U-M Creative Currents – Details, episodes & analysis

In this special Alumni Edition of Creative Currents, host Mark Clague sits down with two University of Michigan alumni who have built careers rooted in creativity, collaboration, and saying "yes" to the unexpected.

Tony DeRosa, co-founder of Ann Arbor's Hear.Say Brewing, shares how a career in leadership development at Google led him back to Michigan to create a brewery where craft beer, improv comedy, and community come together. Actor and comedian Anna Garcia reflects on her journey from U-M to television, film, and the national improv scene, including roles in Fly Me to the Moon, Hacks, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Party Down, and Die Hart.

Together, Tony and Anna explore how the arts continue to shape their work long after graduation—from building confidence and embracing uncertainty to strengthening communication, leading teams, creating community, and forging unconventional career paths. Whether you're pursuing the arts professionally or simply looking to bring more creativity into your life, this conversation is a reminder that the skills developed through artistic practice extend far beyond the stage and well beyond your undergraduate experience.

This episode launches Creative Currents: Alumni Edition, a special two-part miniseries that previews a larger October series released during the Michigan Arts Festival, spotlighting alumni, entrepreneurs, comedians, and creative changemakers. Together, these conversations explore one central question: You studied the arts at Michigan—now what?

In this episode:

• Why improv is about much more than comedy
• How creativity fuels leadership, entrepreneurship, and creative innovation
• Building community through collaboration and shared experiences
• Navigating nonlinear careers and embracing unexpected opportunities
• Advice for current students on taking creative risks after graduation
• The launch of the inaugural Yes, Ann Improv Festival 

Production Note: Creative Currents is produced by Jessica Jenks and edited by Brian Lillie.

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, host Mark Clague sits down with historian and professor Colin Gunckel from the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Gunckel is a faculty member in both the Program in American Culture and the Department of Film, Television, and Media (FTVM), where he also serves as department chair.

Colin shares insights from his extensive experience teaching film and media studies. As a historian specializing in Latinx media and art, Latin American cinema, and popular culture linking the U.S. and Mexico, he brings a rich transnational perspective to his work. His book Mexico on Main Street: Transnational Film Culture in Los Angeles before World War II (Rutgers University Press, 2015) explores the relationship between Mexican audiences, the rise of Hollywood, and the development of Mexican cinema.

This fall, students across U-M will collaborate with internationally acclaimed performer and filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell—visiting faculty in LSA’s FTVM Department—through the Arts Initiative’s Student Creative Fellowship program. Their work will culminate in a public showcase on November 16.

Additional Show Links:

• FTVM Full Calendar of Events
• John Cameron Mitchell – Fall 2025, Visiting Professor, Writer, Director, Performer
• Michigan Theatre Free Showings on Mondays at 10 a.m.
• New Course: FTVM 368.002 – Queer and Trans Gaming

Related episodes:

• The Arts on Screen: How film shapes student life at U-M with Lauren Horne
• Discussing Disfluency with Anna Baumgarten & Danny Mooney

*Production Note: This episode is part of U-M Creative Currents' special Michigan Arts Festival podcast series and is edited by Sly Pup Productions.

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, we sit down with NPR’s correspondent and New York Times classical music critic Anastasia Tsioulcas—an award-winning journalist who has shaped national conversations around music, identity, and culture. As the inaugural Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan, Anastasia brings a unique perspective on the evolving role of arts journalism in a shifting media landscape.

Whether you're a journalist, arts enthusiast, educator, or student, this conversation offers a powerful reminder of why arts journalism and criticism still matters.

• Learn more about the Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellowship
• Read more from the art[seen] blog
• More on Anastasia Tsioulcas

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, host Mark Clague explores the intersection of art and science through a unique campus collaboration at the University of Michigan.

Joining the conversation are Professor Todd Allen, Department Chair of U-M’s Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences (NERS), and Devin Wright, a Michigan-based artist and illustrator. Together, they discuss their recent project—a student-designed mural in the NERS building on North Campus—that brings scientific concepts to life through visual storytelling.

Professor Allen, a leading expert in nuclear energy, shares insights on how interdisciplinary partnerships like this one can spark new ways of thinking. Meanwhile, Wright, a graduate of Detroit’s College for Creative Studies, reflects on the power of art to communicate complex ideas and foster engagement in unexpected spaces.

• Read about the mural project in the University Record
• View photos of the mural 
• More on U-M Professor Todd Allen
• More on Artist Devin Wright

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, host Mark Clague continues the conversation with artist and filmmaker David Chung, professor at U-M’s Stamps School of Art & Design.

Building on Part 1, this discussion delves deeper into Impossible Conversations, exploring themes of restorative justice and the personal transformations that can arise when individuals with opposing ideologies find a way to communicate. 

Professor Chung’s work focuses on how identities are shaped in immigrant communities and the challenges of refugees as they integrate into new homelands. Chung’s work has been exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Asia Society, the Walker Arts Center, the Wadsworth Atheneum, Project Rowhouses, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Gwangju Bienniale, the Tretyakov Gallery of Art (Moscow), the Williams College Museum of Art, and in a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

• Impossible Conversations exhibition
• Learn more about the ARIA program
• More on David Chung

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

Today on Creative Currents, you’ll learn all about how artists get paid. In this episode, Mark talked with Makeda Easter about her project “Making It: $napshots from the Artist Pay Project,” an anonymous journalistic series that explores how artists navigate financial realities. 

Makeda is an award-winning journalist and artist who works at the intersection of arts and social justice focusing on how to make artists' lives better. Makeda's work is a powerful blend of storytelling, activism, and cultural exploration. Her writing has appeared in publications such as: The Los Angeles Times, Dance Magazine, and American Theatre.

On this episode of U-M Creative Currents, we'll tackle questions like pay equity, working for exposure, and how to answer the question "Is the offer of this job worth my time?"

• Learn more about The Art Rebellion
• Read the Michigan Daily: Artist Pay Project
• Visit the Ford School: Artist Pay Project

*Production note: Apologies about the audio quality on this episode—we ran into some technical difficulties during this recording.

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this thought-provoking episode of U-M Creative Currents, host Mark Clague welcomes a distinguished panel of guests at the intersection of art, social research, and community engagement: artist Rick Lowe, curator Abigail Winograd, professor Christian Davenport, and social scientist Kate Cagney. Together, they examine how art serves as a catalyst for social exploration, change, and collective storytelling.

As part of a unique collaboration between the Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the U-M Arts Initiative, Rick and Abigail are working alongside U-M students – through a class they’re co-teaching with Professor Davenport – and U-M faculty to create new artworks and an upcoming exhibition. Their work blurs the lines between artistic practice, historical critique, and community-driven social change.

• Learn more about Rick Lowe’s work
• Read about the partnership with the Institute for Social Research and the Arts Initiative
• Follow Abigail Winograd’s curatorial projects
• More on Christian Davenport
• More on Kate Cagney

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, Mark Clague sits down with Professor Rogério Meireles Pinto, artist, scholar, and social worker, to discuss his powerful multimedia exhibit, Colorism. Through video, photography, sculpture, and audience interaction, Colorism questions the ways skin color has been used to assign value, separate communities, and reinforce biases—both across and within racial groups.

Pinto discusses his personal and professional journey, from growing up queer and poor under a dictatorship in Brazil to merging art and science in his work on social justice. He shares insights on how humor plays a role in his critique of racial constructs, the power of autoethnography in healing and activism, and why conversations about colorism are more relevant than ever.

About Our Guest:

• Rogério Meireles Pinto is the University Diversity Social Transformation Professor, Berit Ingersoll-Dayton Collegiate Professor of Social Work, and Professor of Theatre and Drama at the University of Michigan. Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, he uses art-based methods in community-engaged research in the U.S. and Brazil, focusing on improving healthcare access for marginalized groups. His award-winning solo play Marília explores personal loss and identity, while his art installation Realm of the Dead examines his experiences as a gender non-conforming, mixed-race Latinx immigrant. His work has been presented internationally and funded by the NIH and other organizations.
• Learn more about Colorism
• Learn more about Rogério Pinto

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, we introduce listeners to the 2024-2025 Creative Careers Residents—Leah Crosby, Kara Roseborough, and sara faraj. Host Mark sits down with each resident to discuss their work, creative processes, and upcoming projects. From audio storytelling and jazz ballet to participatory photography, these artists and scholars are pushing boundaries in their respective fields.

Featured Guests & Projects:

• Leah Crosby (MFA, Stamps School of Art & Design) – Crosby’s project is titled "Three Times as Tightly" and is a three-part audio work that uses marine animals as symbols to explore human attachment and identity formation. The three chapters include The Anglerfish, The Axolotl, and The Marine Iguana.
  
  
• Kara Roseborough (MFA in Dance, SMTD) – Roseborough is developing a jazz ballet “La Vie en Rose,” which chronicles the journey of a small-town Black waitress with dreams of dancing in New York City. The piece examines issues of race and gender as they pertain to an artist’s journey and incorporate the history of Black people in southeast Michigan.
  
  
• sara faraj (Master of Urban & Regional Planning, Taubman College) – Faraj facilitated Photovoice workshops in 2024-2025 to cultivate space for liberatory education and collective reflection for social change. The Photovoice methodology, which was developed by Caroline C. Wang and Mary Ann Burris, includes photography training, ethical considerations of photography, direction and narrative development through reflection and collaborative activities.

Relevant Links:

• There will be a public presentation of Three Times as Tightly, Leah Crosby’s project showcase and a listening party at the Canterbury House on March 14 at 7:00 p.m. The audio will also be online the same day. Reception to follow the listening party, RSVP today.
• There will be a public performance of “La Vie en Rose” on Saturday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. at the Riverside Arts Center. Get your tickets here.

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival

In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, we introduce listeners to the 2024-2025 Creative Careers Residents—Leah Crosby, Kara Roseborough, and sara faraj. Host Mark sits down with each resident to discuss their work, creative processes, and upcoming projects. From audio storytelling and jazz ballet to participatory photography, these artists and scholars are pushing boundaries in their respective fields.

Featured Guests & Projects:

• Leah Crosby (MFA, Stamps School of Art & Design) – Crosby’s project is titled "Three Times as Tightly" and is a three-part audio work that uses marine animals as symbols to explore human attachment and identity formation. The three chapters include The Anglerfish, The Axolotl, and The Marine Iguana.
  
  
• Kara Roseborough (MFA in Dance, SMTD) – Roseborough is developing a jazz ballet “La Vie en Rose,” which chronicles the journey of a small-town Black waitress with dreams of dancing in New York City. The piece examines issues of race and gender as they pertain to an artist’s journey and incorporate the history of Black people in southeast Michigan.
  
  
• sara faraj (Master of Urban & Regional Planning, Taubman College) – Faraj facilitated Photovoice workshops in 2024-2025 to cultivate space for liberatory education and collective reflection for social change. The Photovoice methodology, which was developed by Caroline C. Wang and Mary Ann Burris, includes photography training, ethical considerations of photography, direction and narrative development through reflection and collaborative activities.

Relevant Links:

• There will be a public presentation of Three Times as Tightly, Leah Crosby’s project showcase and a listening party at the Canterbury House on March 14 at 7:00 p.m. The audio will also be online the same day. Reception to follow the listening party, RSVP today.
• There will be a public performance of “La Vie en Rose” on Saturday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. at the Riverside Arts Center. Get your tickets here.
  
  

• Subscribe to the Arts Initiative Newsletter
• Checkout our website
• Learn more about the Michigan Arts Festival