Twelve student projects were selected to each receive $500 CREATE! Micro-Grants to respond critically and imaginatively to events occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the funding, micro-grant winners will craft a variety of works using creative mediums such as film, dance, poetry, song, and oil painting to tackle issues involving race, isolation, body image, language, and more.
Young Joon Kwak, the 2020-21 Artist-in-Residence of Critical Race Studies, is wrapping up their time at MSU, but the impact of their work on the community will live on through new dialogues about objecthood, bodies, and symbolism.
“Creativity in the Time of COVID-19,” an MSU project funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, asks the public to share their stories about the role creativity has played in their lives during the pandemic as well as any creative works they’ve made that have helped them get through this past year.
Last year, at the start of Black History Month, College of Arts & Letters alumna Asmaa Walton began posting covers of art monographs, exhibition catalogues, and art biographies of African…
Two College of Arts & Letters students were winners at MSU’s 4th Annual Social Justice Art Festival. Charlotte Bachelor, a junior Professional and Public Writing major, and Nicolei Gupit, a second-year Studio…
Lauren Slawin, a sophomore majoring in Creative Advertising and Graphic Design, used the CREATE! Micro-Grant program to confront racial discrimination and police brutality in a video essay where she sketches the face of the late George Floyd, an African American man killed during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill, with a voiceover that describes such events as “the second pandemic.”
The CREATE! Micro-Grant Program supported the launch of 12 student projects that analyze and respond to racial injustice and the struggles brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These projects, ranging from interpretive dance and musical performances to traditional Anishinaabe quill work, videos, podcasts, personal essays, and poetry, can now be viewed online through the CREATE! Micro-Grant Virtual Exhibit.
As the 2020-2021 College of Arts & Letters’ Artist-in-Residence of Critical Race Studies, Young Joon Kwak is using multidisciplinary artistry to examine MSU’s Sparty statue in order to understand its deepest details and what lies beyond its symbolic skin.
This past November 7, 2020 alumni and retired staff/faculty had the opportunity to attend a new virtual event called CAL in the Classroom. CAL in the Classroom is an event taught by current College of Arts & Letters faculty where attendees get an insider’s look at MSU’s College Arts & Letters (CAL) research and education while networking with fellow alumni, faculty, and students.
Get Out the Vote: Empowering the Women’s Vote highlights how graphic design has been implemented as a powerful tool in politics with poster designs running parallel to activism and social change for over 100 years. Professors Salchow MacArthur and Skolos discuss with guests the case study of the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment to catalyze women in design, voting rights, citizenship, community and diversity through poster design. This Conversation is moderated by 2020 MSU alum, Sarah Davis.