MEDIA ADVISORY

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s Montage website highlights the latest news and features about the arts, creative endeavors, collaborative projects and upcoming events.

This week’s top features on Montage (www.montage.umich.edu) include:

• Getting creative about creativity: U-M’s ArtsEngine received a $500,000 Mellon grant to support an initiative that aims to integrate the work of artists and their creative practices into the culture of U.S. research universities.
• Creating digital literary community: The Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing, U-M Press and MPublishing have launched Sweetland Digital Rhetoric Collaborative. The collaborative includes a book series to publish digitally enhanced texts focused on the intersections between technologies and communications, and a community web space for scholars specializing in writing and digital rhetoric.
• A leader recognized: Kenneth Fischer, president of the University Musical Society, has been awarded the 2012 Mariam C. Noland Award for Nonprofit Leadership from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

Other stories include:

• More than meets the eye: Curators take a novel approach in a new exhibit series at the U-M Museum of Art that aims to provoke audiences to rethink expectations of art, history and the museum experience.
• Like a rock: The U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology’s exhibit “A Man of Many Parts: The Life and Legacy of Francis Willey Kelsey” pays homage to the museum’s namesake.
• Greater accessibility to cultural records: Learn about the HathiTrust, a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that cultural records are preserved and widely accessible in the digital age. There are more than 60 partners worldwide in HathiTrust, including U-M. A newly named 12-member board of governors, including U-M’s Paul Courant, will lead the partnership.
• Searching for the right key: A recent U-M summit explored the changing role of American orchestras and what must be done to reinvigorate a cultural landmark in many U.S. cities.
• Dramatic education: U-M students reflect on their dramatic lessons from working alongside the world’s preeminent actors and directors during the Royal Shakespeare Company’s recent residency.
• Art at the intersection: Meet Gunalan Nadarajan, new dean of U-M’s School of Art & Design. The current vice provost for research and dean of graduate studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore has led his institution in several interdisciplinary collaborations on research and community projects. Nadarajan is the first senior academic leader dedicated to research appointed to head an art school in the U.S.
• Healing through art: A new interactive virtual online exhibit at the U-M Museum of Art seeks to promote healthy, respectful relationships. The exhibit, “Paths to Renewal: Teaching, Leading and Healing through Art,” is presented by U-M’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center.