Deep in the heart of U-M’s North Campus Research Complex (NCRC), the students of Musicology 406/506, “Musical Instruments of the World,” are hard at work. After weeks of classroom lectures, they are excited to gain hands-on experience with SMTD’s Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. The workroom is a flurry of activity as students pick pieces…

Michael McElroy was SMTD’s latest Broadway Artist in Residence, thanks to the Benard L. Maas Foundation When Vincent Cardinal was a student teacher at Shaker Heights High School in Ohio, he cast 10th-grader Michael McElroy in Runaways by Elizabeth Swados. That was back in 1981. “Michael had the musical line that opened the show. At…

Exploring Social Justice Through Movement in Ann Arbor and Detroit A multifaceted initiative, launched by the Department of Dance this winter, is forging alliances in Detroit while exploring the ways that dance can imagine and realize a more equitable society. Featuring performances, workshops, an artist-in-residence program, and student fellowships, Daring Dances was created and curated…

Everyone knows character actor David Paymer. They just don’t know they do. Mention actor David Paymer to the average person and you might get a blank stare. Even if you list some of the dozens of films or TV shows in which he’s been featured – from his earliest days, in shows like Barney Miller,…

As women are forging diverse careers in the field, the Department of Performing Arts Technology has stepped up recruitment of female students. According to a January 2018 study by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Inclusion Initiative (2012–17), women constitute just two percent of producers working in music. “For most…