| Date |
Title |
Producer |
| 1/18/00 |
Zoo
Art: It
Lurks Here, Too |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
This spring, Grand Rapids will get its own version of the Chicago's
attention-grabbing "Cows on Parade," except the animals that will be
decorated by artists will be four- foot-tall rabbits -- Grand Rabbits for
Grand Rapids -- and they will be at the zoo. As Michigan Radio's Tamar
Charney reports, this high-profile project may call attention to the art
that lurks in many zoos. However, one Michigan zoo is doing more with art
than using it for decoration. The Detroit Zoo runs what is called the
Wildlife Interpretive Gallery. It is a gallery and museum about the
relationship between man and animal. Its goal is to teach people about how
pervasive animals are in our culture and psyche with an eye toward showing
the importance of conservation. Tamar Charney takes listeners to the John
Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids and the Detroit Zoo for a look at the art that
lurks at the zoo.
Interviews
Brenda Stringer - executive director, John Ball Zoo
Ron Kagan - executive director, Detroit Zoological Institute
Gerry Craig - curator, Wildlife Interpretive Gallery, Detroit Zoo
Jane Ballentine - American Aquarium and Zoo Association
|
| 1/24/00 |
Clements: Women in History |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The Clements Library at the University of Michigan contains original
American historical documents from the 16th through the mid-20th century --
but there are still untold riches hidden in the archives waiting to be
discovered. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton has a look at the Women in
History Project at the Clements Library. Librarians are combing the archive
reading, cataloguing and making letters, diaries, drawings and other
first-person documents about women in history available to the public.
Interviews
John Dann - director, Clements Library
Rachel Onuf - director, Women in History Project, Clements Library
|
| 1/24/00 |
Orchid Pavilion: Rare Chinese Painting |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The common complaint many people have about abstract art is well known. "I
don't get it -- what does it mean?" But the "I don't get it" refrain is
also heard in response to Chinese painting. A brand new exhibition called
the "Orchid Pavillion Gathering" is hoping to change that. As Michigan
Radio's Tamar Charney reports, the University of Michigan has put together
an exhibit of its rarely displayed collection of Chinese paintings, complete
with explanations and translations geared toward unlocking the mystery of
the art form.
Interviews
Marshall Wu - senior curator, Asian art, Univeristy of Michigan Museum of
Art
|
| 1/31/00 |
Art Business: It Takes More Than Creating |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The real world life of the artist and the businessperson really aren't that
far apart. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney took a look at the business tasks
artists spend a good 40 percent of their time doing. She also stops in at a
class at Grand Valley State University where students are taught the
marketing, packaging and networking skills they'll need to make it in the
art world.
Interviews
Brett Budde - Dynamite Gallery Project, Grand Rapids
Jeri Hollister - sculptor, based in Ann Arbor
Shi Hora - art student, Grand Valley State University
Paul Wittenbraker - professor of art, Grand Valley State University
|
| 2/4/00 |
Garden Symphony: Inspired by MSU |
Gretchen Millich
|
|
Description
Many symphonies have been written with specific themes in mind, such as
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony that he called Recollections of Rural Life.
Now, a new symphony has been written about the gardens at Michigan State
University. Gretchen Millich talks with the composer and performers of the
new work.
Interviews
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich - Pulitzer Prize winning composer
Dottie Withrow - patron who commissioned the symphony
Leon Gregorian - Michigan State University School of Music
|
| 2/16/00 |
Take My Picture, Please: Cultural Snapshots |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
At home, you probably have picture frames, albums and boxes stuffed full of
photographs of yourself and your loved ones. All of these portraits and
snapshots tell some sort of story about how you live and what's important
to you. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports, a new exhibit at the
Cranbrook Institute of Science is asking people to take a look at what can
and can't be learned about people and cultures from a photograph.
Interviews
Larry Hutchinson - curator of exhibits, Cranbrook Institute of Science
|
| 2/24/00 |
U.P. Life: Ski Jump - A Major Competition at a Historic Jump |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The most that many of us know about ski jumping is the now classic agony of
defeat footage from ABC's Wide World of Sports. But to really get a feel
for the sport, the Upper Penninsula is the place to go in Michigan. Michigan
Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the competitions held at the jump and
the long heritage of ski jumping at Iron Mountain.
Interviews
Dale Ward, Kiwanis Ski Club
|
|
Description
The Detroit Institute of Arts is trying its hand at creating a blockbuster
exhibition. For years, the DIA was struggling financially and couldn't even
bring in a blockbuster, much less mount one. The DIA has put together a
look at Van Gogh's portraits in conjunction with two other museums.
Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports.
Interviews
George Keyes - curator of European paintings, Detroit Institute of Arts
Graham Beal - director, Detroit Institute of Arts
|
| 3/9/00 |
Film
Kids: Young
Filmmakers Project |
Tamar Charney/Juliette
Chiarella
|
|
Description
Every year since 1963, the Ann Arbor Film Festival has presented independent
and experimental 16 millimeter films from around the world. Included in the
festival this year are 24 films by Michigan teenagers. The festival hired a
filmmaker from California to travel around to schools teaching 6th -12th
graders in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Chelsea how to make their own 16
millimeter films. The Young Filmmakers Project teaches students the
echnical skills of film-making along with some more fundamental lessons
about communicating ideas to an audience.
Interviews
Alfonso Alvarez - filmmaker and Ann Arbor Film Festival artist-in-residence
Christina Hamilton - managing director, Ann Arbor Film Festival
Claire Mantel - student
|
| 3/20/00 |
Mining for
History: Goin' Underground - Part 1
|
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The two things Michigan is best known for are the automobile and the Motown
sound. But from the mid-1800s until World War II, Michigan had a different
claim to fame -- copper. It was found on the Keweenaw Peninsula, the
finger-like peninsula that sticks out of the northwest side of the U.P.
Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has the first of a three-part look at
Michigan's copper industry and the legacy it left behind.
Interviews
Richard Gersch - professor of mining engineering, Michigan Technological
University
Larry Lankton - professor of history, Michigan Technological University
|
| 3/21/00 |
Mining for
History: Not Your Father's National Park - Part 2
|
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, Michigan was famous for its copper
mining industry. In the late 1800s, mines on the Keweenaw Peninsula produced
85 percent of United States copper. But when the bottom fell out, the mines
- and even whole towns - closed up shop. And nothing more happened.
Buildings weren't torn down; they were just abandoned. A new National Park
is now using these remains to tell the story of Michigan's copper heritage.
Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports.
Interviews
Frank Fiala - superintendent, Keweenaw National Historical Park
Ed Yarbourgh - executive director, Quincy Mine Hoist Association
|
| 3/22/00 |
Mining for
History: When K-Mart Met Calumet - Part 3 |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The Keweenaw National Historical Park on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula at
the top of the U.P. is working to preserve the remnants and history of
Michigan's copper boom. But unlike Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and many other
National Parks, the Keweenaw National Historical Park is not a piece of land
set aside. Instead, it is park in the midst of a living community, telling
its stories about the past as modern life continues forward. Michigan
Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at how historic preservation and modern
development are getting along in the final part of our look at Michigan's
copper country.
Interviews
Larry Lankton - professor of history, Michigan Technological University
Paul Lehto - supervisor, Calumet Township
|
| 4/21/00 |
The Mining Team: Historic Competition |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The history of Michigan's mining industry can be seen in ruins and old
mines in the
Upper Peninsula. But the heritage also shows up in competitions. This
weekend a
group of Michigan Tech student athletes are off to compete in an
international
competition that pays tribute to mining. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney
explains.
|
| 4/21/00 |
Tamales: Passing on the Tradition |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
Every year, the Michigan State University Museum gives out a number of cash
awards
to traditional artists and craftspeople. They use the money to teach their
skills and
knowledge to an apprentice. Among the winners this year is a
Mexican-American
woman in Lansing who is passing along her talent for making tamales, a
traditional
Mexican dish of spicy meat wrapped in cornmeal. Gretchen Millich has this
report.
|
| 5/1/00 |
Bat Mine |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
As warm weather moves in, so too do mosquitoes, black flies, and other
biting bugs. It may be hard to believe, but the bug situation would be
worse if it weren't for researchers lending a helping hand to their natural
predators. It's a project that takes advantage of Michigan's old historic
mines Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports.
|
| 5/15/00 |
Techno |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
Throughout the summer, Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit is home to some of the
largest free music festivals in the country. There's country music at the
Downtown Hoedown; jazz at what up until this year has been called the
Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival; gospel; world music; and more. This summer
there's a new festival on the Hart Plaza line up. It celebrates the music
Detroit is famous for around the globe. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney
reports, worldwide Detroit is known as the birthplace of techno.
Interviews
Carl Craig - artistic director, Electronic Music Festival, and musician
Carol Marvin - executive director, Electronic Music Festival
|
| 6/2/00 |
Lost n Found Opera |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The history of art and music is littered with lost works -- paintings,
symphonies and works of literature that no one will ever see, hear or
read again. A 1940s opera by jazz and ragtime pianist James P. Johnson
and poet Langston Hughes was one of these lost works. As Michigan Radio's
Tamar Charney reports, the lost work has now been found although it isn't
quite in one piece yet.
Interviews
James Dapogny - professor of music
|
| 6/4/00 |
Genius |
Tamar
Charney/Amy Clark |
|
Description
The MacArthur Foundation announced its so-called "Genius Grants." One
of the recipients is a professor at the University of Michigan. As Michigan
Radio's Tamar Charney reports, Susan Alcock is a professor of classics
and archeology who is studying ancient Greece without digging.
Interviews
Susan Alcock - professor of archeology and classics, University of Michigan
|
| 6/7/00 |
Operation Religion |
Tamar
Charney/Amy Clark |
|
Description
Musicians, comedians, athletes, clergy members and volunteers will be
paying a call on prisons across the state. It's called Operation Starting
Line, and it is an evangelical program that will visit every prison in
the United States during the next five years. As Michigan Radio's Tamar
Charney reports, Michigan is the second state to get the program.
Interviews
Thomas C. Pratt - president of Prison
Fellowship Ministries
Randall Wilson - legal director of Iowa Civil Liberties Union
Matt Davis - spokesperson for Michigan Department of Corrections
|
| 6/21/00 |
Hi Tech Teaching |
Tamar
Charney/Amy Clark |
|
Description
In recent years there's been a big push to get computers into schools
and classrooms. This past weekend education experts met at the University
of Michigan to talk about how those computers should actually be used
to transmit knowledge once they find their way to the classroom. Michigan
Radio's Tamar Charney reports.
Interviews
Linda Roberts - director of educational technology, U.S. Department of
Education
Barry Fishman - professor of learning technology, University of Michigan
Juanita Clay Chambers - associate superintendent, Educational Services,
Detroit Public Schools
Nora Sabelli - senior program director, The National Science Foundation
|
| 6/23/00 |
Ancestors' Clothesline |
Frida
Waara |
|
Description
We all have traditions for celebrating our heritage, but one woman in
the Upper Peninsula is helping people celebrate their heritage by putting
ancestors on the line ... a clothesline, to be specific. As reporter Frida
Waara explains, clotheslines festooned with photographs, letters and other
mementos are being strung to celebrate many Michigan residents' Finnish
heritage.
Interviews
Mary Wright - installation artist
Beth Linna - Marquette resident Hans Linna - 13-year-old Marquette resident
|
| 7/3/00 |
Mailboat:
Ties to Shorelife |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
For many of us, postcards and letters are still a way we keep in touch
with friends and family when we're on vacation or traveling. But if you
are constantly in transit -- if your job is, for instance, on a Great
Lakes freighter -- how do you get your letters, your magazines or even
your bills? You're not near a mail box. You're stuck day and night aboard
your ship. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has the answer in an audio postcard
from the Detroit River.
Interviews
• Sam Buchanan - captain, J.W. Wescott II
• Jim Hogan - vice president and great-great-grandson of founder
of J.W. Wescott Co.
|
| 7/3/00 |
Suess: Green Eggs and Grand Rapids |
Matt
Shafer Powell |
|
Description
The Grand Rapids Children's Museum has come alive in a tribute to one
of the world's most famous doctors -- Doctor Seuss. Michigan Radio's Matt
Shafer Powell reports.
Interviews
• Theresa Thome - executive director, Public Museum of Grand Rapids
• Diane Sevald - teacher, McFall Elementary
• Bill Rich - principal, McFall Elementary
• Sharon Green - parent
• Darren Hosmer - parent
• Various children at exhibit
|
| 7/7/00 |
Arta Fundi: A Fundraising Sculpture |
Tamar
Charney/Amy Clark |
|
Description
For years, one of the biggest challenges facing the arts has been money.
Arts organizations are constantly fundraising, and artists are constantly
trying to figure out how to make ends meet. One artist has decided to
turn over fundraising duties to his art. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney
explains, Detroit area artist Jim Pallas dreamed up the idea of a cajoling
fundraising computerized sculpture named Arta Fundi.
Interviews
• Jim Pallas - artist
|
| 7/7/00 |
Rural Arts: A Forum |
Tamar
Charney |
|
Description
Leaders of arts and cultural organizations from Midwestern rural communities
got together during July on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. As Michigan
Radio's Tamar Charney reports, they discussed rural arts issues.
Interviews
• Bill Ivey - chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
• Cynthia Cote - director of Community Arts Center, Hancock
• Carol Thompson - program director, Michigan Association of Community
Arts Agencies
|
| 7/21/00 |
Dr. Beaumont: Weird History |
Michelle
Corum |
|
Description
For many people in the state, the name Beaumont brings to mind the story
of Dr. William Beaumont a frontier military doctor whose medical experiments
are memorable. In fact, it is probably one of the oddest tales of Mackinac
history. Now, Mackinac State Historic Parks hopes that a revamped exhibit
helps the public "digest" the story better. Michelle Corum of Interlochen
Public Radio reports from Mackinac Island.
Interviews
• Stephanie Kaskey - interpreter, Mackinac State Historic Park
• Phil Porter - curator, Mackinac State Historic Park Various exhibit
visitors
|
| 7/17/00 |
Condom Man: A Creative Approach |
Mike
Perini |
|
Description
We hear a lot about HIV and AIDS. But in spite of the large amount of
information, people are still getting infected. An outreach group in Ypsilanti
has been using a fresh and creative approach to try to educate people
about AIDS prevention. Michigan Radio's Mike Perini explains a play inspired
a comic strip superhero named Condom Man to come to the rescue.
Interviews
• Dan Burns - outreach worker, HARC
• Gregory Button - professor, University of Michigan School of Public
Health
|
| 7/24/00 |
State of the State's Libraries 1: Card Catalogues to Coffee Shops |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
The last decade has been a difficult one for libraries. They've struggled
to computerize and keep pace with changing demands. And many of Michigan's
largest libraries have had to reinvent themselves - changing both the
way they are managed and the way they are funded. Michigan Radio's Tamar
Charney begins the first of a three-part look at the state of the state's
libraries.
Interviews
• Sarah Stewart - writer
• Brian Stoutenberg - director, Troy Public Library
• Tom Genson - president, Michigan Library Association
|
| 7/25/00 |
State of the State's Libraries 2: End of the School Library |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
Over the past decade, libraries have been changing. Card catalogues have
made way for computers. And many reference books aren't books anymore
-- they're software. People still go to libraries for books; however,
they also go to the library to use the internet and computerized research
tools. But many of Michigan's larger libraries have had to reinvent their
management and finances as well as their collections. Michigan Radio's
Tamar Charney has the second of our three-part look at the state of the
state's libraries.
Interviews
• Martha Ferriby - director, Muskegon's Hackley Public Library
• Cynthia Faulhaber - attorney, Miller Canfield and Paddock
• Gloria Coles - director, Flint Public Library
|
| 7/26/00 |
State of the State's Libraries 3: Struggling in an Age of Wealth |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
Over the last decade or so, libraries across the state have been struggling
to computerize, keep pace with changing demands, and repair aging buildings.
And school finance reform meant many of Michigan's large school libraries
had to reinvent themselves ... changing both the way they are managed
and the way they are funded. In the final part of our look at the state
of the states libraries, Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports that the
state of a library all comes down to one thing...money.
Interviews
• Tom Genson - president, Michigan Library Association
• Cynthia Faulhaber - attorney, Miller Canfield and Paddock
• Saul Amdursky - director, Kalamazoo Public Library
• Joan Durrance - professor, University of Michigan School of Information
|
| 8/11/00 |
Wild Yards:
Native Plant Design |
Tamar Charney
|
|
Description
A national conference held this year in Michigan is trying to plant the
idea that everybody's yard doesn't have to be a lawn with formal garden
beds full of exotic species. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look
at a different type of garden aesthetic.
Interviews
• Bob Grese - director, University of Michigan Arboretum, and professor
of landscape architecture
• Trish Beckjord - president, Ann Arbor
Chapter - Wild Ones
• Brett Rappaport - national president,
Wild Ones
|
| 8/11/00 |
Steppin'
In It |
Gretchen
Millich |
|
Description
The National Folk Festival features performing artists from all over the
country and a few from Michigan. A Lansing-area band called "Steppin'
In It" isn't officially in the folk festival, but they will be taking
their music to the streets this weekend to make sure festival-goers hear
their sound. Gretchen Millich reports.
Interviews
• Dominic Suita - "Steppin' In It" bass player
• Josh Davis - "Steppin' In It" lead singer
|
| 8/11/00 |
Los Bandits:
Tex-Mex, Michigan-Style |
Gretchen Millich |
|
Description
Los Bandits is a band from Kalamazoo that plays Tex-Mex music, Michigan-style.
Band members Renee Meave and Guillermo Martinez both came to Michigan
as migrant workers. Many of their songs deal with the plight of migrant
farm workers.
Interviews
• Renee Meave - Los Bandits
• Guillermo Martinez - Los Bandits
|
| 8/25/00 |
Jazz for Thought |
Tamar
Charney |
|
Description
From time to time, many musicians are invited to perform in school auditoriums
for kids. Often the performances are more than concerts; they are a chance
for a little music education. But one Michigan band is teaching about
more than just music.
Interviews
• Jeff Haas - pianist
• Student - Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
|
| 8/25/00 |
Tall Ships
|
Matt Shafer
Powell |
|
Description
A flotilla of six historic "tall ships" have paid a visit to South Haven.
Matt Shafer Powell has a look at the romance and appeal of the sea, ship
and sail.
Interviews
• Barbara Kreuzer - executive director, South Haven's Michigan Maritime
Museum
• Capt. Daniel Moreland - skipper of the Picton Castle
• Larry King - director, Greater South Haven Chamber of Commerce
|
| 9/8/00 |
Plants
and Sculpture: A New Museum? |
Tamar
Charney |
|
Description
If you want to see plants, you go to a garden, and if you want to see
sculpture, you go to a museum. The Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids
has been known as the place to see plants in Michigan. It's home to the
largest indoor conservatory in the state. Now the Meijer Gardens also
wants to become the place to go to see sculpture. Michigan Radio's Tamar
Charney reports.
Interviews
• Joseph Becherer - Ssculpture curator, Frederik Meijer Gardens
• Frederik Meijer - patron and namesake, Frederik Meijer Gardens
• Erika Doss - professor, University of Colorado-Boulder, and National
Museum of Art Fellow
|
| 9/8/00 |
One Room:
U.P. Life 2000 |
Frida Waara
|
|
Description
While some students return to overcrowded classrooms numbering 30 students
or more, reporter Frida Waara found a place in the Upper Peninsula where
the public school is a one-room schoolhouse with seven students and one
teacher. It's a public school maintained by a community committed to educating
its own kids instead of putting them on a bus to the closest big school
- an hour and 45 minutes away. A look at modern education in an old-fashioned
setting.
Interviews
• Diane Trudgeon - K-6 teacher, Copper Harbor Public School
• Medora Stevens - 2nd grader, Copper Harbor Public School
• Joey Jedlicka - 6th grader, Copper Harbor Public School
|
| 9/14/00 |
Videoculture:
Video Art |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
Video technology has brought us television news, MTV, wedding videos and
even reality TV. It has also spawned art. This month, an exhibition at
11institutions in the metro-Detroit and Windsor area is surveying three
decades of video art and video culture. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney
reports.
Interviews
• Irene Hoffman - curator of exhibitions, Cranbrook Museum of Art
• Jermey Rigsby - program coordinator, Artcite & House of Toast
• Chris Doyle - artist
|
| 9/28/00 |
Lighthouse:
Future of the Past |
Tamar Charney |
|
Description
Lighthouses used to be the road signs of the transportation system back
when goods and people were moved by waterways instead of highways. But
as the Industrial Age gave way to the Information Age, the importance
of lighthouses has dimmed. Now the U.S. Coast Guard has to figure out
a way to preserve the structures it no longer needs. Michigan Radio's
Tamar Charney reports.
Interviews
• David Gilroy - owner, David's Harborside
• Eric Hoerneman - Aids to Navigation, U.S. Coast Guard
• Chuck Clark - Benzie County administrator
• Dick Moehl - Great Lake Lighthouse Keepers Association
|
| 9/28/00 |
Archaeology:
Digging for Roads |
Matt Shafer
Powell |
|
Description
Before bulldozers move a single mound of dirt, various groups are consulted,
and their arguments are taken into consideration when the state decides
to build a road. As a result, a highway construction crew contains much
more than equipment operators. There are attorneys, horticulturists and
zoologists. Michigan Radio's Matt Shafer Powell has the story on another
profession you may not expect to see at a highway construction site.
Interviews
• Dave Ruggers - archaeologist, Michigan Department of Transportation
• Dean Anderson - archaeologist, State of Michigan
• Sharon Detz - Grand River Band of Ottawas
|
