Michigan Today - April 2009

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April 2009 | Home

U-M HERITAGE »

Hard times

1930s student

What happens to students' values when the economy tanks?

Sports »

Lucky man

Jim Abbott

Jim Abbott became one of U-M's best and most beloved athletes, despite playing with only one hand.

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Ideas

Toward the end of paper

newspaper

What does it mean when newspapers no longer publish on paper, and books aren't made on presses?

Health

Intense bladder cancer treatment does not improve survival

doctors

Patients who receive more tests and intensive treatments do not seem to survive longer than patients with milder interventions.En Espanol

TALKING ABOUT WORDS »

Car names

car

Detroit's troubled auto industry has done more than build vehicles. It's also come up with a trunk-load of car names.

TALKING ABOUT MOVIES »

M-ollywood

Clint Eastwood

Michigan is trying to turn itself into a mecca for moviemakers. So far it seems to be working.

On Campus

Opening attendance at U-M Museum of Art surpasses estimates, points to dynamic future

by Frank Provenzano

April 14, 2009

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Nearly 24,000 people streamed into the new University of Michigan Museum of Art leading up to and including the opening weekend with more than half of the attendance coming during the 24-hour community open house.

"The galleries and hallways were jam-packed, filled with happy, engaged people welcoming the museum back into their lives," said UMMA Director James Steward. "This kind of embrace by students and the public of the museum as a vital town square for the arts, where people can come together to contemplate art, explore diverse cultures, and exchange ideas is the fulfillment of a dream and the most exciting beginning we could imagine."

The opening-week festivities began March 24 with a U-M student preview that attracted 5,500, and culminated Sunday with 15,000 people visiting the museum over a 24-hour period. Attendance at other previews, programs, and gala dinners for donors and special guests make up the balance of the week's turnout of 23,950, far surpassing the museum's most optimistic projections.

Opening amid difficult economic conditions, ongoing restructuring of the domestic automobile industry, and tough financial challenges for many cultural nonprofits and museums around the country, the expanded museum is a symbol of hope and possibility, Steward said. "The new UMMA is the result of the vision, generosity and sheer hard work of many people working together for a common interest and common love of art and learning," he said.

Committed to creating the museum as a civic hub, the new UMMA is proving to be a place that bridges campus and community, bringing together students, faculty and the public in an unprecedented, multidisciplinary environment, said Steward. "Our opening weekend showed how much this museum is needed, what an essential role art can play in enriching human experience, and how deeply it can impact the lives of those who visit."

The renovation and expansion more than doubles the space of the former museum. In addition, the new UMMA stands at the vanguard of university museum in terms of size, breadth and depth of collections and broad focus on inclusivity.

UMMA's transformation into a multidisciplinary museum town square is designed by architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture. The $41.9 million project integrates Alumni Memorial Hall's Beaux-Arts style with a limestone, steel, and glass-walled exterior along a major pedestrian path and traffic corridor leading through the university's Central Campus.

Opening exhibitions include "Museums in the 21st Century: Concepts, Projects, Buildings;" "Expressions of Vienna: Master Drawings of Klimt and Schiele from the Pulgram-McSparran Collection;" and, "UMMA Projects: Walead Beshty," kicking off a new signature exhibition series that focuses on global contemporary art.

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Frank Provenzano is a writer with the University of Michigan News Service