Category: Student Organization

PREVIEW: M-agination Film Festival

Abigail Goodman Leave a comment

Come join M-agination student filmmakers for a night of short films at the Michigan Theater this Thursday. As a premier student organization seeking to promote up-and-coming filmmakers, M-agination produces about 16 short films every year, 8 every semester, that are presented at the end of the year at Ann Arbor theaters. This Thursday will be M-agination’s 23rd annual film festival, marking 23 years of incredible achievements in the visual arts. In addition to free admission, there will also be free swag for anyone to pick up while it lasts! This is a great opportunity to see what your peers have been working on all year. 

Where: The Michigan Theater 

When: Thursday, April 20th. Doors open at 6 pm, show starts at 7 pm 

Tickets: free!

REVIEW: RC Review Open Mic + Release Party

Abigail Goodman Leave a comment

What could possibly be better than a super friendly group of artsy students coming together to perform their art? Well – a super friendly group of artsy students coming together to perform their art, with Costco sheet cake. At Monday night’s RC Review open mic and release party, Residential College students enjoyed a sensory and culinary experience that topped off a year of amazing achievements. 

For the University of Michigan campus, the Residential College, located in East Quad, is an artistic hub for all students. Many incoming freshmen are attracted to the RC for its friendly atmosphere, access to arts classes (furniture making, photography, drawing, printmaking, etc.), and RC forums, RC-only “clubs” taken for credit. The RC Review, the RC’s premier literary magazine, is unrivaled in its compilation and publishing of RC student art made by students, for students. Having been part of the RC Review myself this year, I can truly say that it’s one of the best organizations I have been a part of in UM. You can take a break from the stress of frantically trying to meet academic deadlines, and settle down for an hour every Monday to simply collage with your friends. It’s a space to express yourself, laugh with your friends, and take things a little less seriously.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can submit your illustrations, poetry, prose, photography, or any other artistic piece to the magazine, where it will be reviewed and hopefully published. This year’s magazine – titled “Hot Hustler Magic” – is one of the longest and most robust in RC history. Coming in at 153 pages with more than 20 RC contributors, students will have no shortage of amazing art to flip through. Some of the highlights are a gorgeous photo from rural Virginia, a blackout poem focusing on reproductive rights in Michigan, a beautiful short story about family, death, and the passing of time, a colorful marker drawing of East Quad itself, an intricately bound book detailing Roman architecture, and a poem dedicated to a friend who passed away in Covid-19 isolation. The pieces are strikingly personal and lovingly put together in the magazine. 

At the open mic, RC students performed pieces both published in the magazine and not. For many graduating seniors, it was also their last chance to take part in a community that gave them a home in college, whether they were living in East Quad or not. The RC Review is, in my opinion, one of the best clubs on campus. If you’re an RC student who loves to make art, I would highly recommend joining next year.

PREVIEW: ComCo Presents, The Big Show

Abigail Goodman Leave a comment

As the oldest improv group on the University of Michigan campus, ComCo always puts on an amazing show. Their last show of the year, The Big Show, is always the talk of the campus, and the auditorium is often completely sold out. For good reason – ComCo members are hilarious, and I’m consistently wowed by their ability to come up with funny, totally original content on the spot. With many members of ComCo’s troupe graduating this year, I would highly recommend buying tickets now for their last show of the year before it’s too late! 

When: Tuesday, April 18th at 8 p.m.

Where: Mendelssohn Theater 

Tickets: $5

Grab your tickets here

 

PREVIEW: RC Review Open Mic + Release Party

Abigail Goodman Leave a comment

The Residential College Review is an RC forum that brings together RC students once a week to collage, make art, write poetry, read prose, and just have a good time. It’s an incredible way to find community in a huge university, and an incredible way to both submit art to a popular magazine and see art made by UM students. Once a year, the RC Review publishes an arts magazine, highlighting RC students’ greatest artistic products of the past year. Come join the club this Monday to pick up a free copy of the magazine, eat scones, and participate in the open mic!

When: Monday, April 17, 7-9 pm 

Where: East Quad Greene Lounge

Tickets: free!

REVIEW: Michigan Pops Orchestra “A Night at the Popscars”

Sappy Leave a comment

The featured image above was taken from their Instagram: @michiganpops

This semester’s Michigan Pops Concert has been my favorite out of all the concerts I’ve attended! There was a crazy line at the door and the crowd turnout was also the largest I’ve seen, so much so that the start time was postponed to accommodate more audience members. It’s always refreshing to see that both children and the elderly are present in addition to college students; it shows that this student organization is popular among locals too.

They had a large and impressive list of repertoire (most were already familiar to the audience thanks to the theme they chose) and I appreciated how well they balanced the amount and order of classical and contemporary music. My favorite and most anticipated piece was Howl’s Moving Castle, but I wished it was longer. I felt that the arrangement could’ve been better too, though that doesn’t mean the Pops Orchestra didn’t play it well.

It seemed like there were more featured soloists in this concert than in the previous ones, but I think it still showcased the orchestra as a group pretty well without being overshadowed. Unfortunately, there were some balance issues and at times it was hard to hear the soloists.

The winner of this year’s high school concerto competition was a Sophomore from Huron High School, which is so impressive since the winners have historically mostly been Seniors. She played the Lalo Violin Concerto, and she exuded so much power and charisma as she performed. Shoutout to the violist who gave an amazing show of Bohemian Rhapsody and the pianist who shined during La La Land! You can watch them on Youtube, but nothing will beat the live music so pull up next year!

As for the skits, the most memorable part for me was when some students wore paper swans on their heads as they performed swan lake. It impressed me how well-made the swans looked!

It appears lots of members will be graduating, which is a little sad, but I’m looking forward to what changes the remaining and new Pops board and members will bring us next year.

 

REVIEW: Vail/MichMinnies Art Fair

Abigail Goodman Leave a comment

For many on the University of Michigan campus, cooperative housing can be a great solution to a competitive, complicated, expensive housing process. With the prices of high-rise apartments soaring, and with houses often managed by negligent landlords or just completely falling apart, many students are turning to co-ops. Jointly operated by its members and coordinated by the Inter-Cooperative Council at Ann Arbor, co-ops offer affordable off-campus housing with the benefits of an established community. Residents share chores, cook meals together, throw parties, and form lasting friendships. 

And they have art fairs! Last Sunday’s art fair at Vail and MichMinnies, two popular co-ops on campus, was a showcase in handmade, creative artistic styles. There was pottery, cyanotypes, prints, sketches, second-hand clothes, collages, and so much more. Personally, I had my eye set on a laminated collage of a couple of meerkats set against a backdrop of a field of flowers. I also picked up a laser-thin wood-pressed print, which the artist had sketched over in black pen.  They were both incredible works of art that I got at a significantly lower price than I would have at a regular store. Plus, much of the profit will be donated to local charities. 

Walking through the different booths, you really felt the full effect of what it means for something to be “student run.” Everyone at the University of Michigan has the chance to go to many student run events – ranging from improv to comedy to performances to art galleries – but it’s especially exciting when those student run events bleed into the outside world. There has been a major political push in the past few years to absolve apartment residents of the burden negligent or even criminal landlords can place on them. Cooperative housing members own a share of the actual organization that owns the property, meaning that every single resident owns a part of that house. It’s an elegant solution to a housing market in crisis. 

I highly recommend checking out the next co-op art fair. It’s a great chance to pick up some local art, support your fellow peers, and take a look at some alternative housing options.