U Search Events Calendar
M

Home » Announcements » Winter 2025 Arts Initiative Grants Support Performing Arts Access and New Works

The full Burton Memorial Tower captured on a sunny summer day, with the fountain and Hill Auditorium seen adjacent.

Winter 2025 Arts Initiative Grants Support Performing Arts Access and New Works

Jun 11, 2025 | Announcements, Awards & Accolades, Faculty

The University of Michigan Arts Initiative announced its winter 2025 Project Support grant recipients in late April, including funding for multiple performing arts projects on the Ann Arbor and Flint campuses. With three application periods per year, Project Support grants offer up to $15,000 for initiatives that increase arts access and activity across campus and in the region.

Out of eleven faculty-led projects funded in this round, three have a close affiliation with the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Professor David Jackson leads the funded “Spiral Quartet Project” with his expertise as professor of trombone in the Department of Winds & Percussion, and as the brass chamber music coordinator in the Department of Chamber Music. “This project will commission and record new works for trombone quartet, building a dynamic new repertoire for collegiate musicians,” said Jackson. “The works will be shared and available for free via YouTube and playable sheet music, fostering access and musical innovation across institutions for college-aged trombonists.”
David Jackson, Professor of Trombone
David Jackson
A project entitled “Carillon Livestream: Broadening Access to an Iconic Campus Instrument” is led by University Carillonist Tiffany Ng, associate professor of music and chair of the Department of Organ. Housed in the Burton Memorial Tower built in 1936, the Charles Baird Carillon bell chamber is open to public visitors during recitals every weekday that classes are in session, but the tower is not ADA accessible. The Arts Initiative grant will make possible the establishment of a new livestream system to vastly expand the accessibility of the carillon performances to new audiences.
Tiffany Ng
Tiffany Ng

Another project lead is a recent SMTD alum – Mattie Levy (MA ’24, composition; MM ’24 and BM ’22, oboe performance) – who is now employed at U-M’s Residential College. Levy’s project will continue to build upon a Presser Award-winning musical that she first developed at SMTD as part of her master’s in composition thesis. With the new Arts Initiative support, her musical-theatre opera entitled Concert Black, which celebrates Black musicians’ stories, will be presented on campus as a public workshop reading, welcoming audience engagement and feedback.

Tiffany Ng
Mattie Levy
Levy noted: “Concert Black is a musical theatre-opera crossover show about 3 Black classical musicians and their journey within and outside of academia. Last year we presented a staged reading of Act 1, and this year the show returned with a workshop reading of the full production. I’m so grateful to my collaborators, a wonderful group of SMTD students, alumni, and community members for making this show possible.”

In addition, newly funded projects based at the University of Michigan-Flint will bolster music, theatre, and dance connections between campus and communities:

  • “Michigan Youth Mariachi Festival” – Brian DiBlassio, associate professor of music, UM-Flint
  • “Flint Dances” – Beth Freiman, lecturer IV in theatre and dance, UM-Flint

Read more about all the latest Arts Initiative Project grants in The University Record.

SHARE THIS PAGE:

Latest News

SMTD Students Win 2025 BMI Composer Awards

Jun 26, 2025 | , ,

On May 28, 2025, the BMI Foundation and BMI announced the recipients of the 73rd annual BMI Composer Awards. The winners include two SMTD students: Cole Reyes, who is pursuing a DMA in composition, and Jason Zhang, who graduated in April with a bachelor’s degree in...

Nancy Murphy Publishes Research in Theory and Practice

Jun 24, 2025 | , ,

Nancy Murphy, associate professor of music theory, has recently published a research article in Theory and Practice, the journal of the Music Theory Society of New York State. Titled “The Performed-Out Fermata from the 1920s to Bob Dylan,” the article explores the...

See all News