March 7, 2011
Contact: Frank Provenzano, (734) 647-4411, fproven@umich.edu


U-M hosts discussion on the impact of losing arts tax credit


ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The University of Michigan website, Montage, features the latest news and features about the arts, creative endeavors, collaborative projects and upcoming events.

To visit the site, go to www.montage.umich.edu. This week's top features on Montage include:

--State's film industry future: The chair of U-M's Department of Theatre and Drama and a film student present their views in favor of keeping the film tax credit, and discuss educational opportunities derived from the state's fledgling industry.

--Experimentally Ann Arbor: The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the longest-running American celebration of avant-garde film. Bolstered by the contributions of U-M faculty, the film festival begins March 22 in venues around Ann Arbor.

--Reinventing Michigan: The University Musical Society's Kenneth Fischer addresses how the arts sector can help rebuild the state's economy at an address March 16 in Lansing.

--A Journey East: The University of Michigan's Symphony Band will tour China in May. A student band of 80 musicians has been selected to perform and participate in an unprecedented cultural exchange. The trip is the result of U-M President Mary Sue Coleman's initiative to develop a "cultural and economic dialogue" with China.

In mid-March, U-M will formally announce the trip, which places the university in the vanguard of major international research universities working to further establish cultural exchange programs with China.

The trip will be a homecoming for violinist Xiang Gao, an alum, who will join the U-M Symphony Band on the China tour. Four U-M composers---Bright Sheng, Kristin Kuster, William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty---have created new works for the tour.

--Elevating the Role of the Arts in Higher Ed: U-M is at the forefront in pushing for a broader role for "creative skills" in the traditional curriculum, including a course on creative thinking and the creative process. In early May, provosts, deans, directors, and other faculty and administrative leaders from top-tier research universities across the United States will convene in Ann Arbor to attend "The Role of Art-Making and the Arts in the Research University."

This first-of-its-kind meeting, to be held May 4-6, will focus and advance an emerging national conversation about better incorporating art-making and the arts into the research university.

Other features include:

--Wonders of Digitization: The U-M Library is in the process of scanning 1,100 Islamic manuscripts. The archive allows scholars around world gain online access to the collection.

--Lifetime of Creativity: U-M's Nicholas Delbanco's widely acclaimed new book explores the art of old age.

--Spotlight Composer: Since his emergence in the late 1980s, Michael Daugherty has risen to the top of the list of American contemporary composers. Daugherty, professor of music at U-M's School of Music, Theatre and Dance, won a Grammy for best contemporary classical composition at the 53rd annual award ceremony last month.

--Museum Exhibits: The U-M Museum of Art's latest exhibit offers an imaginative alternative history of 20th-century art. "Mai-Thu Perret: An Ideal for Living" runs through March 13 in the A. Alfred Taubman Gallery.

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