Arts of Citizenship Awards Ten Grants for Community-Based Scholarly Activities in the Arts and Humanities

The Arts of Citizenship Program at the University of Michigan (U-M) has announced the recipients of its second round of faculty grants for public and community-based scholarly work in the arts and humanities. David Scobey, Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of Arts of Citizenship, commented, "I am excited by the range and creativity of the proposals we received. There were twenty-seven applications from faculty representing eight schools, colleges, and other units on the Ann Arbor campus, as well as from the U-M Dearborn and Flint. Many U-M faculty are pursuing research, teaching, and creative projects in ways that seek to enrich civic and community life."

The goal of the Arts of Citizenship grants program is to foster projects that explore culture in publicly accessible ways or that encourage innovative teaching and research in collaboration with community partners. Funds for a total of three annual rounds of grants have been provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research and by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Additional funding for this year's grants was contributed by the Office of the Provost and the School of Art and Design.

For the 2000-2001 academic year, an interdisciplinary Selection Committee awarded Arts of Citizenship grants to the following projects:

• Michael Sevick (Adjunct Lecturer, Visual Arts-Flint) is organizing the painting of what may be the world's longest mural, depicting events in the history of Flint and Genesee County, on the wall of Flint's Riverbank Park. U-M Flint art students will sketch the outlines, which will then be filled in by hundreds of community volunteers on July 3 and 4, 2000.
• Lorraine Gutierrez (Associate Professor, Social Work and Psychology) is partnering with a southwest Detroit elementary school and other community groups in Leadership Instructing Neighborhood Kids (LINKS). The project will develop an "Arts Ready to Go" manual integrating afterschool arts activities into the curriculum.
• Carina Yervasi (Assistant Professor, French) will collaborate with the U-M Program in Film and Video Studies and the Ann Arbor Film Festival to offer area high school students a six-week hands-on workshop with a visiting filmmaker. The students' own 16mm films will then be screened for school and community audiences at the Michigan Theater.
• Claude Jacobs (Assistant Professor, Behavioral Sciences-Dearborn) and William McNeece (Adjunct Lecturer, Behavioral Sciences-Dearborn) will be helping their students produce a written and photographic guide to world religions in Detroit, as part of the national Harvard Pluralism Project.
• Edward West (Associate Professor, Art) is organizing cross-disciplinary presentations and exhibits to examine changing definitions of citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa through creative endeavors that include fine art photography, drawing, video, and poetry.
• Patricia S. Whitesell (Curator, Detroit Observatory), James J. Duderstadt (President Emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering), and Amy J. Warner (Associate Professor, Information) will be constructing a virtual museum website for the recently restored historic 1854 Detroit Observatory at U-M.
• Sadashi Inuzuka (Assistant Professor, Art) will introduce U-M students to methods of teaching art to the blind and the visually impaired, using the medium of clay. The project, which will involve children and adults in educational institutions around Michigan, will culminate with an exhibit.
• Gregory B. Markus (Professor, Political Science) is developing "Radical ART-iculation of People," a workshop that will explore social and political issues through artistic expression in music, poetry, photography, and other media. His team will work with high school students at Ann Arbor's Neutral Zone.
• Kathryn Brackett Luchs (Adjunct Lecturer, Art) will work on a documentary video about experimental art and artists from Detroit's Cass Corridor, drawing on interviews and footage that she initially shot during the 1970s and 1980s.
• Barry Checkoway (Professor, Social Work and Urban Planning; Director, Center for Community Service and Learning) is undertaking a social-history collaboration with the Southwest Detroit Business Association. U-M students will be conducting oral history interviews and documenting historic places in southwest Detroit.

"The diversity of disciplines and formats in these projects is astonishing," says David Scobey. "We see social scientists including art education in their research, humanists using new media, artists reaching out to underserved constituencies. The end products of these grants will include exhibits, films, websites, school and university curricula, and collaborative research. Geographically, the work connects U-M with communities all around the state of Michigan, with particular emphasis on Detroit, which will be celebrating, in 2001, the 300th anniversary of its founding."

The mission of the Arts of Citizenship Program is to build bridges between the university and the larger community in the arts and humanities. An outgrowth of the highly successful Year of Humanities and Arts (YoHA, 1997-1998), Arts of Citizenship coordinates a variety of programs:

• Community partnerships in which U-M faculty and students work with schools, cultural institutions, public agencies, and citizen groups.
• Forums and visits by distinguished artists, intellectuals, and cultural advocates.
• Experimental teaching that mixes rigorous study with practical projects.
• Support of innovative research and creative work for both academic and public audiences.

For further information about any of the projects of the Arts of Citizenship Program, call 734-615-0609 or email the Director, David Scobey (scobey@umich.edu)