Arts & Culture

  1. ‘Do not be distracted by the insanity of the world’

    After a 30-year career in Michigan Athletics, Greg Harden (aka ‘Michigan’s secret weapon’) delivers ‘Stay Sane in An Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive,’ a book of life lessons culled from such champions as Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Desmond Howard, and more.

  2. A match made on Broadway: From roommates to castmates

    As a pair of married ghosts in the Broadway touring company of ‘Beetlejuice,’ college roommates and 2011 SMTD graduates Will Burton and Britney Coleman come to the stage with that ‘thing’ so essential to musical comedy: Chemistry.

  3. Reviving the lost work of a groundbreaking Black composer

    Doctor of Musical Arts candidate Bryan Ijames followed his ear, his heart, and some scholarly detective work to resurrect a forgotten piece by composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

  4. Music therapy is a calming, soothing connector

    Sophie’s Place is a bright comfortable music studio, tucked away in a corner at U-M’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Named for young singer-songwriter Sophie Rose Barton, the studio brings its own kind of healing to patients, families, and therapists.

  5. 48217: The Stamps Pollution Mural Project

    ‘48217’ is known as Michigan’s most polluted zip code. Community activists in this community near Detroit teamed up with Stamps Professor Joe Trumpey and his students in Fall 2022 to draw attention to the poor air quality in this industrial area — to stunning effect.

  6. ‘A place that respected one’s confusion’

    In a book of essays marking U-M’s 150th year, playwright Arthur Miller and other distinguished alumni revisit the halcyon days of college. Set against today’s digital backdrop, ‘Our Michigan’ makes a cogent and contemporary case for the bricks-and-mortar learning experience.  

  7. The ‘breathtaking’ job of reviving an icon

    As a kid growing up in southwest Detroit, Manuel “Manny” Martinez played paintball in the hulking, long-abandoned Michigan Central Station. Today, he’s a construction superintendent helping Ford Motor Co. drive the $1 billion transformation of this historic landmark.

  8. Marching Band’s Elbel Field poised for major makeover

    U-M’s iconic Elbel Field will be transformed into a marching band practice facility now that the Regents have approved project design plans and authorized construction to proceed.

  9. Refugee-focused community garden celebrates its first year

    The garrden, a collaboration between Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County and Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, has turned a previously unused, grass-covered space into a fertile, productive plot.