Student Mini Grants help U-M students turn bold ideas into reality
Student Mini Grants (SMG), a signature program of the Arts Initiative, provide funding for student-led arts projects across campus. Over the past fifteen years, the program has awarded more than $400,000, supporting over 1,000 creative student endeavors. One standout project this past October was the Haunted Belltower, hosted by Michigan’s Theme Park Engineering and Design Club (TPED) for the second time since 2020. Held in Robert and Ann H. Lurie Carillon on North Campus, the five-minute haunted house thrilled more than 400 participants, stayed open an hour past closing due to demand, and earned an average rating of over four stars.
The TPED Haunted Belltower crew behind the scenes.
For many a haunted house might not be considered art, but for the TPED students who built the experience from scratch they would wholeheartedly disagree. Kieran Coffey, a U-M freshman studying engineering, says that he wrote about the organization in his SMG application essay and was excited to work on the Haunted Belltower after learning about the opportunity during Festifall. He described the process of planning the project as “very collaborative” and expressed that he and the rest of the team were pleasantly surprised at the turnout of students.
It was the Arts Initiative’s support that allowed TPED to focus more on the creative process and less on fundraising. Jonathan Dinneweth, an Engineering student and TPED’s Finance Lead, admitted they “underestimated everything [they] wanted to buy” and ended up “spending double the money [they] spent last year” on the Haunted Belltower. Materials, costumes, and even makeup all had to be accounted for, but Dinneweth emphasized that the Arts Initiative’s “very easy and fast” grant application process gave them a reliable safety net. He added, “A huge thanks to the Arts Initiative! We could not have done it without your support. Knowing we had the Mini-Grant allowed us to worry less about how we could afford everything we wanted to create and just create it. The publicity we received from Arts Initiative also no doubt helped us expose the event to so many more people.”
Adriana Kelley, an Engineering student and TPED Vice President (and former President), said they “love working with the Arts Initiative” and plan to do so again. Beyond providing grants, she noted that the Arts Initiative also helped promote the event and recruit scare actors for the haunted house.
Beyond the Haunted Belltower, Student Mini Grants have brought countless student-led arts projects to life, from the Michigan Electronic Music Collective workshop to the SMTD Halloween Concert and Helicon Student Art Exhibition. In 2025 alone, the Arts Initiative awarded 61 grants to student organizations, helping them turn their ideas into reality—and in total, 122 grants were awarded last year, split evenly between student organizations and independent projects. Student Mini Grants operate on a rolling application basis, with upcoming deadline of February 27. Whether you’re planning a classic event or something completely unconventional, Student Mini Grants are here to help make it happen.
