Art students at Eastern Michigan University may have a new academic opportunity thanks to a potential $200,000 gift from the Windgate Foundation. The gift is a matching grant, meaning it is contingent upon the EMU School of Art and Design raising a portion of the funds needed for the project, $100,000.
The funding will be used to establish a fellowship program in 3D art for both undergraduate and graduate students.
The art school will identify 10 students for two cohorts to be known as EMU Windgate Fellows. Each Windgate Fellow will receive a stipend for one year for use toward tuition, fees, travel and other expenses related to creative activity and scholarly research.
The Windgate Foundation is a private organization based in Little Rock, Ark., with a mission to support craft and visual arts. Launched in 1993, the foundation was a key donor to the Windgate Arts Complex at Eastern, which opened a year ago. The foundation provided $3.4 million in gifts toward construction of the $7.5 million complex.
School of Art and Design Director Sandra Murchison said that the donation and the fellowship program are important gifts for art education.
"That's huge," Murchison said. "We were given $100K, approved for a second $100K as a challenge grant, and I'm raising $100K to meet that challenge for a budget of $300K."
The school recently received $100,000 of the grant. Murchison said they now have two years to raise the matching $100,000. Once that fundraising is complete, the school will receive the additional $100,000 from the Windgate Foundation for a total of $300,000 dedicated to EMU students.
Anyone wanting to contribute to the matching grant should contact Murchison at smurchis@emich.edu or Jill Hunsberger, the university's associate vice president for advancement, at jhusnberg1@emich.edu.
Fellowship Application
“We're looking to support our best students,” Murchison said of the fellow project.
Students will first need to apply to the program. Eligible students include sophomores, juniors and seniors.
Selections will be made by the faculty fellowship committee. Fellows will be announced at the end of the academic year.
The grant is designed to do the following:
- Support students taking experiential learning classes.
- Help pay for tuition and fees for an internship or a class at the Parsons Center for Arts and Science, which is up north, or other courses requiring domestic travel. (Parsons offers summer 10-day immersive classes.)
- Cover part of the costs for art supplies, travel and possibly a conference.
“We're going to be running an art history class to New York City this May," Murchison said. “So, it's those kinds of special experiences that a lot of the students don't have a chance to take advantage of, and support our best students doing some of our coolest class work."
Possible effects on the local community
Murchison said because of the grant, the school can increase its community engagement work, which she called a win-win situation.
The art school currently is working with the Riverside Art Center, a nonprofit art center in Ypsilanti, to pay for a summer workshop.
“Hopefully, these fellows will help, or some of our students will help in teaching a workshop this summer along with the Riverside Art Center, " Murchison said.
Windgate Arts Complex a year after its dedication
The Wingate Arts Complex was designed to house EMU's 3D arts classes, studios and spaces in one place.
"Previously, the classes were just sort of shoe-horned into other spaces,” Murchison said.
The new complex offers spaces where students can take classes in sculpture, metalsmithing, jewelry work, ceramics, digital fabrication, 3D design and furniture design. All classes are open to anyone at EMU, and non-major courses are included in general education.
Murchison said having the new complex for the study of art is beneficial for students’ careers and knowledge.
“Before we had these studios, ceramics was in the shipping and receiving building, so it was really separate as an outpost itself, and then sculpture was a much smaller footprint," Murchison said. "It was in this building, but this building used to be a small, tiny piece of what we see now."
“Now they are able to share one large, wonderful new wood shop," Murchison said. "They share the digital fabrication studio as a resource and working space. They share sculpture spaces; they share a new wet lab that's used by both ceramics and sculpture students for plaster making."
Murchison said the new shared space is a smarter way to work. The students in the new faculty are aware of what the other studios are doing, and they're able to collaborate much more.
Galleries and artworks
The doors of the Windgate Arts Complex are open only to authorized students enrolled in a specific class. However, those who love art and are interested in viewing the works that come from this complex can visit EMU display areas like the student-run Intermedia Gallery Group gallery, the Ford Gallery and the University Gallery.
