Events

There are a number of public events planned in conjunction with the Detroit 300 Theme Semester. For more information about any of the events shown below, please call 764-7414, or email det300um@umich.edu.

Unless otherwise specified, all events are free and open to the public. All events take place on the Ann Arbor
campus of the University of Michigan unless indicated otherwise.

CULTURAL EVENTS

PLEASE NOTE: All Cultural Events are listed in reverse-chronological order.

November 15, 2001 • 4:00 PM
Panel Discussion: “The Heidelberg Project: A Trailblazer Setting New Precedents”
Michigan Room
Michigan League

After a showing of the film short, “Come Unto Me: The Faces of Tyree Guyton,” there will be a panel discussion of “The Heidelberg Project,” with Tyree Guyton, Jenenne Whitfield, and Greg Siwak

November 13, 2001 • 7:00 PM
Jazzistry
Performance Network
120 East Huron St.
Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor musician Vincent York, accompanied by five Detroit musicians, uses “musical snapshots” to present a history of jazz at all its evolutionary stages. In this performance that includes narration, music and slides, Jazzistry focuses on Detroit’s contribution to the jazz scene.

Tickets are free. To reserve, please call the Performance Network Box Office Monday–Saturday from 1 pm–6:30 pm. Phone 734-663-0681.

November 1, 2001 • 4:30-6:00 pm
Reception and Gallery Talk: “Ornament and Abstraction” with Celeste Allen Novak
Institute for the Humanities, 2nd floor, 350 S Thayer
(2nd floor of Comerica Bank Bldg, corner of Thayer and North Univ. Ave.)

The public is invited to a celebration of the exhibition, “Fireplaces and other Pewabic Ornamentation,” which will include a Gallery Talk at 5:00 pm given by Celeste Allen Novak, AIA, Architect with Damien Farrell Design Group, Ann Arbor. Co-sponsored by the Residential College and the Institute for the Humanities.

For more information, please contact: Mary Price, 936-3519, email humin@umich.edu, or visit our website.

October 26 • 4-6 pm
“Social Realism and Race in Diego Rivera’s DETROIT INDUSTRY”
Auditorium A
Angell Hall

Lecture by Anthony Lee, Associate Professor at Mt. Holyoke College. Prof. Lee’s talk will be based on new research in Detroit archives, and concerns the conflict between social realism and working-class and racial tensions in Detroit at the time that Rivera painted his famous Detroit Industry murals. Lee will propose a new reading that relates the murals’ imagery to local conflicts.

Prof. Lee is one of the most exciting young historians of American art. He is the author of two widely hailed books: Painting on the Left: Diego Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco’s Public Murals and Picturing Chinatown: Art and Orientalism in San Francisco. Copies of Prof. Lee’s books will be placed on reserve in the American Culture office one week before the talk.

An informal coffee hour will be held the morning of Saturday, October 27, where Dr. Lee will be available to meet with students to discuss his presentation, his other work, and their projects.

Sponsored by the Department of the History of Art, The Program in American Culture, and Latino/a Studies. For more information please contact Rebecca Zurier at zurier@umich.edu.

October 24, 2001 • 4:00 PM
Pewabic Curator Lecture
Residential College East Quad 701 E. University Ave.

Pewabic tile comes from and is still produced in a historic clay and tile works in Detroit. Charles Chevalier, Curator of Pewabic Pottery, talks about the history of Pewabic Pottery in Detroit.

October 23, 2001 • 7:00 PM
Detroit Poets Reading
Residential College Auditorium
East Quad 701 E. University Ave.

Poetry Reading with Detroit poets Lolita Hernandez, Kim Hunter, Leslie Reese, and Mick Vranich. Refreshments will be provided.

October 21, 2001 • 2:00 PM
Docent Tours
UM Museum of Art
525 S. State St.

Guided tour of Albert Kahn: Inspiration for the Modern exhibit.

October 21, 2001 • 3:00 PM
Walking Tours: Albert Kahn

Experienced guide, architect, and historian Jay Aiken will discuss selected Kahn landmarks on the UM campus, including Hill Auditorium, Burton Tower, and Kahn’s own reputed favorite—the classically inspired Clements Library. To register, please call Walkabout Excursions at 734-623-4440. Fee is $12.

October 19, 2001 • 5:00 PM
Pewabic Art Show Opening
Residential College Art Gallery East Quad 701 E. University Ave.

The show opens in the Residential College Gallery after the discussion on Women Artists and Detroit. Co-sponsored by the Residential College and the Institute for the Humanities.

October 7, 2001 • 3:00 PM
“Los Repatriados: Exiles from the Promised Land”
Detroit Institute of Arts

A video documentary made by descendants of “Los Repatriados,” Mexicans who were deported from the US, especially Detroit, during the Depression years. The documentary is based in part on information from immigration files, Congressional records, newspaper articles, and scholarly accounts by Chicano professors Dennis Valdes and Zaragosa Vargas.

Visiting scholars will participate in a panel discussion, the video will be shown, and a reception to celebrate and honor Los Repatriados will be held at 5:30 in the Diego Rivera Court at the DIA. Live music by Benny Cruz and Cesar Pena (also descended from Repatriados) and light refreshments will be provided.

Videographer: Julio Cesar Guerrero

Committee Members: Elena Herrada, Julie Herrada, Laura Martinez, Veronica Paiz, Cesar Pena, Benny Cruz, Consuelo Rodriguez Meade, Lucy Cruz Gajec, Blanca Idalia Sosa, Marta Lagos, Roberto Munoz, Miguel Quesada.

For more information, please contact Elena Herrada at 313-961-1042.

This project was funded by Detroit 300, the law firms of Sachs Waldman and Wassinger, Kickham and Hanley, Wayne State University, College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, and chicano Boricula Studies.

October 6, 2001 • 8:00 PM
Liz Lerman Hallelujah Project Performance
Power Center for the Performing Arts
121 Fletcher St.

This performance is a culmination of the collaboration between the internationally acclaimed Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, University Musical Society, UM’s Arts of Citizenship program, and Detroit arts and community groups.

For ticket information please contact the University Musical Society.

September 23, 2001 • 2:00
Panel Discussion: Albert Kahn
Museum Apse
UM Museum of Art
525 S. State St.

Terry Smith, Getty Institute Fellow, professor, and author of Making the Modern joins Brian Carter, curator of Albert Kahn: Inspiration for the Modern for a discussion on the lasting impact of Kahn’s work on art and architecture. Moderated by Museum Director James Steward.

September 20, 2001 • 6:30 PM
Albert Kahn Curator Lecture
West Gallery
UM Museum of Art
525 S. State St.

Brian Carter, UM professor of Architecture and curator of Albert Kahn: Inspiration for the Modern will explore the nature and meaning of Kahn’s legacy and the inspiration his work provided for architects and visual artists.

September 16, 2001 • 2:00 PM
Art & Community: Visions and Voices of Detroit Students
Mosaic Youth Theatre Workshop
Residential College Auditorium East Quad 701 E. University Ave.

This workshop brings together Detroit youth from the Mosaic Youth Theater, the “Inside/Out” Writing Project, and the Western High School Photo Project to explore the importance of art in their lives.

September 15, 2001 • 7:30 PM
Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit: “2001 Hastings Street”
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Michigan League
911 N. University

Through collaboration with the internationally acclaimed Mosaic Youth Theatre, UM’s Arts of Citizenship program, and the Residential College, Detroit teens and senior citizens have worked with UM students to create a new musical drama that recalls the rich African American community life and music scene in mid-1940s Detroit. For more information on the performance, read the press release from UM’s Office of News & Information.

For ticket information, please contact the Michigan Union Ticket Office or Ticketmaster.

September 13, 2001 • 3:30–5:30 pm
Broadside Press Exhibit Opening
Special Collections Library
Hatcher Graduate Library, 7th floor
920 S. University

Opening program for the Broadside Press exhibit at the Hatcher Graduate Library. A panel discussion on the Broadside Press begins the program at 4 pm, followed by poetry readings by student poets. A reception will follow.

SYMPOSIA/CONVERSATIONS

September 13, 2001
Poetry Reading by Jim Daniels
Hale Auditorium
Business Assembly Hall
5PM
Although Jim Daniels lives in Pittsburgh now, where he teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, he is a native of Detroit. He is the author of 11 books of poetry and short stories, and he has edited three poetry anthologies. Much of his work has dealt with life on the line, working in the factories in and around Detroit. He has also written movingly about the riots of 1967 and about racial tensions in greater Detroit.

The following symposia will take place from 3pm-5pm on the dates listed.

September 20, 2001
Education & Detroit
Schools and Communities in Detroit: Current Research on Policy and Practice
SEB 1211 (the Dean's Conference Room)
School of Education
610 East University Ave.

Rosario Carrillo, PhDstudent SOE • Chris Dunbar, Asst. Professor, Teacher Education, MSU • Elizabeth Moje, Assoc. Professor, Educational Studies, SOE • Larry L. Rowly, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of Higher Education, SOE • Chair: Jeffrey Mirel, Professor, Educational Studies and History, SOE/LSA

October 12, 2001
Motown and Detroit: The Motown Sound in Detroit’s History: Music That Makes You Move
Michigan Room
Michigan League

Portia K. Maultsby, Professor, Folklore and Ethnomusicology University of Indiana • Suzanne E. Smith, Professor, History, George Mason University

Refreshments will be provided

October 19, 2001
Women Artists Creating Detroit
Residential College Auditorium East Quad
701 E. University Ave.

Esther Gordy Edwards, Founder and CEO, Motown Museum • Shaun Nethercott, Founder and Director, Matrix Theater Company • Celeste Allen Novak, Architect, Damian Farrell Design Group • Shirley Woodson, Artist, Supervisor of Fine Arts Education, Detroit Public Schools • Chair, Glenda Dickerson, Professor of Theater

Followed by the opening of the Pewabic Art Show in the Residential College Gallery.

November 1, 2001
Challenging Community: Women Activists & Detroit
Anderson Room D
Michigan Union

Clementine Barfield, founder and president of Save Our Sons and Daughters • Grace Boggs, Writer, Scholar, Community Activist • Alexa Canady, Neurosurgeon • Millie Jeffrey, Labor and Democratic Party Activist • Chair, Pamela Trotman Reid, Professor of Education, Psychology and Women's Studies

A reception follows

November 14, 2001
Economic Development & Detroit
Planning and Detroit: Turning it Around
Pond Room
Michigan Union

Paul Bernard, Planning and Development Director for the city of Detroit • Margaret Dewar, Academic Prog. Chair, Coll. of Arch & Urban Planning Professor, College of Arch & Urban Planning • Herb Strather , Developer, Strather and Associates • Moderator: Doug Kelbaugh, Dean, Coll. of Arch & Urban Planning, Professor, College of Arch & Urban Planning

December 6, 2001
Health & Detroit
Community-Based Participatory Research in Detroit: The Detroit
Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC)
Koestler Room
Michigan League

FACULTY AND STAFF, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Renee Bayer, Project Manager, School of Public Health (SPH) • Barbara Israel, Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education, SPH • Sherman James, Professor and Chair, Health Behavior and Health Education, SPH • Edie Kieffer, Associate Research Scientist, Health Behavior and Health Education, SPH • Paula Lantz, Assistant Professor, Health Management and Policy, SPH • Richard Lichtenstein, Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy, SPH • Robert McGranaghan, Project Manager, Health Behavior and Health Education, SPH • Edith Parker, Assistant Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education, SPH • Amy Schulz, Assistant Research Scientist, Health Behavior and Health Education, SPH • Antonia Villarruel, Associate Professor, School of Nursing

DETROIT COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Alex Allen, Director, Butzel Family Center • Kelly Balber, Project Manager, Kettering Butzel Health Initiative • Ricardo Guzman, Executive Director, Community Health and Social Services • Diana Kerr, Deputy Director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Henry Ford Health System • Bill Ridella, Executive Assistant Director, Detroit Health Department • Zachary Rowe, Program Director, Friends of Parkside • Donald Softly, Coordinating Committee, Kettering Butzel Health Initiative

Additional faculty, staff, and community representatives from the Detroit Community Academic Urban Research Center (URC) Board and Affiliated Projects; and graduate students from the UM School of Public Health

Refeshments will be provided.

EXHIBITS

June 2–October 21, 2001
Albert Kahn: Inspiration for the Modern
UM Museum of Art
525 S. State St.
Michigan architect Albert Kahn (1869–1942) exerted a profound influence on the art and architecture of his time. Demonstrating this unique legacy are architectural drawings and models, as well as works of art by Diego Rivera, Charles Sheeler, and others inspired by Kahn’s industrial vision.

Please see the Cultural Events section, above, for details on related events.

September–December 2001
The UM Detroit Observatory Pays Tribute to Detroit on its 300th Birthday
Lobby
Hatcher Graduate Library
920 S. University Ave.
In 1852, many prominent citizens of Detroit stepped forward to fund a top priority of the University’s new president—construction of an astronomical observatory. President Henry P. Tappan honored the Detroit donors by naming the new facility the “Detroit Observatory.” This exhibit, located in the north lobby of the Hatcher Graduate Library, chronicles the University’s creation in Detroit, its subsequent move to Ann Arbor, the creation of the Detroit Observatory, and the timekeeping and longitude the Observatory provided for Detroit and the Great Lakes region.

For more information about the Observatory, please visit their award-winning website.

September 4–November 30, 2001
Getting Around Detroit: Three Hundred Years of Transportation
Bentley Historical Library
1150 Beal, North Campus
Over the past three hundred years the main avenues of transport have changed from rivers to freeways, but getting from one place to another remains a challenge for the residents of Detroit.

September 12–November 30, 2001
Dynamite Voices: The Broadside Press in Detroit
Special Collections Library
Hatcher Graduate Library, 7th floor
920 S. University Ave.

Exhibit opens with a panel discussion and poetry reading on 9/13. Please see Cultural Events above, for details.

July 2–September 28, 2001
Detroit's 300 Years: Four Landmarks in the Collections of the Clements Library
Clements Library
909 S. University Ave.

For more information on the exhibit, read the press release from UM's Off ice of News & Information.

October 19–November 30
Pewabic Pottery
Residential College Gallery

Opening October 19 at 5pm, the Pewabic Pottery exhibit showcases the historic clay and tile works in Detroit. Please also see Cultural Events for information on the Curator Lecture.

October 19–December 1, 2001
“Fireplaces and other Pewabic Ornamentation”
The Institute for the Humanities, 350 S Thayer
(2nd floor of Comerica Bank Bldg, corner of Thayer and North Univ. Ave.)

The Institute for the Humanities will feature a related exhibition on Pewabic Pottery from 10/19 to 12/1, in the Institute’s gallery areas.

STUDENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Read about service projects and programs, and other opportunities for students, at the following websites:

Edward Ginsberg Center for Community and Learning

The Detroit Project

The Arts at Michigan “Culture Bus”

SPONSORSHIP/COLLABORATION

The Detroit 300 Theme Semester is made possible in part by Ford Motor Company.

Ford Motor Company is partnering with the University of Michigan to present an array of cultural programming on campus during the Detroit 300 Theme Semester. Performances and programs made possible by Ford include: Albert Kahn: Inspiration for the Modern at the University of Michigan Museum of Art; the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit; Jazzistry; the Detroit Poets Reading; and the exhibition Getting Around Detroit: Three Hundred Years of Transportation. Ford's support for the Detroit 300 Theme Semester continues the Company's commitment to the University, and is part of a long-term pledge that supports visual and performing arts presentations, as well as community-based educational programs developed by University students and faculty. For more information on other programs funded by Ford, please visit www.ford.com.

LS&A

Ginsberg Center

UM Office of Major Events

University Library

The Arts at Michigan

UM Office of Marketing Communications

The Detroit Project

Arts of Citizenship

UM Office of Development

FILM SERIES: DETROIT FILMS & DIRECTORS

The Motor City has been the subject or setting of many fascinating films. A variety of outstanding films will be shown as part of the Detroit 300 Theme Semester, with some presentations featuring talks by the directors, themselves. Below is a list of the lineup and dates.

PLEASE NOTE: Unless otherwise indicated, all films will be shown at 7pm in the Natural Sciences Auditorium.


Oct. 2
The Color of Courage (1998)
Directed by Lee Rose

This film tells the story of an interracial friendship set against the background of the legal challenge to segregated housing. In Detroit in 1944, after welcoming Minnie McGhee and her family into the neighborhood, Anna Sipes is shocked to learn that the community—including her own husband—is plotting civil action to evict the McGhees because of their skin color. Anna and Minnie become close friends, a friendship that is tested as each struggles with the tensions rising around them. Starring Linda Hamilton, Lynn Whitfield, Bruce Greenwood, and Roger Guenveur Smith.

Catherine R. Squires, UM Assistant Professor of Afro-American and African Studies, will moderate a discussion after the film.

Oct. 16
Double Feature: The Sprawling of America and Poletown Lives

The Sprawling of America (2001)
Directed by Chris Cook

In this documentary, director Chris Cook shows how federally supported racist lending policies led to the segregation of Detroit and its suburbs. Co-produced by the Great Lakes Television Consortium, The Sprawling of America combines investigative journalism with penetrating history. The first hour examines the roots of the problem of urban sprawl, with the Detroit metro area as a quintessential example. It looks at how race was the underlying factor in “white flight,” aided by three federal programs—the interstate highway system, the Federal Housing Administration, and the Veterans Administration. The second hour looks at why the suburban lifestyle has become so unlivable—the loss of community, the isolation, and the massive cost of infrastructure needed in the suburbs

Director Chris Cook will introduce his film.

Poletown Lives (1982)
Written and co-directed by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann

Poletown Lives is is a film that documents the strong but unsuccessful community resistance to Detroit’s decision to destroy the neighborhood called Poletown, in order to provide General Motors with tax-free land for a Cadillac plant. Keeping narration to a minimum, the story of the struggle is told through the words of the area’s residents. A riveting study of how industrial, municipal, and ecclesiastical power combined to blast the wishes and hopes of a community to save their neighborhood.

Poonam Arora, UM-Dearborn Associate Professor of Humanities, will moderate a discussion after the film.

Oct. 29
6PM
Michigan Theater
Chameleon Street (1989)
Written and directed by Wendell B. Harris Jr.

Entertaining fact-based account of William Douglas Street, a Black Detroiter who successfully impersonated, among others, a Time magazine reporter and a surgeon until he was caught and sent to prison. He escaped and went to Yale, faked his identity as a student, and then returned to Michigan to impersonate a lawyer for the Detroit Human Rights Commission. This is an insightful look into a man who fooled many people, including the former mayor of Detroit, the late Coleman A. Young, who appears briefly as himself. Won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival. Starring Wendell B. Harris, Angela Leslie, Amina Fakir, Paula McGee, Anthony Ennis, and Daven Kiley.

The director, Wendell B. Harris Jr., will be available afterward for a Q & A period.

Nov. 6
Work in Progress: Images From Detroit’s Cass Corridor (2001)
Directed by UM Art and Design faculty Kathryn Brackett Luchs and Shaun Bangert

Combining original silent film footage with newer video information, Images from Detroit’s Cass Corridor is a new work by UM faculty members Kathryn Brackett Luchs and Shaun Bangert. This visual montage focuses on artists from the Cass Corridor, showing not only the artwork itself, but also capturing the mood and the thoughts of the artists behind the work.

The directors will be available afterward for a Q & A period.

Nov. 15
4:00 PM
Michigan Room, Michigan League
Come Unto Me: The Faces of Tyree Guyton (1999)
Written and directed by Nicole Cattell

This film is a portrait of Tyree Guyton, the artist who created the Heidelberg Project in the heart of Detroit. Starting in 1986, Tyree Guyton transformed his entire block using thousands of gallons of paint and a collage of castaway objects. The film tells the story of his struggle to create art from inner-city rubble.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion of “The Heidelberg Project: A Trailblazer Setting New Precedents,” with Tyree Guyton, Jenenne Whitfield, and Greg Siwak.

Nov. 27
Zebrahead (1992)
Written and directed by Anthony Drazan

In this Romeo-and-Juliet-type tale based in Detroit, two young men—Zack, a Jewish teen accused of “acting Black,” and Dee, an African American teen—defy the narrow-mindedness of some of their friends and classmates and form a strong friendship. Additional conflict is added when Zack begins dating Dee’s cousin Nikki, who has also attracted the interest of an emotionally troubled bully. Soon, undisguised but contained racial tensions escalate into violence. Starring Michael Rapaport, N’Bushe Wright, and Paul Butler.

Frank Beaver, UM Professor of Film and Video, will moderate a discussion after the film.