented by Ingemar & Lisa Johansson on the Christmas season in Sweden, featuring music and stories of past and current celebrations.

Presenters: Ingemar & Lisa Johansson

Ingemar and Lisa Johansson live the good life in the rolling hills of Northern Michigan. They dwell in a rich wellspring of influence, soul, and sound craft with their music. They have toured widely as a duo and as Song of the Lakes members.

Ingemar writes his songs with the muse of the natural world in his pocket. His voice and strings, guitar, and Swedish nyckelharpa hold solid earth rhythms and melodies with an introspective and poetic verse. The interplay with Lisa's artistry on her flutes in the vein of baroque, blues, and rock with a twist of scandal-Celtic flair is savory and refined like a good Swedish aquavit.

This presentation is part of the Benzie Area Historical Society’s Benzonia Academy Lecture Series, held on the second Thursday of each month. Admission is by donation, with a recommended donation of $5.

To learn more about the December 11th lecture, visit the Benzie Area Historical Society’s website, benziemuseum.org, Instagram, or Facebook page; call the Museum at (231) 882-5539; or email info@benziemuseum.org.

A space for people to share and listen to stories from our lives based on a theme of the evening. Join Kingsley Branch Library & The Kingsley Folk School for a storytelling community circle. Inspired by NPR's The Moth storytelling hour, the Everyone Has a Story series welcomes you to share your personal stories with others to create connections in our community.

Presenters will be given 5 minutes to share stories from their lived experiences with an open-minded circle of fellow storytellers.

Every second Thursday of the month.

This event is FREE and open to the public of all ages.

Filmmakers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick go on a journey into the life cycle of whitefish in the Great Lakes and the impact of invasive quagga mussel.

We originally showed this film during the 2025 Thunder Bay International Film Festival and we are hosting an encore presentation due to popularity and demand. Join us on Thursday, December 11th in the theater of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center at 500 W. Fletcher Street in downtown Alpena. This is a free event and open to all. The film will begin at 6pm.

More on the film:
All Too Clear is a documentary series and feature that uses cutting-edge underwater drones to explore how quadrillions of tiny invasive mussels are re-engineering the ecosystem of North America’s Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers. The mussels are trapping nutrients, the building blocks of life, on the lake bottom. Without nutrients, organisms of all kinds – from the tiniest plankton to the largest fish – are vanishing, creating vast biological deserts.

While the consequences for nature and people are severe, the loss of life has had an extraordinary side effect: it’s made the lakes clearer than ever before. All Too Clear harnesses this clarity to tell the story of life in the world’s largest freshwater lake system. From dazzling shallow water worlds that look more like the Caribbean than the Great Lakes, to previously undiscovered shipwrecks, completely entombed in mussels, 300 feet beneath the surface – All Too Clear brings freshwater species and ecosystems into the spotlight usually reserved for ocean environments.

Matilda is a little girl with astonishing wit, intelligence and psychokinetic powers. She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, with whom she forms a bond. Matilda's school life isn't all smooth sailing, though – the school's mean headmistress hates children and loves to punish those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda’s courage and cleverness could be the school pupils' saving grace!

The NMC Chamber Singers, and their director Jeffrey Cobb, share holiday music including some of your pop and jazz favorites with guest jazz trio: Andy Evans, Will Harris, and Jake Ramseyer.

Join Peter Payette for a conversation about the role of arts and culture in shaping and defining the identity of Northwest Michigan. Explore how the creative sector can move to become a central and celebrated aspect of our region's character in the way we think of dunes and cherries. Together, we’ll discuss strategies to amplify the impact of the arts and make them an integral part of what makes our community unique.

Facilitator: Peter Payette
Peter Payette is the Executive Director of Interlochen Public Radio, where he has led the station since 2016. With a journalism career spanning over two decades, he has reported extensively on issues critical to the culture and economy of northern Michigan. Under Peter's leadership, IPR is dedicated to uncovering and sharing the people and stories that shape the community's identity.

Audience: Who is this for?
This session is designed for:

Art & culture professionals / administrators
Individual creatives
Broader creative community

Click here to register.

Experience the Story of Christmas—from Creation to Bethlehem and beyond—during a 45-minute outdoor walking tour through the woods at New Hope Community Church.

Guided groups will encounter live actors, animals, and immersive scenes that bring the first Christmas to life.

Guests will witness Mary and Joseph’s journey, the shepherds’ awe as angels fill the night sky, the wise men on their pilgrimage, and a live nativity.

Please Note: This event is entirely outdoors. Dress warmly and wear appropriate footwear.