Take Care: Democracy, Art & Healing
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Rhiannon Giddens, Philippa Pham Hughes, Molly Spencer, Holly BassDate & time
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Join us for an unforgettable evening with four trailblazing women in the arts, each bringing their own unique vision on how art can heal our society—on a national, community, and personal level. Part performance, part interactive workshop, and part discussion, this dynamic event explores the themes of care, resilience, and self expression in times of challenge.
Presented by the Center for Racial Justice, UMMA, & U-M Arts Initiative
Take Care is the University of Michigan Arts Initiative’s AY 2024-25 focus, which explores how art can help us process the current moment: caring for oneself and others during challenging times; self and community-healing as a means of collective resilience, and how taking care and self-expression can help create a world we all want to live in.
About the Artists
Rhiannon Giddens has made a singular, iconic career out of stretching her brand of folk music, with its miles-deep historical roots and contemporary sensibilities, into just about every field imaginable. A two-time GRAMMY Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning singer and instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, and composer of opera, ballet, and film, Giddens has centered her work around the mission of lifting up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been overlooked or erased, and advocating for a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins through art.
Philippa Pham Hughes is a social sculptor, educator, and writer. Currently at the University of Michigan, she serves as a Visiting Artist at the Museum of Art and a Lecturer at the Ford School of Public Policy. Through art and care, she creates spaces for transformative dialogue, fostering civic engagement and healing social divides. Since 2007, Philippa has bridged deep political and cultural gaps through hundreds of creative activations. Her innovative work has been featured on artnet, CNN, PBS, CityLab, and The Washington Post. Her mission: to build a society where everyone can truly flourish.
Molly Spencer is the author of three prize-winning poetry collections: If the House (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2019), Hinge (SIU Press, 2020), and Invitatory (Parlor Press, 2024). Her poetry has appeared in Blackbird, FIELD, New England Review, Ploughshares, and Prairie Schooner. Her critical writing has appeared at Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, The Writer's Chronicle, and The Rumpus, where she was a poetry editor from 2016 to 2024. She teaches writing at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Holly Bass is a multidisciplinary performance and visual artist, writer and director. Her work has been presented at the Venice Biennale, the National Portrait Gallery and the South African State Theatre, among others. Her visual art work includes photography, installation, video and performance and can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the DC Art Bank, as well as private collections.
Moderator: Mark Clague is the Executive Director of the University of Michigan’s Arts Initiative and a professor of musicology with tenure at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He also holds affiliate appointments in American Culture, African and Afro-American Studies, Non-Profit Management, and Entrepreneurship. His recent projects focus on the United States national anthem, diversity in music historiography and education, most recently through the exploration of African-American song; career trajectories in the performing arts; and critical editing. Clague strives to understand the social impact of the arts in the United States of America and to share this understanding with students, scholars, and the public. His scholarly interests center on questions of how music forges and shapes community relationships, amplifying the art of sound as a social force that is simultaneously personal and communal, both a powerful emotional expression and an everyday tool for living.
Accessibility
Sign language interpretation will be provided during the event. Speakers will use microphones.
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