Announcing 2017-18 Wallace Blogging Fellows
We are proud to announce the 2017-18 UMS Wallace Blogging Fellows
We’re pleased to announce that Hailey Dukes and Amanda Krugliak have been selected as the 2017-18 UMS Wallace Blogging Fellows. The fellowship program, currently in its second year, is intended to expose arts audiences to adventurous arts and cultural opportunities throughout Southeast Michigan.
The fellowship period will take place from September 2016 to April 2017. During this time, fellows will serve as curators who make monthly recommendations about events throughout Southeast Michigan, whether presented by UMS or by other organizations.
Watch for the roundup posts here on the UMS Lobby blog, and via UMS email and social media.
Meet the fellows
Hailey Dukes is a sponge for all things related to art and culture. Originally from Kent, Ohio, this Detroit-based transplant has spent over three years showcasing and highlighting Detroit music art and culture through her work as a Contributing Editor for with Detroit creative arts agency PLAYGROUND DETROIT and Detroit based publication Grand Circus Magazine. She has been in Southeast Michigan for over eight years. With an inherent passion for writing, a social nature, and a personal draw to cultural happenings of all sorts, she has combined her love and interests to promote a bouquet of talent in Detroit while having fun in the process. Hailey is excited to expand her love for showcasing underground arts to the larger region of Southeast Michigan and can’t wait to serve juicy, appetizing and flavorful events to the the UMS readership!
Amanda Krugliak is an artist, curator, arts administrator best known for performance, conceptual experiential installations, most notably curator at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities since 2007, for projects with Mark Dion, CreativeTime, Scott Hocking, Richard Barnes, Nigel Poor, Mark Strandquist, Charlie Atlas, Mary Mattingly, Sonya Clark, Kent Monkman, Mary Sibande, Jen Karady, Shani Peters, Ramiro Gomez Eric, Nina Katchadourian, Eric Bagosian, Paul Dresher Ensemble, and The Cage Trust. Amanda is most recently recognized nationally for co-creator artist/collaborator with Richard Barnes and anthropologist Jason De Leon for State of Exception, an exhibition about De Leon’s Undocumented Migration project. The project was featured in the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times. She has also performed her own material extensively, with her own one-woman show curated at the DIA in 2009. Her essay about the work of Richard Barnes will be included in the upcoming book “Object Lessons,” about the University of Michigan Collections and Museums, University Press, and a collection of her essays will be included in a catalog commemorating the U-M Institute gallery, to be published in December 2017.
About UMS
A recipient of the 2014 National Medal of Arts, UMS (also known as the University Musical Society) contributes to a vibrant cultural community by connecting audiences with performing artists from around the world in uncommon and engaging experiences. One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, UMS is an independent non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Michigan, presenting over 70 music, theater, and dance performances by professional touring artists each season, along with over 100 free educational activities. UMS is part of the University of Michigan’s “Victors for Michigan” campaign, reinforcing its commitment to bold artistic leadership, engaged learning through the arts, and access and inclusiveness.
Media Inquiries:
Mallory Shea
734.647.4020
mschirr@umich.edu
September 29, 2017: Your Arts & Culture Adventure Picks
This post is a part of a series of posts curating adventurous arts and culture experiences in Southeast Michigan. Sign up for email updates (choose “Arts & Culture Adventures” list).
UMS Wallace Blogging Fellow Amanda Krugliak is an artist, curator, and arts administrator best known for performance and conceptual experiential installations, most notably as curator at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities since 2007. Amanda is most recently recognized nationally as co-creator artist/collaborator with Richard Barnes and anthropologist Jason De Leon for “State of Exception,” an exhibition about De Leon’s “Undocumented Migration” project. Her essay about the work of Richard Barnes will be included in the upcoming book “Object Lessons,” about the University of Michigan Collections and Museums, and a collection of her essays will be included in a catalog commemorating the U-M Institute gallery, which will be published in December 2017.
Another fall in Ann Arbor, students are back, bicycles and cars are multiplying, people walking and talking are around every corner. You can almost feel it, the momentum, the buzz, the new day. Whatever heartbreak or ennui lingers, it’s time to whack your alarm clock, get out of bed, shake it off, and polish your platforms. Baby, Times, they are a changin’.
The Moth: Creepy
October 3
6:30 doors open, 7:30 stories begin
Circus Bar, Ann Arbor
How cool is it to be able to be part of The Moth in your own backyard? Whether you are sitting comfortably in the audience with a cold beer waiting to hear a story, or chomping at the bit waiting to tell one like your life depends on it, The Moth Ann Arbor remains one of the very best Small Town/Big City experiences. If you want to sign up to present, put your name in the hat, the odds are pretty good. Whether you are a teller or a listener, it’s great to feel connected to your fellow humans; you just might become a regular. This month’s theme is aptly named Creepy. Start talking to yourself in that mirror. Get there early, and buy your tickets online soon, it’s always a sold-out house.
Outrage! The Art of Protest
October 6-27
Opening reception, October 6- 10 pm
Gallery 22 North, Ypsilanti
Because things are as scary out there as any cliché you ever saw in a horror movie from Psycho to Bride of Chucky, to I was a Teenage Werewolf… Gallery 22 North, a relatively new and hip contemporary space in Ypsilanti presents the work of Michigan artists exercising their freedom of expression. Through a wide range of media and perspectives, the show embraces creativity along with critical inquiry as a way to effect real change.
Arthur Jafa:
Love is the Message, The Message is Death
Offsite MOCAD video installation
September 21 – October 22
Fridays from 1-7 pm, Saturdays from 12-5 pm
1086 Bellevue, Detroit, Michigan, or by appointment, call MOCAD
Recently shown in New York, and now a site-specific video installation in Detroit, artist Arthur Jafa’s sublime and timely video installation offers both “a sense of outrage and despair” as well as “flashes of joy,” says New Yorker Magazine.
The installation combines clips from a variety of sources creating a panoramic collage representing what it means to be black in America in 2017. MOCAD gets it right, showing the work as a site-specific installation in Detroit, in a building on Bellevue located near MLK High School adding to its resonance and. The work on location embraces and unites community, and includes clips of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Nina Simone, LeBron James, as well as images of church soloists, police harassments, and senseless tragedies. MOCAD offers a challenging series of public programs to accompany the installation.
Jason Ferguson’s One-Man (freak) show
Through October 21
Public Pool Art Space,
3309 Caniff, Hamtramick
The Nature of Being, replication of the artist’s skeleton.
If you are looking to feed the existential beast inside of you, take a visit to Public Pool to see new work by artist Jason J Ferguson. Ferguson’s projects over the years, from rooms of a house reimagined as carnival rides to the textbook dissection of shoes and armchairs, explore the familiar in an eerie and unsettling way, turning creature comfort on its ear. The artist re-examines what we think we know to the realm of the uncanny and absurd. In One-man (freak) show, Ferguson explores identity and mortality, and includes in the show a 3D printed replica of his own skeleton based upon MRI and CT scans taken in a University of Michigan laboratory. Through bodily replication, he perhaps searches for the exact location of the soul, and finds inherent folly in the process.
Radicaldemocracy, a digital archive and exhibition
Ongoing and open 24 hours a day
The best thing about the digital world is that “Aaaha” moment, “Eureka,” finding something really cool to look at, read and tinker with, revisit, even just sitting at the coffee shop with your latte or in your living room at 2 am in your jammies. Ann Arbor born and well- travelled, savvy artist/designer David Olson has compiled and launched RadicalDemocracy, a visitor friendly archive/exhibition/digital treasure box of historic documents, quotes, posters, ideas, and conversations that embraces the power of the people and our long history of engagement and activism to insure democracy and protect human rights. The archive is completely downloadable, free, open source, and includes links to grass roots opportunities, movements, and gatherings happening now, documented in real time. Check it out!
Two Conversations on Post-Truth
Thursday, October 5, Alternate Facts
6:30 reception and 7 pm Dialogue
The Jam Handy, 2900 E.Grand Blvd, Detroit
Friday, October 6, The Lie That Tells the Truth
6:30 reception and 7 pm Dialogue
Woods Cathedral, 1945 Webb Street, Detroit
Culture Lab is a knockout arts organization that engages world-class artists, designers, and architects in a series of thoughtful discussions. These provocative conversations forge new connections between creative thinkers in Detroit and internationally. They also breed more rigorous discourse because of the unique combination of ideas, perspectives, and experiences of those involved playing off one another, informing us from all sides.
This month’s s offers an incredible star power lineup of visitors including artist Edgar Arceneaux and Mel Chin, artist and writer Coco Fusco, and critic Hilton Alsa among others. Each night is a different mix and promises challenging investigation and interplay about the post-truth morass we are in, and innovative solutions to build ourselves a lifeline.
UMS Wallace Blogging Fellow Amanda Krugliak is an artist, curator, and arts administrator best known for performance and conceptual experiential installations, most notably as curator at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities since 2007. Her essay about the work of Richard Barnes will be included in the upcoming book “Object Lessons,” about the University of Michigan Collections and Museums; University Press and the Institute for the Humanities will publish a collection of her essays about art in 2017.
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Dec 9, 2016: Your Arts and Culture Adventure Picks
This post is a part of a series of posts curating adventurous arts and culture experiences in Southeast Michigan. Sign up for email updates (choose “Arts & Culture Adventures” list).
‘Tis the season to be jolly and busy! I recently saw Handel’s Messiah with UMS, and now I’m completely in the holiday spirit. Make extra room in your schedule for these remaining holiday arts events in Southeast Michigan (some of which are coming up this weekend!).
Winter Art Tour 2016, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
December 9-11
The Winter Art Tour in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti features nine holiday art shows throughout the area. These particular events are so important because you can find one-of-a-kind gifts while supporting your local creative economy.
My favorites of the nine events are DIYpsi and the Ypsi Alloy Holiday Market and Open House. DIYpsi is the massive indie art show which takes over Riverside Arts Center in the winter, and I have never left this festival empty handed or uninspired.
And the Ypsi Alloy Holiday Market will give you the chance to explore the creative space of Ypsi Alloy and directly support their resident artists. Last year, I won a door prize, and got some amazing items. So before you do your last minute shopping on Amazon or in department stores, make time to explore what the area has to offer. More
Home Alone with the DSO
December 14
What is your favorite holiday movie? Mine is Home Alone! That is why I was so excited to find this event with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. See the movie on a hi-definition screen in Orchestra Hall as the DSO plays along with one of the most-beloved holiday soundtracks of all time.
I always shed a tear when Macaulay Culkin waves out the window to the old man. With a live world-class symphony playing along, I will surely need an extra tissue on this adventure. More
Christmas Carol’d
Now – December 11
We can all empathize with Scrooge. The stores are overcrowded, the sidewalks are icy, and the traffic is terrible. All of this makes you want to shout “Bah Humbug!” at least once a season.
EMU Theatre presents Christmas Carol’d by Joseph Zettelmaier, a Michigan-based playwright whose works have been produced around the world. This show takes a humorous spin on the traditional tale in a hilariously-re-imagined production. You can follow 
EMU Theatre on Facebook to get a behind-the-scenes look before the show. More
Moscow Ballet Great Russian Nutcracker
December 19
The Nutcracker is sure to get you into the holiday spirit with tales of Sugar Plum Fairies and armies of mice. The Moscow Ballet makes its annual visit to Detroit at the historic Fox Theatre for a family-friendly holiday evening. Tell us about the first time you saw The Nutcracker in the comments section below! More
A New Year’s Anniversary Improv Show
December 31
Last year, I spent my New Year’s Eve laughing along with the new Pointless Imrpov Theatre and Brewery. It was such a blast, and I highly recommend it. Pointless is located off the beaten path in Ann Arbor, and boasts a highly talented and energetic team of improv performers…and brewers! Pointless understands improv theatre is best accompanied by beer, and they make their own delicious craft beverages right on site. Help Pointless ring in the new year, AND celebrate their one-year anniversary, because now that 2016 is almost over…we could all use a good laugh! More
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you attend one (or more) of these events by reaching out to me on Twitter. Have a wonderful holiday season. I’ll see you in 2017.
Photos courtesy of artists and performance spaces.
Marissa Conniff is a UMS Blogging Fellow. Learn more about the blogging fellows program.