The Office of the Vice President for Research awarded more than $500,000 this month as part of its Research Catalyst and Innovation Block Grants Program to support arts and humanities projects led by teams across four University of Michigan schools and colleges.
Since the program launched in 2021, OVPR has awarded more than $1.6 million in grants to support arts and humanities projects led by LSA, the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
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Through the first two funding cycles, OVPR has supported 166 faculty projects to aid in research development, book publication subvention, fieldwork, artistic creative practice and design production.
“These grants provide flexibility to the units to award projects that align with strategic objectives and support innovative faculty research, scholarship and creative practice,” said Geoffrey Thün, associate vice president for research – social sciences, humanities and the arts, who oversees the RCI program.
“Many of these projects are focused on critical issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and teams are utilizing RCI support to share important historical, music and art projects that were not previously being centered.”
Several units within LSA have used RCI funding to organize grant-writing workshops for faculty, including a recent session led by the National Endowment for the Humanities that focused on humanistic social sciences research support.
Among the many projects supported by RCI funding is one led by Robin Beck, professor of anthropology in LSA, that aims to preserve African American urban histories by surveying a park in Detroit where Camp Ward, home of Michigan’s first Black infantry, and Black Bottom, a predominately African American community, once stood.
SMTD used RCI grants to finance recording projects that focus on composers from marginalized groups, as well as three fieldwork projects that explore the intersections of music and politics in Uganda, Kenya and Ghana.
Many of the teams also use RCI funds to support seed projects that scale up and attract external funding. Several researchers have already secured follow-on funding from such organizations as the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Musicological Society and the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.
“The arts and humanities are a vital part of our ecosystem here at U-M,” said Rebecca Cunningham, vice president for research who launched the RCI program.
“I am confident this latest round of funding will continue to produce even more exciting and innovative projects that advance work between disciplinary boundaries, while benefiting communities across Michigan and beyond.”
