U-M students call for performance artist Tim Miller interdisciplinary residency
Internationally acclaimed performance artist Tim Miller will be in residence at the University of Michigan the week of Sept. 12 due to great demand from Bachelor of Fine Arts students in interarts performance. Interarts performance is a unique interdisciplinary undergraduate degree jointly offered by the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Miller is known for using performance-making techniques to foster civic dialogue and build community around questions of bodily autonomy and sexual and racial identity. He has taught at New York University and the University of California, Los Angeles, and has performed at Yale, Columbia, Cornell and dozens of other universities, and has received numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. The residency will culminate in a “performance and lecture and rant” with Miller and a short work created by interarts students at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Dance Building’s Studio 3 on North Campus. Miller will address how live performance can embolden communities, challenge injustice and connect people with one another.
School supply drive at Michigan Medicine helps students, families in need
Michigan Medicine came together in a big way over the past month, collecting school supplies and other necessities to help local area students learn and grow over the next year. This year’s school supply drive brought in 458 backpacks, along with a record 231 cases of supplies — from notebooks to markers, crayons, hygiene products and more. “As teamwork and caring are two of our core values, our teams stepped up again in an enormous way to help those around us,” said Tony Denton, senior vice president and chief operating officer for U-M Health. This year’s school supply drive was the first held at Michigan Medicine since 2019, though prior to the pandemic it was a yearly tradition dating back to 2012. Since its inception, Michigan Medicine has donated 1,076 cases of school supplies and personal items in addition to 2,996 backpacks. This year’s countywide campaign aligns with the goals of five community-based organizations that will distribute the donated supplies: The Education Project for Homeless Youth, Ozone House, Community Action Network, Faith in Action, and House by the Side of the Road.
Russian journalist returns to U-M as Freedoms Under Fire Residency Fellow
After facing death threats for her reporting on human rights abuses in Chechnya and Russia, Elena Milashina, an award-winning Russian journalist and 2010 Knight-Wallace Fellow returned to U-M as the inaugural Freedoms Under Fire Residency Fellow at the International Institute’s Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. Milashina is an investigative journalist for Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s last remaining independent newspaper before it ceased publication in March in response to threats from the Putin regime following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sponsored by Wallace House, the new fellowship brings prominent and courageous activists, journalists and scholars from across the globe to WCED as a way both of evading persecution in their home countries and sharing their unique personal insights with the U-M community and broader public on how dictatorships and eroding democracies repress vital individual freedoms. Read more about Milashina and the fellowship.
UMMA transforms museum space into a midterm election hub
In the lead-up to the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and beyond, the U-M Museum of Art is partnering with local, regional and national organizations, designers and artists to transform museum spaces in the name of civic participation and engagement. In partnership with the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office, the Creative Campus Voting Project is collaborating with UMMA to turn the museum into an election hub — register to vote, get a ballot, access voting resources and celebrate participation. In addition, visiting artist Philippa Hughes will host a dynamic and engaging series of experimental social events across UMMA’s galleries, creating space for authentic and honest conversations between politically diverse people. The satellite Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office at UMMA allows Ann Arbor residents (including students living in Ann Arbor) to register to vote in all federal, state and local elections. Hours through Nov. 4 are noon-6 p.m. Mondays through Friday, and noon-4 p.m. Fridays. Additionally, the center will be open noon-4 p.m. Nov. 5, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 7, and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 8, Election Day. For more information, go to umma.umich.edu/exhibitions/2022/vote-2022-midterms-matter.
More than half of Michigan local governments report personnel harassed, abused
A majority of Michigan’s local governments are experiencing some form of harassment or other abuse from the public, according to a statewide survey conducted by U-M. Officials from 53% of jurisdictions report harassment, threats or violence against members of the local government, including themselves. And two-thirds of top officials in jurisdictions with more than 5,000 residents personally experienced online or in-person harassment over the last few years as part of their role in local government, including disrespectful or hostile comments, graphic language or slurs, shouting, and rude or aggressive gestures. These figures are from the spring 2022 wave of the Michigan Public Policy Survey, an ongoing census survey of all 1,856 general purpose local governments in Michigan conducted by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Read more about the survey.
— Compiled by James Iseler, The University Record
