We are well into winter semester, and Living Arts is excited to present an update on how our community has been encouraging and fostering an interdisciplinary approach to creative pursuits!

This newsletter will recap some of the exciting activities we’ve done so far this semester and will provide insight into thought processes of our current and former students. This newsletter serves as the medium through which you, our members and supporters, can gain insight into our wonderful community.

Important Community Dates

Saturday, March 16th:
All Community Meeting, 3-6pm

Saturday, April 13th:
Living Arts Symposium, 4-6pm

Collaborative Creative Projects

Living Arts is excited to begin working on our Collaborative Creative Projects!

These interdisciplinary, team based projects bring together groups of our students in a variety of disciplines, for the purpose of creating something new, interesting or compelling. By taking what they have learned in their fall semester academics and sharing their different talents and abilities with each other, students will work through the phases of the creative process to address a given topic or problem.

This year our students have been given 4 topics from which they will brainstorm, research and develop a potential solution. These can be works of art, performances, technology driven, film based, or any other approach. These projects are intended to be open ended, focusing on the process and allowing for many creative possibilities.

Students will present their work on April 13th, from 4-6pm in the Duderstadt gallery. All are welcome to attend. The Exhibit will be on display until Thursday, April, 18.

Community Member Spotlights

Erin Schimmel - Living Arts First-Year Member

College of Engineering, 2022

Leah Hong - Living Arts Alum

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2020

Logan Hughes - Living Arts First-Year Member

School of Music, Theatre & Dance, 2022

Logan Hughes is a freshman in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance studying Performing Arts Technology (PAT). He is from Hamtramck, Michigan, just an hour West of Ann Arbor. In his free time, Logan enjoys the outdoors and drinking tea. He is also passionate about writing, creating, and mixing music.

Hughes was first introduced to Living Arts the summer before his senior year of high school as a Living Arts Summer Residential Lab (LASRL) participant. LARSL was a 2-week interdisciplinary summer program where high school students explored the connections between disciplines and how they can complement each other.

After LASRL concluded, he felt compelled to join Living Arts when he applied to the University of Michigan. Logan finds the most valuable piece of the Living Arts program to be the community, and built into that, the mentorship component. He believes that as a freshman, it’s helpful to have someone who can help you figure out the basics: like which bus to take or where to buy your books. So far, he has thoroughly enjoyed Living Arts, so much so that he will be returning as a mentor for the program next year.

“Living Arts broadens our horizons… creativity is such a crucial skill to have now and in the future for trying to solve the world’s problems; these are issues that require creativity and different perspectives. And everyone’s perspective is worth something. And the more of those that we have that are diverse, the stronger the solutions to these problems we can create. Living Arts is a start to that.”