The following is taken from The Detroit News

Kid Rock has donated $250,000 to the Detroit Historical Museum to create an interactive music lab covering 100 years of Detroit music history. The donation helps lift the museum's Past>Forward capital campaign to $14.7 million.

The Kid Rock Music Lab will be one of the new core exhibits when the museum, closed for renovations, reopens Nov. 23 — the day after Thanksgiving.

"The gift, Kid Rock's largest single donation, really speaks to his commitment and love of the city," said Detroit Historical Society executive director Bob Bury, who noted that the Romeo native recently bought a mansion on the Detroit River. "He obviously shares our optimism, and the optimism many hold for Detroit's future."

Funded through the nonprofit Kid Rock Foundation, the lab will feature takeouts on about 20 Detroit superstars, as well as offer guests what museum officials call a "deep dive" into the musical genres that have characterized Detroit musical history, from jazz to gospel to rock to funk.

Attempts to reach the superstar, aka Robert Ritchie, did not succeed. "Rock's going to keep quiet on this one and let the donation do the talking," said his publicist, Nick Stern.

According to its website, in 2011 the Kid Rock Foundation donated $756,000 to charities nationwide "helping disadvantaged children, victims of war and natural disasters, and those suffering from illness." Among those contributions was $50,000 split between four Detroit children's charities and Habitat for Humanity, which the singer announced at the annual fundraiser for the Detroit branch of the NAACP. More recently, Rock appeared with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a May concert that raised $1 million for the symphony.

The music lab is designed to be a hands-on, interactive experience. Visitors will be able to mix their own songs, test their Detroit music trivia knowledge and check out what it feels like to actually be onstage at a big concert. It's all part of the Historical Museum's attempt to reinvent itself into an attraction relevant for a new generation of visitors.

"We're going to remain true to our core exhibits, 'Streets of Old Detroit' and 'Frontiers to Factories,'" Bury said, "but we want to put a new focus on the last 100 years and the big stories that made Detroit, Detroit.

The donation also represents efforts by the museum to reach out to nontraditional donors as part of its current Past>Forward Campaign that's behind the renovations.