The Institute for the Humanities is the core site for interdisciplinary humanities research and programming at U-M, and our Gallery is a vibrant space for conversation and collaboration.
We organize public programs that demonstrate the vitality of humanities research, and a lively set of undergraduate interns contribute to our activities, designing events while learning about the public humanities. Our Gallery features innovative exhibitions that provoke conversation and thought about art, society, and activism, and each year we gather an interdisciplinary intellectual community of faculty and graduate students in residence.
Your gift can help us expand the reach of our programs to undergraduate students and to broader Southeastern Michigan publics.
Your Gifts at Work
Undergraduate Interns:
- I liked the collaborative nature and the opportunity for developing leadership skills while being a project lead. I also appreciated the opportunity to learn social media skills. The cultural events really supplemented the program well, and allowed for bonding with my fellow interns.
- Unlike other internships, we were given a lot of flexibility, as well as a lot of responsibility. We were allowed to be creative in the position. Our supervisor was also supportive of our ideas for public humanities programming . I also learned a lot of valuable skills for the job market.
- I did not really know what community-engaged humanities work could/should look like but through the internship I saw the many different ways that it can be applied and spread throughout the community!
- I have a much more holistic view of community-engaged humanities and really see how so many little things and big thing as can be a part of public engaged humanities
The Gallery and Exhibitions
"I saw some students …stopping by and looking at the art and reading the messages. It kind of forced you to stop. It forced you to think about the messages … This art is not going to be there forever, but it will make you think about something and then it will change you in the process. I just hope that people who go by and look at these messages, they could actually think about different ways to address these issues. Not just through art, but also through our own teaching in the classroom, through conferences and conversation that could reach the institution’s upper levels."
– Faculty member regarding students interacting with exhibition presented in various locations on campus, Amal Fadlalla
"The exhibit and your visit to our class fit so well with the ways we’ve been trying to think about the South as a diverse place with diverse people and also as a place tied to particular kinds of troubling histories and memories. The(y) … were highlights of the semester, and I very much appreciated it."
– Regarding class visits by artist and curator and the class’ visit to the exhibition: Stephen Berrey, Faculty Member
"I … thought the class engagement with you and James was absolutely fantastic! Thanks SO much for doing this work. The students watched ‘Beautiful By Night’ afterwards, which was followed by a very engaged class discussion."
– Deboratri, Dhar, Faculty Member
Fellowships
Funds for Online Giving:
Director’s Strategic Fund - 307128
The Institute for the Humanities Strategic Fund provides the Institute with flexible funding for outreach and events, for undergraduate programming, supporting the research of graduate student fellows, and for bringing Gallery exhibitions to publics beyond campus.
Institute for the Humanities Gallery
Gifts in any amount can help to ensure that our Gallery continues a tradition of high-profile exhibitions that showcase the synergies between the work of humanities scholars and creative artists. Our exhibitions feature emerging as well as established artists, and we often exhibit works that engage with social justice issues.
Naming Opportunity
The Institute’s museum-quality gallery has gained national attention for the high quality of its curated shows each year. Fully funding the gallery would ensure not only the future of our exhibition program, but also enable the IH to expand outreach to undergraduate students and the general public, and to multiply the sites of curation across campus and in digital environments. A gift to endow would provide a naming opportunity.
Institute for the Humanities Three Campus Fund (373414)
The Institute for the Humanities Three Campus Fund supports collaborations with colleagues on U-M’s Flint and Dearborn campuses to design exhibitions and events that travel to all three campuses; it also supports faculty and student travel from those campuses to Ann Arbor.
Thank you for supporting the Institute for the Humanities!
