Travel

Little Caesar's Arena Tour & Astoria Bakery

Wednesday, January 22, 2025 | 12:30-4:45pm

Just a few spots left. Please call the office to check availability.

Little Caesars Arena in The District Detroit serves as the home of the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons and countless other sports, entertainment and community events. Little Caesars Arena also features state-of-the-art technology, fan amenities and active community spaces. Experience a 90 minute behind the scenes tour of LCA. View Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons historical memorabilia throughout the arena, media room, and NHL visitors’ locker room. After the tour, we will make a stop at Astoria Bakery (Royal Oak) for you to grab a coffee and something sweet (on your own) to take home and enjoy.

Fox Theatre Behind the Scenes Tour & Desert Oasis Coffee Roasters

Thursday, January 30, 2025 | 12:30-4:30pm

Just a few spots left. Please call the office for availability.

Designed by C. Howard Crane and built in 1928, the Detroit Fox Theatre is the culmination of flamboyant movie palace architectural design. Today, the Fox holds the distinction of being the largest continually operating theater in the country. Learn about the theatre’s history, building details, and special performances in this 90 minute “behind the scenes” guided tour. Please note, photos are not permitted in the theatre or backstage. Enjoy coffee and something sweet, on you own, after the tour at Desert Oasis Coffee Roasters in Royal Oak.

Signal-Return Tour & Lunch at Baobab Fare

Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 9:45-1:30pm

Signal-Return is a Detroit nonprofit dedicated to preserving and teaching traditional letterpress printing, and building a community center for art, craft, design and collaboration. Signal-Return’s innovative and wide ranging programming supports an ever-growing and vital Detroit arts community. Enjoy a one hour guided tour of the print studio in their new location in “The Lantern” building. Learn about their printing presses, their type collection, and how the presses work. There is also a retail shop you can browse. Indulge in lunch on your own after at James Beard Finalists 2024, Baobab Fare. Bringing the vibrant flavors of East Africa to Detroit, Baobab Fare is a restaurant founded by refugees (Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere) from Burundi that embodies the spirit of “Detroit Ni Nyumbani” – Detroit is Home. A celebration of East African Food and culture, make sure to check out Soko, their East African Market within, selling specialty food items, jewelry, and more!

DSO Morning Coffee Concerts

Friday, February 14, 2025 | 9:15-1:30pm

Bus leaves Next at 9:15 am, returns about 1:30 pm. Please pre-register, space is limited.

Now both Classical and the Pops! 

Friday, February 14 - BROADWAY LOVE SONGS: 

Just a few spots left for Broadway Love. Please call the office to check availability.

The DSO plus on all-star cast of vocalists perform Broadway’s heart-on-sleeve classics, featuring timeless songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein and more.

Friday, February 28 - CLASSICAL ROOTS: Acclaimed composer Jessie Montgomery is one of today’s “most distinctive and communicative voices” (BBC). Experience two of her recent masterpieces. Cocommissioned by the DSO, Snapshots brims with “glowing washes and surges of sound,” (Dallas Morning News). Her Grammy Award-nominated Rounds, played by virtuoso Awadagin Pratt, evokes imagery and themes from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Opening the program is a world premier by award-winning Detroit composer and trumpeter Kris Johnson.

Friday, March 14 - LA VIDA LOCA: Get on your feet and let’s get loud with the greatest hits of the ‘90s and ‘00s Latin pop explosion! La Vida Loca celebrates artists including Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Santana, Ricky Martin, and more. 

Location: Detroit

DIA- Tiff Massey: 7 Mile + Livernois Exhibition & Lunch in the DIA Cafe

Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 10:00-1:45pm

In conjunction with our cultural series on Africa, visit the DIA to experience this spectacular exhibit of local artist, Tiff Massey. Massey creates installations, public art, and wearable sculptures inspired by adornment. 7 Mile + Livernois is Massey’s most ambitious museum installation to date, featuring new sculptures commissioned by the DIA in conversation with works by several other artists from the museum’s collection. Massey’s work reimagines art’s role in the community and offers a vibrant, inclusive view of Detroit. Enjoy lunch on your own in the café during the 2 and ½ hour visit to the museum.

Cantoro's Italian Market - Lunch at Trattoria & Shopping in the Market

Thursday, March 6, 2025 | 11:00-2:15pm

This offering is currently at capacity. Please call the office to check availability. 

Cantoro’s Italian Market Participants are responsible for lunch & gratuity payment.Let Next transport you to an authentic Italian market and Trattoria in Plymouth. When we arrive, we will be taken on a short tour of the market followed by a delicious lunch at the onsite restaurant. The menu is full of flavorful choices such as Linguine Con Porcini, Panino Rustico and Salsiccia E Peperoni Pizza! Before we depart, you will have some time to do a little shopping at the market. One bag maximum, please.

Life of Pi: A Theatrical Production Like Nothing Else!

Thursday, March 13, 2025 | 11:30-5:30pm

Wharton Center, East Lansing - Depart Next at 11:30 am and plan to return around 5:30 pm.

Winner of three Tony Awards for Best Play, the Broadway sensation Life of Pi is “an exhilarating evening of theater” (The Wall Street Journal). Based on the novel that became a worldwide phenomenon, Life of Pi is an epic story of perseverance and hope that speaks to every generation and “gives new life to Broadway” (The Today Show). After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions, a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Complimentary box lunch and snacks will be served on the Next van.

This trip is being subsidized with a generous grant from the Wharton Center!

Location: The Wharton Center, East Lansing