2025 by the Numbers: A Year of Arts Engagement Across Michigan

Arts Initiative

Dec 18

Photo: Rhiannon Giddens Performing at A2SF’s Top of the Park. Photo credit: Doug Coombe

As 2025 comes to a close, the University of Michigan’s Arts Initiative is reflecting on a year defined by creativity, collaboration, and connection. From student-led projects and large-scale festivals to new wellness partnerships and cross-campus engagement, the arts played a vital role in campus life—and reached tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and community members along the way.

Thanks to the artists, students, campus partners, and supporters who made it possible, the Arts Initiative continued its mission to expand access to the arts, elevate student creativity, and strengthen Michigan’s cultural ecosystem. Here are some of the numbers—and stories—that shaped the year.

Empowering Student Creativity

Photo: U-M student at 2024 student arts organization gathering. Photo credit: Ellie Vice.

122 Student Mini-Grants awarded
In 2025, the Arts Initiative awarded more than $58,000 in Student Mini-Grants, supporting 122 student-led arts projects and events. These grants empowered over 4,500 student contributors and reached a collective audience of 50,000+ people, amplifying student voices across disciplines, identities, and art forms.

Access to the Arts—On and Off Campus

5,000+ free tickets redeemed through Passport to the Arts
Through 72 featured arts events, Passport to the Arts continued to remove barriers to arts participation by offering students free access to performances, exhibitions, and screenings across campus and the region.

5 Art Outta Town trips
More than 100 students explored arts experiences across Southeast Michigan, attending Broadway shows, exhibitions, dance performances, art walks, and museum visits—often for the first time.

Community, Belonging, and Student Life

1,500+ students at Artscapade
Artscapade 2025 welcomed over 1,500 students to UMMA to kick off the academic year. The event featured 10 live performances, 10 short films by FTVM students, hands-on art-making with campus partners, and the distribution of 500 Public Art coloring books and 600 Michigan Arts Festival t-shirts.

80+ student arts organizations connected
Four new Student Arts Organization Gatherings, including the inaugural Student Arts Org Fair and annual Student Arts Org Summit, brought together members from more than 80 student arts organizations, fostering collaboration, resource-sharing, and collective visibility for student-led arts.

Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Photo: ArtsRx team attending the Creating Healthy Communities conference.

ArtsRx launched
In partnership with University Health & Counseling, Wolverine Wellness, and campus arts units, the Arts Initiative launched ArtsRx in Fall 2025. The program spent its inaugural semester building a strong foundation for research and evaluation launching in early 2026, while gaining momentum and visibility through presentations at the Rackham Symposium: Exploring Well-Being in Graduate Education and the Creating Healthy Communities Conference.

Exhibitions, Workshops, and Shared Making

100+ student artworks showcased
Four student art competitions and exhibitions highlighted over 100 student works across photography, poetry, drawing, painting, and digital art.

156 participants in Arts For All Workshops
Accessible, hands-on workshops—including the Mending Lab, Collage & Conversation, and button-making at the M-Gagement Fair—engaged students and community members in creative exploration and well-being through shared art-making.

300+ students reached at Go Blue Mix
In partnership with the Center for Campus Involvement, the Arts Initiative provided hands-on art-making activities for incoming students, embedding creativity into early campus experiences.

Photo: 2025 State of the Arts: U-M Symphony Band Tour at U-M Flint.

Looking Ahead

From the State of the Arts tour with the U-M Symphony Band to performances by Artist-in-Residence Rhiannon Giddens at A2SF’s Top of the Park—and the launch of the first-ever Michigan Arts Festival—2025 marked a year of significant growth and momentum for the Arts Initiative.

Looking ahead to the new year, the Arts Initiative will continue to build on this momentum through strong partnerships, expanded access, and bold creative work that helps the arts flourish at Michigan.

Arts Initiative

Jessica Jenks

Jessica Jenks serves as the Lead Content Strategist for the Arts Initiative. Prior to joining U-M, she led communications efforts for the CMO at GTB, the CPO at Ford, and strategic communications campaigns and initiatives for USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health (OPRH) and Office of HIV/AIDS (PEPFAR), Hasbro, and led an Anti-Trafficking Coalition + Taskforce in Providence, RI.

Jess oversees the following for the Arts Initiative: newsletter, podcast, storytelling, editorial / magazine, content strategy, brand stewardship, executive communications, cross-unit collaboration, digital strategy advocacy, and more.