Humanize the Numbers

Humanize the Numbers

Academic Year:
2015 - 2016 (June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2016)
Funding Requested:
$1,996.18
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
Overview of the Project:
This project supports creative endeavors in a collaborative prison arts project I am leading with incarcerated individuals at Thumb Correctional Facility. A series of photographs will be made with these incarcerated collaborators as part of a larger cross-disciplinary collaboration I am co-organizing titled Humanize the Numbers. I am seeking funding to support alternative programming and public displays to accompany an exhibition of this work in the Residential College Art Gallery, planned for Winter 2016. Support from the Lecturers' Professional Development Fund will allow me to produce alternative exhibition materials for these public spaces and provide curatorial support for the alternative exhibition and programming. This material for alternative venues—large scale banners with images and information— will become the core of a traveling public exhibition, building partnerships with community organizations, public schools, and other universities in the region for my current and future research.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

Provide a public alternative exhibition of photographs in the UM Diag. Support the development of a new course built around photography workshops in a local prison.

Project Achievements:

The project has resulted in a strong new course offering, currently in the approval process for a new course number, to be offered annually. Additionally, the exhibition on the Diag was well received, and resulted in thousands of viewers for the photographs from the initial prison photography workshop. The project has led to greater integration of the Residential College’s Studio Arts program and the Prison Creative Arts Project (which is housed within the RC). It also allowed greater connections with other faculty working in similar fields across the university for future partnerships.

Continuation:
The course developed as part of this grant is listed for Fall 2016 as a special topics course, and should be offered at least once per year in the future.
Dissemination:
The installation on the Diag and accompanying website served to disseminate information about the research and ongoing instruction.

Source URL: https://crlt.umich.edu/node/86533