March 5, 2026
Written by Amany Sayed

On Monday, February 2, 2026, eighty students representing more than 50 student arts organizations on campus gathered in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union for the U-M Arts Initiative’s annual Student Arts Org Summit.

The event was designed by the Arts Initiative and Center for Campus Involvement for students to network with other student arts organizations, learn about campus resources, and have their voices heard about what they needed to be successful. According to Joe Levickas and Jenny Walker, two of the hosts at the event, students came in with a wide array of interests and needs, often citing their hopes to grow their org’s membership (60%), collaborate with other orgs (59%), and gain help with funding (59%).

Breaking the Ice

Students started at assigned tables with attendees from arts orgs with diverse artistic interests from each other– a cappella org members were seated next to theatre orgs, and publications next to knitting orgs, etc.... After dinner and a short welcome, students participated in a fun “dice-breaker” activity, where they took turns at their tables rolling dice and answering a question about their org corresponding to the number they rolled. Questions like “what first got you interested in joining your org?” or “do you have a favorite art activity you use to de-stress?” helped students get to know each other in a low stakes way, and discover groups they might not have known about previously.

Campus Experts

After the icebreakers, students were introduced to several campus experts that were in positions to help them with their student organizations. Experts included Maren Blanchard, who offers performance and collaboration opportunities with CCI, Lisa Burm, who manages Major Events and performance spaces, Daphne Welter, who is the Student Organization Committee Director at Central Student Government, Adrienne Frank, who helps promote student arts orgs at the Arts Initiative, and a half dozen others. Once each campus expert had given their introduction, students were invited across the hall to the Idea Hub, where each expert had their own table where students could get to know them and ask any questions they had. 

This portion of the event allowed students to not only network with other student leaders, but with the staff on campus who had insights to share about some of those pressing needs their orgs identified beforehand. (funding, event promotion, space rental etc.)

Affinity Table Discussions

Once students returned to Pendleton, they were invited to sit at new tables based on a topic their student org identified with. For example, one table was set for “Theatre and Event Production” while another was for “Dance.” At these tables, students were given new conversation prompts, but were also encouraged to let the conversation between their like minded peers flow organically.

Through these conversations, several students reported that collaboration plans took place. For example, acapella groups sitting at the Vocal Music table discussed putting together a show, and other performance groups expressed the desire and willingness to open for each other’s performances. Additionally, many student leaders discussed ways to improve communication between organizations similar to their own,to avoid problems such as concerts or shows happening on the same day.

During the share-out after these discussions, one student expressed “You can learn a lot about someone just by sitting down…and talking with them.”

At the end of the event, three prize attendees were randomly picked to win $50 for their student org. Echoing the evening’s themes of connection and collaboration, those winners were also then given the opportunity to award an additional $50 to another student org they had connected with that day. 

Overall, the Student Arts Org Summit was a successful community building and learning opportunity for dozens of student leaders who attended. 83% of attendees reported forming new relationships with other organizations, 75% reported meeting potential collaborators, and 64% reported learning about new funding resources.

“What I learned…was that we are so interconnected,” one student shared.

The knowledge shared and connections made here will undoubtedly reverberate across the U-M arts community in the future. According to another attendee, “There are so many people who care about different types of art, and umich [is] so supportive. I was really moved.”

View original article