What you need to know about the Flint Cultural Center Academy

Flint, Michigan—Construction is officially underway on the Flint Cultural Center Academy, a charter school being constructed in downtown Flint. Here's a breakdown of what the plans are for the school. Additional images including a campus site plan, floor plans, and more interior and exterior artist renderings.

Related story: Analysis: What the new, $35 million charter school means for Flint

• Set to open in fall 2019 for about 300 students in kindergarten through fifth grades. Enrollment will expand annually through 2022 when the K-8 school will serve up to 650 students.

• A free, public school. There is no tuition to attend. 

• A 78,000-square-foot, two story school featuring 37 classrooms, a gymnasium, cafeteria, and kitchen as well as multipurpose classrooms. Four special education classrooms are included in the building designs.

• Students will spend at least 90 minutes a day studying at one of the Flint Cultural Center campus cornerstone institutions: Flint Public Library, Flint Institute of Arts, Longway Planetarium, The Whiting, Sloan Museum, and Flint Institute of Music.

• EL Education, a national nonprofit organization specializing in K-12 education, will help the school build its curriculum. 

• Enrollment is open to students who live in Flint, Genesee County, and throughout the rest of the state (as required by Michigan law governing charter schools). 

• If the school receives more applications than it can enroll, students will be selected using a lottery system. Additional enrollment information will be available in early 2019

• The lead design and construction partners are Flint-based companies THA Architects Engineers and E&L Construction Group.

• The charter was authorized through Grand Valley State University, the leading charter authorizer in Michigan. 

First-level floor plan


Second-level floor plan


Flint Cultural Center campus site plan


Classrooms exterior view


Link to FIM, Sloan