February 2023 Newsletter

Winter 2023 Makeathon!

Living ArtsEngine partnered with the local organization Assembli for the Winter 2023 Makeathon. Assembli is an organization that has produced the well known Ann Arbor event FestiFools for many years. The organization is looking to reimagine this beloved event moving forward. This is where our students came in. Teams were tasked with designing a fun and festive community event to build upon, or replace, FestiFools. The results were creative and unique event ideas that highlighted the arts and encouraged community involvement!

The final results of the Makeathon were as follows:

First Place: Foolisance Fair by Team 2 - Julian Toogood, Hana Ichikawa, Anthony Balderas, Mira Hughes, and Julia Cole
Second Place: CommuniWe by Team 5 - Emma Oestmann, Amia Richardson, Cicada Bhatia-Guerin, Julia Flatley, and Evan Schuman
Third Place: Annual Bidrön Art Festival by Team 1 - Michael Peng, Mya Enzer, Ian Steigerwald, Tate Collier, and Noah Ghosh
Honorable Mention: Cirque de Fool by Team 3 - Abbey Taylor, Alexander Salsitz, Kimberly Gurwin, and Naomi Peterson
Honorable Mention: Animate Ann Arbor by Team 4 - Aidan Edwards, Charleson Shuart, TJ Mellema, and Brendan Nestle

The winning team created Foolaissance Fair - a day-long event focused on participation from audience members, artists, and U-M students. Attendees could make their own puppets, build their own costumes, and participate in shadow puppet workshops. Student clubs and organizations would work together to create "Foolaissance Man" puppets that represent diverse cultures and identities, and focus on elements of social justice. The event would engage all age groups by having a variety of activities over the course of the day. Materials would be sourced by reusing items that would otherwise end up in the landfill. And at the end of the day, the event would culminate in a large parade of everyone's creations!

More Program Highlights

UARTS 175

UARTS 175 is under way! The themes for our student teams to focus on this year are Inflation, Facade, and Generation. Teams have been begun iterating on their final projects and are seeking out meaningful feedback on those ideas. Final presentations will take place on Saturday, April 8th at the Duderstadt Gallery from 4-6pm.

Winter Workshops

The winter workshop series has gotten off to a great start. So far, we have seen a variety of skills explored. In January, we had an OpenBot workshop led by our Peer Mentor Michael, a singing workshop on The Sacred Harp by Student Programming Board Member Jack, and a pitch competition led by the student organization MedLaunch.

This month, we kicked things off with a guided meditation workshop at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. A group visited the gardens to soak up the energy in the conservatory, while learning about guided meditation from Student Programming Board Member, John. What a warm and positive way to spend a chilly Sunday!

A huge thanks goes out to everyone that has hosted or participated in a workshop so far. Going forward, we have several more workshops planned, including a few special guests. Make sure to head over to Canvas to sign up!

Student Features

First-Year Interview: Mia Frank

Q: Why did you decide to join Living ArtsEngine?

A: I decided to join, first of all, because I wanted to live at Bursley, which may be an unpopular opinion, which I think is a little funny just because I never got why. For someone going into engineering, or just someone who goes to the schools here on North Campus, why not be where you're gonna be for the next four years? I find it to be a really calm space, and personally as someone with ADHD I like to sleep in

quiet and have less distractions, if I need that. I do think it is really nice and you do find a community of really great people.

I think I joined Living ArtsEngine though, in general, just because of my creative side and having that outlet. The creative suite was really, really appealing to me just so that I would have a space other than my room that I felt was a little bit more my own here. Just so that I could have a little more of an outlet when I was so hardcore into math or physics or something. Just to like... keep me balanced.

Q: What types of creative work do you like to do?

A: I like to do a lot of creative work with music. It's one of my favorite things to do, personally, because I've always grown up with music in my house. When I was younger, my mom would always play music and sing so it's something i've always grown up with. That, and I like to draw as well. I've never been good at it, but I do like to draw. But in general, music has always been a large, large part of my life. I write music now. I'm in Groove which is a group on campus and I write music for them, too. I would say they both tie together analytically with creativity, and I do a lot more.

Q: What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?

A: I think I'm just excited to continue learning and growing, in the community and outside. I am excited to see how the UARTS 175 projects go and find out how those work out, because right now I don't know!

Q: What is one fun fact about you that you'd like the community to know?

A: I would say a cool thing about me is that I did theatre for 8 years, that's pretty long.

Q: What was your favorite thing you were a part of in theatre?

A: That's a good question. I would have to say, for fun, Mama Mia. That was the most fun I've ever had because I was in the chorus and all I had to do was dance, and it was SO much fun. My favorite thing emotionally, was a show called That Pankhurst Woman, which was about the British feminist movement, especially when they didn't have the right to vote. It's all about that. That was the most in- depth I ever felt in playing a character, I would say. I really enjoyed it, and plus, even though I don't think it was perfect I did enjoy getting to dive into it, so that was nice.

Peer Mentor Interview: Tate Collier

Q: What do you enjoy most about being a Peer Mentor?

A: I really appreciate the opportunity to return to the community that gave so much to me during my first year here at the University of Michigan. I'm glad to say that my experience here as a peer mentor has been just as meaningful and exciting as my time as a mentee.

Q: Has your experience in Living ArtsEngine impacted the way you approach your major?

A: As a dual-degree between Stamps and the College of Engineering, Living ArtsEngine was a great way for me to find other like-minded, interdisciplinary people. Not only that, but it gave me an outlet to further explore the intersection between my two fields of study through activities such as the Community Collaborative Project. I still regard the projects that I made for this community while a mentee as some of my best work to date.

Q: What is a favorite memory of yours from being in Living ArtsEngine?

A: I just had the amazing opportunity to work in a group with all the other peer mentors for the most recent Makeathon. We all had a blast working with each other while planning, recording, and editing our final presentation together in that 24-hour period. We're currently working on a video documenting our project, which should hopefully be complete soon. I only wish that we could have one more Makeathon before the year ends!