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What’s So Funny?

For this LSA graduate student, stand-up comedy is a powerful form of storytelling.

American culture graduate student and stand-up comedian Julianna Loera-Wiggins is workshopping some new material about getting into her first fistfight on the rugby field. 

“I was punched by another Latina,” says Loera-Wiggins, a national-level rugby player. “She was a new player, fairly inexperienced, and she was playing dirty. I was distributing the ball, and she kept grabbing my ankle and tripping me. She did it four times, then I did it to her.” That’s when the punches started flying. 

“We always talk about making our ancestors proud, right?” she says. Loera-Wiggins imagined her ancestors and the other player’s ancestors hovering over the rugby field, surveying the fight, judging her subpar fighting skills, and all of the ancestors choosing to side with her opponent instead of with her. They were watching over her, but they were not proud of her at that moment. “The ancestors chose to root for her instead. She really knew how to fight.” 

Loera-Wiggins did not sustain serious injuries during the rugby brawl, but she says her bruises felt more painful for having been dealt by another Latina. By turning the experience into a joke about ancestor betrayal for a future stand-up routine, she is rewriting the narrative on her own terms. “At the time, I was shaken up,” Loera-Wiggins says, “but the story makes for good comedy.”

When we know ourselves through “conocimiento,” Loera-Wiggins says, we can interrupt harmful stereotypes and speak out, and we can bring the playfulness of our communities into spaces where we feel unsafe and unseen—and that work can happen in comedy.

Origin Story

Loera-Wiggins has been interested in Latina comedy for a long time. In the process of interviewing family members about intergenerational Mexican American women in northern New Mexico for her graduate program research, she noticed that the women in her family used humor to tell stories. “In las carcajadas [the cackles] of my mother and mis tías [my aunts],” Loera-Wiggins says, painful events transformed into power—and academic inspiration. As her research progressed, she began to explore in her own comedy the ways that pain and joy coexist. 

She traces her entry into performing stand-up to a moment in 2020, in the Zoom audience of a comedy show, cackling at a joke by comedian Gwen La Roka that combined the solitude of the COVID pandemic and her longing for paletas, sweet treats sold by a neighborhood ice pop vendor.

“When marginalized voices speak out we can set the record straight, offer solutions for more inclusivity, and we can also explore the ways that humor can quiet the dissonance around us and soften it with our laughter.” — Julianna Loera-Wiggins

The experience sharpened Loera-Wiggins’s curiosity into a desire to learn more about stand-up and to build an academic field around Latina comedy. La Roka invited her into Las Locas, a collective of Latina stand-up comedians, where Loera-Wiggins noticed the feminist principles of this community; unlike any other comedy space she’d been a part of, performers—whether headliners or newcomers—were paid equally and given equal time on stage. Soon Loera-Wiggins was performing stand-up with Las Locas as well. 

These days, Loera-Wiggins is writing a dissertation about feminist Latinx humor, preparing to teach a course on Latinx stand-up, collaborating on a funny, tender art installation on campus, and telling plenty of her own jokes, too.

The 1%

Loera-Wiggins describes herself as a “stand-up comed-demic.” Both touring comedian and academic, she carries two notebooks in her bag while attending to her robust performance schedule: a book of fieldnotes and a joke notebook. 

“My methodology in my research is very much tied to being a performing comedian and hanging with other Latinas. And the research and the performance roles inform each other.” 

In both academic and comedy spaces, Loera-Wiggins is often the only Latina in the room. She shares some statistics: Latinas make up only one percent of stand-up comedy performers, and at the same time, Latinas represent less than one percent of doctorate holders in the country.

But Loera-Wiggins believes that humor provides a way to examine the pain that comes with that kind of exclusion, and to heal it. Stand-up performances hold the potential to create a sense of what she calls “community abundance,” despite tough odds. Stand-up brings societal issues to a public forum, transforming pain into a punchline.

Stand-up performances can create a sense of what Loera-Wiggins calls “community abundance.”

Tell Me Your Story

Loera-Wiggins is passionate about infusing academic spaces with laughter, and about inviting her students onstage to tell their stories. 

At the core of her research is a recurring theme of joy, Loera-Wiggins says. “And I craft joy through self-narrative.” Comedy is also storytelling, or “testimonio,” Loera-Wiggins says, referencing a mode of inquiry and narrative practiced by Chicanx, Latinx, and Latin American scholars and thinkers. “We speak our own truths, from and to the Latinx community, and laugh together about the tough stuff.” 

With support from the U-M Arts Initiative’s Graduate Students Arts Research Grant, Loera-Wiggins will bring this embrace of vulnerability to a campus art project called “Dear Diary, Here’s a Joke For You” during the fall 2024 semester. She’ll host a stand-up event featuring rising queer comedians and comedians from communities of color, who will share material on loss, identity, and bodily autonomy. Audience members will be given notebooks in which they can write their own jokes, reflections, and stories. Afterward, Loera-Wiggins will string their papers up in Haven Hall, papel picado-style, in a celebratory airing of dirty laundry. 

Loera-Wiggins is also preparing a course on Latinx stand-up comedy, which will culminate in a series of student performances in and around Ann Arbor. She hopes students can become aware of violent and harmful narratives, but also learn how comedy can be restorative.

“Aside from studies about racist aspects of comedy, there hasn’t been much academic work about Latinx humor,” she says. “I’m interested in how Latinx humor can be impactful and informative. … As laughter moves the diaphragm, it can also move your mind.”

Read more at LSA.

Uncovering the Financial Realities of Artists: The Artist Pay Project

The University of Michigan’s Arts Initiative, along with the Ross Impact Studio, is proud to announce “The Artist Pay Project”: an immersive exhibition led by journalist and 2022-2023 Knight-Wallace Fellow, Makeda Easter. This project aims to shed light on the financial challenges faced by artists across various disciplines, fostering a timely conversation about compensation and sustainability in the arts.

Easter, a Chicago-based journalist with extensive experience covering the performing arts and cultural identity, initially sought to promote Art Rebellion during her Knight-Wallace Fellowship. However, her focus shifted mid-way through as she began to explore the complex issues surrounding artist pay. Drawing inspiration from Refinery29’s “money diaries” and the 2020 uprisings, Easter recognized the need for transparency and equity in the arts, where discussing compensation is often seen as taboo. 

“Sharing what you get paid in the arts is a sensitive subject,” Easter notes. “Many artists work for exposure or out of passion, which complicates their financial realities. I wanted to provide a platform for artists to share their stories.”

With the support of the U-M Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice, Easter conducted in-depth surveys and interviews with over 30 artists from the Midwest, East Coast, and South. This research, which included compensating participants for their time, revealed clear insights into the financial struggles and survival strategies of modern artists.


“When I first applied for the Knight-Wallace Fellowship, I applied with the goal of promoting Art Rebellion and increasing my newsletter subscriber base,” said Easter, “However, in the middle of the fellowship, I began developing this idea around artist pay. When I worked at the LA Times as a journalist, I covered a lot of stories on the performing arts and arts identity, and I often wondered ‘how are they making it in LA?’”

From Easter’s discussions with visual artists, dancers, filmmakers, and drag performers emerged five key themes that will be highlighted in an upcoming exhibition: Midwest artists, the struggles of artists, futures, calls to action, and financial statistics.

Easter emphasizes that racial justice and pay equity are deeply intertwined, particularly as artists of color have spoken out about pay disparities. “The issues surrounding labor and compensation in the arts reflect broader systemic inequalities,” she explains.

Through her research, Easter has identified significant barriers to financial security for artists, including a pervasive lack of recognition of the arts as “legitimate labor.” She advocates for systemic changes such as universal basic income, universal healthcare, and better support systems for artists.

Ultimately, Easter hopes The Artist Pay Project will empower artists and spark broader discussions about the importance of fair compensation in the arts. “I want to open people’s minds to the challenges artists face and foster a sense of community among creatives,” she says.

As part of her ongoing commitment to this issue, Easter has also recently received a grant from the City of Chicago to continue her research, with plans to create zines to share findings with a wider audience.

The exhibition at U-M Ross Impact Studio serves as a powerful advocacy tool and conversational piece for recognizing the societal value assigned to artist work. An opening reception will take place on Friday, November 15 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. More information.

PBS News Hour Highlights UMMA Voting Initiative, Leadership Across the Country

Jeffrey Brown visited the University of Michigan to take a look at a project fostering a different type of civic space to encourage young people to discuss issues, engage each other and vote. Watch here.

Rhiannon Giddens named Arts Initiative’s first U-M Artist-in-Residence

The University of Michigan’s Arts Initiative has announced musician, composer and scholar Rhiannon Giddens will be its inaugural U-M Artist-in-Residence.

The new program aims to bring extraordinary, innovative artists to campus in order to create, grow and impact the world while engaging the university community in the transformative power of the arts.

A native of North Carolina, Giddens is an eclectic, multi-genre folk musician, known as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and as the co-composer of the Pulitzer Prize winning opera “Omar.”

She has helped redefine the notion of artistry, with a special focus on the contributions of Black Americans. The sounds of her banjo, for example, open Beyoncé’s 2024 hit “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

Giddens, a MacArthur Fellow and multi-Grammy Award winner, will be in residency at U-M through October 2025. She will work with university librarians, faculty and students to advance a research project exploring the contributions of the American underclasses to American music.

“I look forward to spending time at the University of Michigan next year, with their incredible archives and scholars, as I research and write my next book,” she said.

The U-M Artist-in-Residence program is part of the Arts Initiative’s broader Creators on Campus initiative, which is designed to enhance learning, arts research and community service by bringing a wide range of creatives to campus.

Established and emerging artists are supported in bringing a new project to life, while the campus gets to share in their creative process. Students, faculty and staff learn new models for creative work and in turn can apply creativity to their own research, work and learning.

This approach allows artists to employ the full scope of resources at U-M to drive collaboration, innovation and to discover novel ways of addressing today’s grand challenges.

“Rhiannon Giddens is the perfect choice as the Arts Initiative’s inaugural U-M Artist-in-Residence,” said Mark Clague, the initiative’s executive director.

“The wonder and beauty of her artistry combined with the forceful argument that her music makes about the diverse streams that contribute to our cultural soundscapes, not only of the United States but across the globe, offers a compelling case for the essential role of the arts in our lives. Hers is a powerful fusion of artistry and scholarly activism that serves as a model for our campus community and, especially, for our students.”

Key components of the residency include:

The artist-in-residence program reflects U-M’s commitment to supporting artists, enriching campus life and demonstrating the vital role of the arts in education and society. It aims to create lasting impact not only on the artist’s work but also on the university’s approach to arts education and community engagement.

Political Satire Meets Musical History: Gershwin’s Pulitzer Winner Takes the Michigan Theater

The University of Michigan’s Gershwin Initiative is turning back the clock to showcase a pioneering work of American political satire that proves the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The U-M Gershwin Initiative, founded at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), is a long-term partnership between the university and the families of George and Ira Gershwin to bring the music of the Gershwins to students, scholars, performers and audiences across campus and across the globe. This two-part effort includes publishing new, scholarly musical scores for all of George and Ira’s creative work, while creating educational opportunities for U-M students to perform and learn about the Gershwin brothers’ art. 

The upcoming performance Of Thee I Sing (1931) features the story of candidate and future President John P. Wintergreen, who runs on a “love” platform, hoping to unite a divided country as he seeks both the nation’s highest office as well as a First Lady among the women of all 50 states. Rooted in the anxieties of the Great Depression and the rising tide of war abroad, the show is surprisingly relevant today, including accusations of fraud, sexism, and a stolen election.

This one-time-only concert performance will present the first public reading of a brand-new U-M musical edition, created as part of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition series. Featuring the vocal talent of U-M Musical Theater students under the direction of Professor Catherine Walker, the show will feature a full broadway orchestra and an updated narration created by Laurence Maslon, executor of the Kaufman and Ryskind Estates. Imagined in the style of a 1930s broadcast, the narration will be read by NPR music journalist and current U-M Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellow Anastasia Tsioulcas. 

This theatrical show is a joint production and collaboration between Marquee Arts and the Gershwin Initiative at U-M, made possible through the generous support of the U-M Arts Initiative, Michigan Medicine, and Arbor Brewing Company. Visit marquee-arts.org for tickets and additional information.

Additionally, listen to the U-M Creative Currents podcast episode about the production of the show here.

Hey, We Need to Talk: Common Sense Diner at UMMA

From the moment you walk into the gorgeous space Philippa Pham Hughes has created at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) the vibes are immaculate. Think anthropology meets your grandmother‘s kitchen. Visiting Artist for Art & Civic Engagement at UMMA, Hughes has curated the “Hey, We Need to Talk!” exhibition with extreme intentionality. Every artwork, furniture piece, and even the wallpaper has been thoughtfully selected, each element carrying its own significance. 

Upon entering the gallery, visitors are immediately struck by the space’s alluring beauty. As guests approach the artwork and engage with the exhibit, they discover a deeper meaning: each “sitting area” embodies one of the four pillars of flourishing outlined in U-M Professor Jenna Bednar’s journal article – community, sustainability, dignity, and beauty.  

The artwork on the walls has been hand selected from UMMA’s collection to prompt conversations about American identity. The exhibition features a custom made wallpaper designed by Detroit-based artist Louise Jones, and illustrates all 50 state flowers. Hughes commissioned Jones to paint each state flower. These floral illustrations were then digitized and transformed into a repeating pattern that wraps the walls of the gallery space. “The flowers are also a metaphor for flourishing,” said Hughes, “Plenty of social science research says: ‘when you feel a sense of awe you feel more connected to your fellow humans,’ and this sense of awe and wonder is critical to connection.”

Every Thursday evening and Friday afternoon, eight individuals from diverse backgrounds gather for a free meal and guided conversation. These intimate gatherings, led by artist Philippa Hughes, bring together participants who self-identify as having different political leanings. Hughes brings together people who self-describe as “left-leaning” and “right-leaning.” The purpose is not to persuade anyone from their position. Instead the goal is simple: to share a meal, ask questions, and listen to each other talk. 

The gallery space on the second floor has been completely transformed into a living, “social sculpture” that invites visitors to engage in honest conversations about national identity. Throughout the exhibition, they also host a small group of people each week to meet and talk about what it means to be American over a meal. 

Hughes describes herself as a “social practice artist,” cultural strategist, and curator developing relational and creative experiences aimed at strengthening democracy and repairing the social fabric of our country one conversation at a time.

One colleague of Hughes’ – which she refers to as a “social sculptor” – brings her lunch to sit at the communal table and work in the space. As visitors are interacting with the space, U-M students are studying or community members may be passing through after having voted downstairs in the Voting Hub at UMMA. The “social sculptor,” hangs out in the space and strikes up casual conversations about the artwork with visitors: “What brought them into the exhibit today? How did they hear about it?” And she finishes with asking one important question: “What does it mean to be American?”

The exhibition encourages “honest, courageous, common sense discussions.” Hughes facilitates these conversations, but she said she “mostly steps back” underscoring this is “a place to have the conversation, people need to do it on their own.”

Jen, a single older woman from the Ann Arbor area, came to the second Common Sense Diner gathering. She said over and over during the meal: “I’m personally concerned about my safety.” Noting that she currently lives alone and is fearful due to the fact that her nextdoor neighbor displays certain political flags. Later after the meal, she messaged Hughes and said that after her experience at the Common Sense Diner she introduced herself to her neighbor, and after nearly 10 years of living next door to one another they exchanged phone numbers. “In case our houses were ever on fire,” Jen adds. 

Another week or two passes, and Jen attends a local community concert and she sees the same neighbor. Except this time when she waves to him, he’s the one that approaches her. “In ten years, we hadn’t exchanged information, so I approached him first. Later he approached me. Less fearful and curious to some degree,” Jen said, “I don’t feel he’ll sneer at me anymore when I see him, but the important part is I don’t fear him anymore and I know I could have a social conversation with him.”

“This is just a little spark,” Hughes notes. 

The intentional meals with small groups of people at the Common Sense Diner, where strangers from politically diverse backgrounds gather and talk, all started in Philippa’s own home in 2016. 

Hughes says, “in a way the space here at UMMA is a re-creation of my own home.” She describes the meals that she made when she first began hosting these gatherings eight years ago. She said regardless of the meal, she would always end it with a blueberry cherry crisp, because “once you cook it, it becomes purple and gooey inside and that’s a lot like what I’m trying to do here with these conversations.” 

What Hughes is doing at U-M with the Common Sense Diner goes beyond sharing a meal. “Although the meal matters,” notes Philippa, “There is a ritual of eating that really matters. One of the greatest challenges is the time constraint [2 hours].”

Hughes says, “There’s an artificiality of the space. How constructed everything is. The wallpaper, the beauty, the sense of awe and wonder, that is meant to accelerate connection. I need people to connect as much as possible, as quickly as possible. I’m very aware of the time it takes to build these relationships.”

Hughes begins each session by discussing the intentional design of the space. After the meal, participants engage in reflection exercises. In these conversations, Hughes is breaking down barriers with strangers who may strongly disagree politically and teaching attendees how to set aside preconceived judgments and have real conversations.

From the moment you meet Philippa, similar to the space she is intoxicating – thoughtful, respectful, honest –  and every detail in the space is the same. “I’ve created a space for dialogue and meaningful conversations,” said Hughes, “It’s not complete until that conversation takes place, and the conversation is part of the artwork.”

Hughes is also teaching a course this Fall 2024 at U-M in the Ford School of Public Policy, designed for politically diverse and civic-minded students who are concerned about the deepening divide and fraying social fabric in the US.

The exhibition runs at UMMA now through February 9, 2025. Students, faculty, staff, and community members are all encouraged to participate in the dinners or visit the gallery to engage with the interactive elements.

Semester of ‘Gender Euphoria’ celebrates diversity through art at U-M

The Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design is presenting a semester-long celebration featuring queer artists and artmaking around the theme of “Gender Euphoria.”

These performances, exhibitions, conversations and provocations explore how to make art and find queer joy in a state of emergency.

The programming is spearheaded by Stamps professor Holly Hughes, professor of art and design in the Stamps School, professor of theatre and drama in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and professor of women’s studies in LSA.

It is being presented in partnership with SMTD, the Center for World Performance Studies, the Institute for the Humanities, the Stamps Gallery, the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series, and the State Theatre, and aims to explore and celebrate gender, identity and sexuality through contemporary art and design.

The series is built around a semester-long course taught by Hughes, featuring three events that bring local and internationally acclaimed artists to the Ann Arbor community.

“This course and series challenge us to reimagine how we express and celebrate our identities,” Hughes said. “We’re exploring how bodies labeled ‘different’ are not just sites of trauma, but of creativity, desire and celebration.”

Phranc, whose installation “The Butch Closet” runs at U-M through Oct. 22, is shown in her studio painting. (Photo courtesy of Phranc)

Highlights include:

The “Gender Euphoria” series is not just for students enrolled in the course. It offers numerous opportunities for the broader U-M and Ann Arbor communities to engage, including:

For the 21 undergraduate students enrolled in Hughes’ class, this series offers unprecedented access to internationally recognized artists.

“Our students are getting devoted time with these visiting artists, providing invaluable insights into the world of professional art and activism,” Hughes said.

The series also demonstrates the power of collaboration across the university. Working in partnership with LSA and the Penny Stamps Speaker Series, “Gender Euphoria” showcases how interdisciplinary approaches can create rich, meaningful engagements with art and artmaking.

This programming underscores U-M’s commitment to fostering innovative, socially engaged art.

“I’m very appreciative and none of this would have been possible without the Arts Initiative,” Hughes said, highlighting the crucial role of institutional support in bringing cutting-edge art and ideas to campus.

No Safety Net: Pushing Boundaries in UMS’s 24/25 Season

The University Musical Society (UMS) is set to challenge audiences once again with the return of its provocative No Safety Net series in the 2024-25 season. This cutting-edge program, known for presenting works that tackle contemporary issues head-on, will feature three interactive theatrical experiences that promise to spark dialogue and push the boundaries of traditional performance.

Kicking off the series is “Fight Night” by the Belgian theater collective Ontroerend Goed, running from September 25-29, 2024. This politically charged piece transforms the theater into a polling station, where audience members become voters in a mock election. As candidates vie for support, viewers must navigate through campaign promises, charisma, and manipulation, ultimately confronting the democratic process itself.

The series continues in the new year with “Nate—A One Man Show,” written by and starring Natalie Palamides, from February 5-9, 2025. This daring solo performance delves into the complexities of consent and modern masculinity. Performed by Natalie Palamides in drag, Nate blurs the lines between comedy and discomfort, challenging audiences to examine their own beliefs and biases about toxic masculinity.

Closing out the No Safety Net series is “asses.masses,” a creation by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, scheduled for February 15-16, 2025. This innovative work explores the intersection of technology, politics, and human behavior. Audience members will become active participants in a full video game designed to be played in a theatre by audience members one person at a time. Using a single game controller, audience members will lead an ensemble cast of out-of-work donkeys through an epic adventure as they negotiate leadership, labour, and what it means to share the load of revolution.

“Our No Safety Net series returns in the 24/25 UMS season, accentuating our commitment to presenting artists and works that not only entertain but also challenge perceptions, interrogate our thinking, and catalyze important conversations about the issues of our time,” says Matthew VanBesien, President of UMS. “Our hope is that these performances leave audiences ruminating about their experience long after they’ve left the theater.”

Each production in the series will be accompanied by post-performance discussions, contextual learning and engagement activities, encouraging deeper engagement with the themes presented on stage.

“No Safety Net puts the power of the arts to convene and provoke greater understanding into action,” notes Mark Clague, Executive Director of the U-M Arts Initiative. “In the theater, the audience assembles in community to grapple with vexing social challenges that defy simplistic solutions and require thoughtful engagement, a willingness to listen to other views, and the courage to let go of our own preconceptions. For me personally, this UMS series is a must-see, and I try to attend each and every show.”

As the name suggests, No Safety Net isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s for those who seek to be challenged, to engage with pressing social issues, and to experience theater that breaks free from conventional boundaries. 

With its mix of humor, provocation, and audience participation, the 24/25 No Safety Net series promises to be a highlight of UMS’s upcoming season, reaffirming the power of live performances to inspire change and foster understanding in an increasingly complex world.

Additional information can be found at ums.org/nosafetynet.

U-M Student Life Sustainability Announces Artist-in-Residence Dawn Weleski, launching “transgressive learning” café

The University of Michigan Student Life Sustainability Office will host Upstate New York-based multi-disciplinary artist Dawn Weleski as part of the “Noon at Night,” a collaborative project offering radical hospitality through participatory performances, student campus tours, and a community café. This initiative, supported by U-M Student Life Sustainability Cultural Organizers and various on- and off-campus partners, will culminate in a two-day event taking place on April 12-13, 2024.

The “Noon at Night” café will serve as a classroom connected to transgressive learners worldwide, opening each weekend when the clock strikes noon in partner locations. Through participatory performances referencing student-led protests and struggles, attendees can embark on hour-long campus tours retracing significant sites of student organizing and resistance. These tours will culminate at Palmer Commons, where the Noon at Night Café will be nestled, serving a curated menu of archived recipes from UM’s history, corresponding to the movement time periods shared on the tours. Each evening will feature a teach-in showcasing current student-led movement work.

Dawn Weleski is an internationally renowned artist based in New York. Weleski activates and broadcasts the stories of individuals and groups in experimental public performances, where conversation is her process and people her medium. Weleski’s public artwork has earned her international attention, most notably for Conflict Kitchen with Jon Rubin (2010–2017), a Pittsburgh restaurant that only served cuisines from countries with which the United States is in conflict and her multi-city operatic productions on public transit, Bus Stop Opera (2008–2010). 

Weleski’s most recent work, “Refuse Refuse: Radio,” is a speculative fiction radio theater series that dramatizes current and impending climate catastrophe throughout rural New York State. Broadcast from a mutual aid ambulance, Refuse Refuse will record and transmit survival skill workshops and a participatory climate collapse drama and is supported by a 2024 Anonymous Was a Woman Environmental Art Grant, a 2024 New York State Council on the Arts Grant, and the Harpo Foundation. Waleski regularly exhibits and produces public projects around the world, and most recently exhibited at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 2022-23. Weleski holds a BFA in Visual Art with a concentration in Contextual Practice from Carnegie Mellon University and a MFA in Art Practice from Stanford University.

With funding from the U-M Arts Initiative Projects in Partnership fund and Student Life Sustainability, Weleski and the Noon at Night team will reactivate the defunct Palmer Commons and Kitchen for this two-day gathering (April 12–13, 2024). The café will serve as a living archive of student-led movement work locally and abroad, mocking up a potential future educational lab and community space.

“We are excited to bring Dawn in to work with our Cultural Organizing team, whose work focuses on the strategic use of art and culture to envision and build a better world,” said Alex Bryan, Director of Student Life Sustainability, “Noon at Night builds off of UM’s robust set of opportunities for students to use our campus-as-lab in and outside of the classroom, pushing us to imagine campus not only as a lab, but also as a studio and living archive of student-led advocacy towards a more sustainable and just institution.”

The inaugural core collaborative project team for Noon at Night includes U-M undergraduate students and doctoral candidates across fifteen disciplines, united by the question, “What has your stomach in a knot?” Through workshops and events, they have fostered spaces for wellness, critically assessed diversity and inclusion initiatives, and developed creative strategies for adaptation amidst climate emergencies.

“Noon at Night highlights the vibrant history of student protest and faculty action on campus to remind us of both the university’s proud tradition of creating engaged community advocates and its core educational mission to develop the ‘leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future’,” notes Mark Clague, Interim Executive Director of the Arts Initiative. “Not only are the arts a vehicle through which unheard voices can rise and shout, but I’m simply excited to eat some great food and meet some great people, all brought together by radical hospitality!”

Noon at Night will continue as an itinerant classroom and cafe through the end of Winter 2024 and is seeking partners to co-host public events in the 2024-25 academic year. Please contact info@noonatnight.org with your interest. 

Visit noonatnight.org or follow @noonatnightcafe for menu, tour registration, teach-in schedule, and more information.

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Arts Initiative Announces 2024 Creative Careers Residents

The University of Michigan Arts Initiative has announced three master’s degree-level residents for its Creative Careers Residency, a transitional program providing support for full-time, self-directed creative practice in architecture and urban planning, art and design, performing arts, intermedia arts or creative writing.

Upon graduation, many practitioners lose their networks of support necessary to develop significant work, posing a significant barrier to the transition from degree to sustained work. Maintaining a creative practice takes focus and time, and taking on a full-time job often leaves little of both.

The Creative Careers Residency seeks to reduce these barriers by providing the time, structure and funding support to transition from academia to post-graduate endeavors. Residents receive a $40,000 work stipend, health insurance, among other benefits.

The goals of the program are to:

The Arts Initiative is leading the way in this kind of institutional support for graduates in the arts. The Creative Careers Residency enables student-artists to create a significant project that will bridge the gap to the next art-making opportunity.

The 2023-24 Creative Careers Residents are:

Project Descriptions 

Ai development companies