Jeep Holland may have been kicked out of college, but it was only because he couldn’t major in rock and roll. Less than a year after he left U-M, 12,000 screaming fans had crowded into Detroit’s Cobo Arena — to see the band he managed, the Rationals. Holland’s collection at the Bentley is featured in ‘Collections.’

The Grammy Award-winning musician, MacArthur recipient, and Pulitzer Prize winner has dedicated much of her career to exploring the contributions to American musical history by Black Americans and others who have been previously overlooked or erased.

Known for their celebration of diverse artists and musical genres, the Michigan Marching Band, in collaboration with the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance Department of Musical Theatre and Percussion Studio, performed songs from the Broadway musical and feature film franchise “Wicked” during halftime at Michigan Stadium Sept. 13.

Enjoy this ‘heavenly’ series, courtesy of the Clements Library publication ‘The Quarto,’ which explores our relationship with the sky. Materials found in the Clements and other U-M collections come together to reveal the assorted ways we have observed, imagined, and interpreted the sky, reflecting both our desire to understand the universe and our place within it.

There’s a special value to this kind of hands-on creative work, says Isaac Wingfield, director of LSA’s Residential College photography program. Students develop new perspectives, different approaches to academic inquiry, problem-solving skills, and — of course — powerful images. “Visual art forces us to think differently and think critically about the world,” Wingfield says.

Neighbors, friends and pioneers of geometric abstraction, Herrera and Smith often explored similar themes of form, color, and space. Despite their decades-long friendship, this new exhibition at the University of Michigan Museum of Art marks the first examination of their work side by side, offering a profound exploration of their intertwined legacies and shared impact on American abstraction.

For 50 years, Enoch Brater shared his passion for literature and the theatre with thousands of like-minded students at U-M. The University’s Kenneth T. Rowe Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Literature retired in spring 2025. As a renowned expert on Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller, he viewed plays as ‘literature meant to be performed.’

Students recently transformed U-M’s Nichols Arboretum into an art exhibit, reminding visitors that “the earth is a living thing.” People were guided not by maps or botanical information, but by poetry—a different kind of navigation system. One message on a wooden placard instructed visitors to “Walk/through the garden’s dormant splendor./Say only, thank you.”

The U-M Symphony Band toured the state in May, offering free clinics to high school students and performing in 11 communities from Belleville to Interlochen. Some 1,500 student musicians received guidance by U-M band students and faculty in interactive, side-by-side tutorials.