My most recent venture is a performance “pod” called Covid Black initiated during the summer of the pandemic. The pod is a response to calls for innovations in inclusivity in forms and structures of artistry. The murder of George Floyd/Breonna Taylor and the subsequent activism surrounding their deaths, reaffirmed my belief in the potency of, …
Stamps Gallery is part of the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design. We are an incubator and lab for contemporary artists and designers to explore ideas and projects that catalyze positive social change. Building on the school’s strong tradition of excellence, thought leadership and community engagement, our goal is to develop innovative and …
Marc Arthur is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Arts-based Social Justice Research and Practice in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan. He studies the role of directing, devised theatre, dramatic writing and performance in achieving diversity, equity and inclusion in education and social work practice. Arthur’s research focuses especially on artists who …
In response to the continuous state-sanctioned violence that Black people across the United States experience, Yoga for Black Lives was created in 2016 to support resistance to this kind of violence by giving people the opportunity to take part in a life-affirming and life-sustaining practice. Sessions include yoga asanas (poses), pranayama (breath work) and dhyana …
I am Jhoanne Castro, a multimedia illustrator and designer. I have a passion for visual communication, whether that’s through illustrations, comics, videos, animations, or graphic design, to transcend boundaries and create bridges through art. My creative career is an ongoing journey sharing stories that invite conversations, to learn and grow from storytelling, as I believe …
University of Michigan Museum of Art’s University Learning brings anti-racist education with the arts into all of our hundreds of engagements with university classes throughout the year. We use the university’s art collection critically as a historical catalogue of practices of exclusion and injustice, and we feature works by artists who challenge and disrupt those …
RETHINK SHINOLA is a multi-part, Internet-based artwork analyzing and critiquing the branding messages publicized by the company Shinola. Shinola’s name is “a nod” to the former Shinola, a shoe polish company that promoted its products using racist caricatures of African Americans. The “new” Shinola company planted itself in Detroit and leverages and profiteers from the …
My freshman year at the University of Michigan, I was aware that I had entered an artistic world that did not want me in all my queer, biracial glory, and a canon full of stories about people that did not look like me. But that same year, I had the incredible opportunity to perform in …
Twenty-two years ago, I became the Director of Instrumental Music at Northland High School in Columbus, Ohio, where I directed the district’s largest band and orchestra program. This experience teaching in an under-resourced arts program as a white teacher of students of color led me to interrogate issues of marginalization that systematically excluded students like …
My latest book, “Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music,” uses country music to examine white in-group class conflict, showing how it helps maintain the invisibilized, dominant status of middle-class whiteness and hence status-quo white supremacy in the United States. Since 2009, I have taught this material in a U-M course of the same title. I also …
