MEDIA ADVISORY

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan website “Montage” highlights the latest news and features about the arts, culture, creative endeavors, collaborative projects and upcoming events. This week’s top features include:

• Definitive declaration of freedom: Marking the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, the “Proclaiming Emancipation” exhibit examines the history and memory of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation through the holdings of the William L. Clements Library.
• Making of the New Left: U-M alum Tom Hayden and other co-founders of the 1960s activist group Student for a Democratic Society will speak at “A New Insurgency: The Port Huron Statement in Its Time and Ours,” a three-day conference, Oct. 31-Nov. 2. The gathering will explore the significance of the statement and the social, cultural and political history of the New Left.
• Breaking the silence: A Rwandan storytelling exhibit is the centerpiece of a new national archive. Now 99 narratives—conversations between youths and elders—will be on display at the newly built Rwandan National Archives, which were decimated during genocidal violence in the central African nation. The archives opened Oct. 12 for the first time in nearly two decades.

  “Stories for Hope” was founded by a U-M alumna and psychologist who joined forces with an archivist from the U-M School of Information. In a style similar to StoryCorps, the project lets a Rwandan young person invite an elder to have an audio-recorded dialogue to learn more about the elder’s personal past, Rwanda’s history or its culture.

• Indelible mark: U-M’s art-and-design school has been renamed the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design in honor of generous donations made to the university by Penny and E. Roe Stamps—the most charitable donors in the school’s history and among the largest benefactors to an art-and-design school in the United States.
• Impulse to direct: Award-winning director Agnieszka Holland visited U-M to talk about writing, directing and growing up behind the Iron Curtain.
• Hill Auditorium celebrates centennial: The acoustical gem and cultural landmark on the U-M campus lives in the memories of visitors, students and faculty, who’ve spent memorable moments at the auditorium. The proud history of performances, university events and speeches delivered by a Who’s Who in American 20th-century history is relived through the year-long celebration.

Related Link:

• For information, visit www.montage.umich.edu.