Coverage of visual arts, performing arts, cultural events, and artistic entrepreneurs
The Wege High School Collaborative Studio is a summer program that gives West Michigan high school students hands-on experience in sustainable design and problem-solving. Applications for 2024 are open.
KCAD grads Justin Beitzel and Fernando Ramirez share their philosophy of regenerative design in their firm Common Object, which helps organizations take steps toward sustainability.
Since 2016, a group of graduate students in KCAD's Master of Architecture program have had an opportunity to offer a solution to an architecture issue in Grand Rapids. The projects have included designing a greenhouse, wayfinding project, and visioning new uses for a historic building.
"I hope the Kalamazoo community takes time to celebrate the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the many others who will be highlighted in the KSO event and feel compelled to carry on the torches they left behind still lit and leading the way,”
Kalamazoo playwright Buddy Hannah was inspired by a friend's trip to the 1995 Million Man March in Washington D.C., an event that brought African American men together to empower them to improve their lives and communities. Hannah shares how that inspiration took hold and grew into "Two in a Million: Journey of a Lifetime."
To tempt tastebuds for Kalamazoo's upcoming Canadiana Festival and its World Champion Poutine Contest, Chef Channon Mondoux, festival organizer, and SW Second Wave Food Writer, shares her recipe for 'healthy' poutine, that French Canadian guilty pleasure of fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy.
Mandy Clearwaters, an art teacher at Winchell Elementary, had a vision to bring Inside Out, an international portrait project devised by French-artist JR, to Kalamazoo Public Schools. With the theme "We are Kalamazoo artists," over 1,000 black and white portraits line the inner sidewalks of Bronson Park as part of Kalamazoo Public School's All-district Art Fair Friday. Check out Fran Dwight's photo essay!
April is National Poetry Month and Kalamazoo has more than its fair share of homegrown poets – which suits this year's Kalamazoo Poetry Festival theme of "The Garden." In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the festival takes place April 13 to 15, featuring both local and visiting poets, including Kzoo's own Pulitzer Prize-wining poet Diane Suess, Kansas Poet Laureate Traci Brimhall (WMU graduate), Hala Ayhan, and Kaveh Akbar, among others.
Skot Welch, Julia Swenson and Carl Dunker are three designers who live and work in West Michigan. They share the ways they work to create a community where people belong.
Sarah Crookston, Mimi Ray and David Allan are all leaders in design. While they could work anywhere in the world, they discuss why they choose to live and work in West Michigan.
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