Building creative community: Why U-M’s month-long Arts Festival matters now
The University of Michigan’s campuses are now immersed in the Michigan Arts Festival, a celebration through Oct. 26 to increase exposure, attendance and participation in the arts.
The festival features dozens of performances, exhibitions, workshops and community events, to connect U-M students, staff, faculty and community members to Michigan arts year-round.
Festivities are happening at U-M’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses and at select community venues, including in Detroit. Signature events will take place at the Michigan Theater, Hill Auditorium, Taubman College, the U-M Museum of Art, Stamps Gallery, North Campus Gerstacker Grove, and more.
Faculty, staff and students play an integral role in producing the multitude of shows and performances. Organized by U-M’s Arts Initiative, the festival reflects the power of shared creative experiences.
“The Arts Initiative creates a wonderful platform for bringing folks together,” said Stamps Gallery Director Srimoyee Mitra. “We’re part of a vibrant arts ecology in Michigan and finding ways to intersect with one another is always fulfilling.”
This sense of creative collaboration extends beyond faculty to student experiences.
“It can be an inspiration to people in their own creative lives and a beacon for students sorting out and seeking their own path,” said Chrisstina Hamilton, director of the Penny Stamps Speaker Series and Roman Witt Visiting Artist Program. “In our digitally fractured world, we’re losing shared cultural experiences where we’re all together in the same time and space. The series and now this arts festival create shared cultural moments important as conversation fodder and opportunities to meet all kinds of people.”
U-M faculty across departments and disciplines echoed this sentiment about the irreplaceable value of shared, in-person experiences.
“I’m less interested in whether I like a film or not than what kind of conversation it opens up. There’s something about that communal experience — seeing it together and then discussing it afterward — which is why I love teaching and having physical screenings when I can as opposed to having students watch things on their own or on their laptops,” said Colin Gunckel, department chair and associate professor in LSA’s Department of Film, Television, and Media.
The festival is happening at a time when arts coverage and funding are disappearing across the country. According to the Arts Engagement Project, a survey of 4,000 U-M undergraduates, 70% of U-M students want more art in their lives. The university supports more than 250 active arts-focused student organizations with more than 10,000 members — more than any other university in the nation — creating a vibrant creative ecosystem for the entire community.
In response to both the student demand and the fractured digital moment, the festival offers structured opportunities for in-person creative engagement:
• Every Monday at 10 a.m. in the Michigan Theater, students and the community are invited to special screenings with actor and playwright John Cameron Mitchell. Mitchell is the Fall 2025 John H. Mitchell Visiting Professor in Media Entertainment in U-M’s Department of Film, Television, and Media, teaching a course called “Problemagic Cinema.” Mitchell is also the lead artist facilitator for the 2025 cohort of the Arts Initiative’s Student Creative Fellowship, where fellows will be asked to develop creative projects around the theme “Art Is for All.”
• Tuesdays offer concerts such as the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, 8 to 10 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Walgreen Drama Center, conducted by Jayce Ogren and presented by SMTD, alongside Arts Initiative workshops featuring talented local teaching artists, curators and creatives from across Michigan.
• From 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, learn sustainable natural dyeing techniques with local Chelsea artist Eli Zemper. Transform plant materials into stunning eco-friendly prints on fabric — cotton bandana and all supplies provided.
• Every Thursday, attend a Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series talk at 5:30 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. Also every Thursday evening, catch a reading series from the Zell Visiting Writers Series, presented by the Helen Zell Writers’ Program in partnership with UMMA. The series features both American and international writers, as well as Michigan-based writers. Poet and essayist Roger Reeves will be on campus for a special Q&A at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 16 at Stern Auditorium in UMMA.
• On Fridays, attend a performance of Cabaret (running Oct. 2-12), presented by SMTD. Every Friday, catch a Zell Writers Series Craft Lecture at 10 a.m. in the Michigan Union with distinguished poets and writers. On Oct. 17, Roger Reeves will give the Craft Lecture titled “A Poet’s History,” in the Anderson Room at the Michigan Union.
• From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Oct. 11, a Yoga Workshop is planned at the Stamps Gallery in partnership with the U-M Arts Initiative. The community can then attend the performance experience Nigamon / Tunai (running Oct. 2-8) at the Power Center, presented by UMS. Canadian artist Émilie Monnet and Colombian artist Waira Nina create an immersive sonic forest where audiences sit close to the performers on stage.
• On Sundays, check out “Both Sides of the Line” by abstract artists Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith at UMMA.
“The true power of the arts delivers on a great promise to us all: to help nurture a deeper understanding of the big questions, build our empathy and resilience for difficult moments, and strengthen the real fabric of our communities,” said Sarah Calderini, executive director for the Ann Arbor Symphony.
More upcoming events
Goosechase – Festival-goers can participate in the Michigan Arts Festival Scavenger Hunt by attending events throughout the month, with chances to win prizes like local event tickets, private tours, and swag.
LSA – Zell Visiting Writers Series featuring poet and essayist Roger Reeves, (Oct. 16 in Stern Auditorium), and a Craft Lecture (10 a.m. Oct. 17 in Anderson Room at Michigan Union).
University Musical Society – Nigamon / Tunai (running Oct. 2 – 8), Makaya McCraven (Oct. 10), Ballet BC (Oct. 17-18), Belcea Quartet (Oct. 19), Philharmonia Orchestra, London (Oct. 24), Herbie Hancock (Oct. 25), and the Imani Winds & Andy Akiho, steel drum The BeLonging Project (Oct. 26).
School of Music, Theatre & Dance – Gloria (Oct. 3-5) and Cabaret (Oct. 3-5) at Arthur Miller Theatre & the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. The U-M Symphony Band and the Chamber Choir and University Choir present “Band & Choir Collaborative Concert” (Oct. 3) in Hill Auditorium; and the Contemporary Directions Ensemble (Oct. 7) in the Stamps Auditorium.
U-M Museum of Art – UMMA Exhibition: “Both Sides of the Line” by abstract artists Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith on display through Jan. 4, and Feel Good Fridays: Fifth annual queer night (Oct. 24).
Stamps Gallery – Exhibitions include: “Untold Stories, Part II” & Stacy Kirby’s “The Bureau of Personal Belonging.”
Taubman College – Featured residency of the puppetry company Anima Theatre from France. They will perform a show named after an urban music from Greece, often compared to the blues in the U.S. The genre and the show titled “Rebetiko” are at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 and 2 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
