Arts, Culture & Humanities

In January 2020, we purchased the building we’ve resided in for 15 years. At the peak of excitement for youth enjoying space in the building, we had to translate our cultural space online. During this past year, we began to see our social media not only as an extension of our space and programming, but a proud platform that can spread youth voice. With the limitations prompted by the pandemic, we grew 85 percent in engagement since the first quarantine and totaled over 2,000 followers on Instagram and on Facebook.

While we conducted intimate and small gatherings with youth last summer, and online, our social media accounts allow us to have relevant and authentic relationships with the wider community and village that surround teens in our community. Through sharing youth creations, direct messaging, “stories,” memes and calls to action, we stay connected even throughout deep and widespread hardship.

For more information, visit www.thisisfire.org

Like many organizations, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts underwent a radical paradigm shift after the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread through Michigan in March of 2020. When the governor ordered a mandatory shutdown of many businesses, we transitioned much of our engagement with the public online. While we are seeing more public back to our building, we continue to offer myriad ways to connect the community to our mission of the arts for everyone.

KIA’s Kirk Newman Art School now offers two different modes to participate in our high-quality studio art courses, with online Zoom courses and onsite, in-person offerings and workshops. To help stay connected, we have also offered “Spring Break at Home Art Kits” with instructions and materials for hands-on projects. Also included were “Take Home Figure Sculpting Kits” and “Cyanotype Kits,” both of which are popular with community members of all ages.

Finally, we are pleased to provide free art materials to any elementary student for participation in our upcoming Young Artists of Kalamazoo County exhibition. We are also working with the Kalamazoo Public Library this year to include an age-appropriate book in each child’s kit. That is over 500 kits and books made available to local children! The pandemic has offered unique challenges, but our staff, faculty, students, members and patrons remain dedicated to the KIA’s vision that the arts are for everyone. 

For more information, visit www.kiarts.org

When theatres and arts venues closed their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to reach audiences through media platforms became critical. With support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation and local municipalities, Public Media Network assisted local arts organizations with the transition to online.

This initiative helped local groups, including Farmers Alley Theatre and The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, to produce virtual performances for their audiences. In addition, music groups like the Kalamazoo Bach Festival collaborated with Public Media Network to produce their traditional holiday and spring concerts for their audience in an online format. Public Media Network’s team worked with these arts organizations to create complex videos combining multiple performers into an online arts experience.

The Fall Bike Celebration, El Concilio, Wellspring/Cori Terry and Dancers, and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo reached new audiences for traditional in-person events through video concerts, presentations, interactive fundraisers and discussions. Many people enjoyed concerts featuring local musicians that were traditionally part of an in-person summer concert series.

The Kalamazoo Valley Blues Association produced videos for the 2020 Blues Fest through media production facilities at Public Media Network, exposing current and new audiences to this artform. In addition, content was developed to support local arts collaborations and Black voices in the arts.

Through guidance, training and production support, many arts performances will reach new audiences as they continue to broadcast on Public Media Network, showcasing the diverse and rich arts community in Greater Kalamazoo.

For more information, visit www.publicmedianet.org

COVID-19 brought unprecedented disruption to higher education. While the financial impact has been profound, innovation has propelled teaching and creativity. Funds from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation enabled the College of Fine Arts (CFA) at Western Michigan University (WMU) to creatively teach online, while reaching out to patrons via live stream technologies. One exciting outcome of this investment was a new work created for the Winter Dance Gala.

Early in the pandemic, the Department of Dance was uncertain what the Winter Gala, their flagship event, would look like come February. Would it be a live performance, or would it be virtual? Kelsey Paschich, Assistant Professor of Dance, wanted to create something that would stand up as vital work no matter the delivery method.

The solution? A collaboration with Kevin Abbott, the CFA’s new Director of the Center for Advanced Art Research (CFAAR). They decided to create a dance film that could either be projected during a live performance or streamed online. The resulting work, Recode, explores dualistic identities as they exist during the pandemic. 

Recode examines how information can be misunderstood or lost through the current modes of communication, transforming how humans are interacting with each other. Combining choreography with motion capture, video, animation and video game technology, they created vibrant virtual dancers whose bodies respond to the music, and composed choreography using 3D space in ways that would be impossible to do with live dancers on a stage.

The cast of student dancers was thrilled to be part of a new work that expands the horizons of what dance can be. Plans are being made for new collaborations, with patrons and students alike eager to see what the future brings!

For more information, visit www.wmich.edu/finearts

The Kalamazoo Cultural Center, in partnership with the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, has re-envisioned the garden level of the Epic Center in downtown Kalamazoo. This project will take place in two phases, the first focused on increasing the capacity of the Crescendo Academy and the second to rework the north end of the level. A grant from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation helped to create the financial foundation of our project. This renovation will activate and re-invigorate this space that invites creatives, makers and anyone seeking space for creative expression. Our new garden level, which will open in late 2021, will include more studio space, more office space, a multipurpose theatre and additional public gallery space. We are so thrilled at the prospect of being able to offer enhanced amenities for use by all of our arts community.

For more information, visit www.kalamazooarts.org/epic-center/

2020 has been a transformative year for WMUK 102.1 FM, the regional NPR station from Western Michigan University. This year began a significant strategic expansion of the station’s commitment to news, information and the arts, with assistance from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.

The cornerstone of this project was the launch of a new dedicated classical music station, serving listeners in Kalamazoo and Portage on 89.9 FM. The service, called “Classical WMUK,” can also be heard on the HD-2 digital channel of 102.1 FM. Locally-hosted programming on this new service begins with “Let’s Hear It,” a morning arts interview program hosted by Cara Lieurance. That’s followed by midday classical music with Jack Perlstein. Grant support also showcases some of the best and brightest jazz talent from our region through hour-long “Jazz Currents” special features presented by Keith Hall, an associate professor of Jazz Studies at WMU.

WMUK’s coverage of arts and culture doesn’t end there. The Foundation also directly supports the station’s weekly local feature “Art Beat,” as well as reviews of local theatre productions at The Civic, Farmer’s Alley, the Barn Theatre and more. These features reach a weekly audience of almost 25,000 people across Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana.

Since 1951, WMUK has served at the forefront of technical and programming innovation for our region. We continue to do so, broadcasting award-winning, in-depth local, national and global news and analysis, as well as cultural coverage, entertainment and music programming 24/7.

For more information, visit www.wmuk.org

Portage Community Center’s Youth Program’s mission is to strengthen the community by developing life skills through social-emotional learning to build a society where all youth thrive. Our programs target underserved youth who have limited access or no access to quality out-of-school time programming.

At PCC our youth programs have always approached our work through lenses of youth voice, social justice, and equity by:

• Meeting the youth where they are.
• Embracing and celebrating diversity.
• Providing strengths-based social-emotional learning to engage youth in the practice of knowing their own emotional lives and building empathy for others.
• Offering youth-voice opportunities to counter ageism and adultism.

We are active members of the Kalamazoo Youth Development Network and are committed to providing the highest level of youth program quality through evaluation, planning, and the continual professional development of our staff. We utilize evidence-based methods from leading youth development partners, including the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, Devereux Center for Resilient Children, and the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children. Our staff are known statewide and nationally as leaders in youth development, social-emotional learning, and trauma-informed practices — all built on a foundation of collaboration and a deep respect for the youth and families we serve. We believe that all youth need safe and supportive environments where they can learn and have fun while developing skills to make life better for themselves and their community.

We are proud of our youth and of the fact that, when asked about our youth programs, they told us that “Portage Community Center feels like home.”

For more information, visit www.portagecommunitycenter.org.

The Black Arts & Cultural Center’s Face Off Theatre Company is dedicated to fostering community, cross-culturally, through theatre. Face Off was founded by African-American alumnae of Western Michigan University in order to fill a void in local theater offerings representative of Kalamazoo’s diverse population. Face Off presents classic and modern pieces that explore issues within the black community. In 2016, Face Off was awarded The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo’s Epic Award for work of high artistic quality that also enhances life in the community. Face Off attracts audience members from different racial, class, and ethnic backgrounds, allowing audiences to connect across various cultural lines. Each performance is followed by a talkback, encouraging the audience to engage with the work, the actors and, most importantly, each other. The company hosts acting and writing workshops for youth and every season includes a youth show. Face Off strives to do work that is authentic and culturally relevant and is always looking for opportunities for the community to grow and learn from one another.

For more information, please visit www.faceofftheatre.com

In 2016, the KIA added an assistant curator of youth and family programs, with a goal of the organization becoming a more inclusive, education-aligned community resource. This new position is part of an effort to connect with people who are not already part of the KIA family. The public response has been gratifying, with a significant increase in attendance.

With this position, the KIA was able to add more programs that empower parents to become learning partners with kids, such as:
• Art Detectives, a collaboration with Lift Up Through Literacy, utilizes stories, interaction with exhibits, and hands-on opportunities so as to encourage young people and their families to imagine, create and innovate.
• The Back to School Block Party, a collaboration with Kalamazoo Communities in Schools, features an introduction to the KIA’s redesigned Youth Interactive Gallery, as well as related activities that encourage participants to stretch their imaginations.
• A Dia de Muertos (or Day of the Dead) Festival, a collaboration with the Hispanic American Council, celebrates the Mexican holiday with traditional food and dance, while introducing festivalgoers to the KIA, its programs, and its activities.

Parents connect with their children and, together, they connect with art, the creative process, and the KIA. The KIA connects with a variety of new community organizations. That’s the art of connectivity.

For more information, please visit www.kiarts.org