The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 11, 2005 - 3
Vlchigan Theater receives- DAMAGECONTROL
;rant, Soundfall unfunded . ,
Justin Miller
ily News Editor
The Michigan Theater will purchase
digital cinema projectors and video
plays with a grant given to it by the
te in an effort to lure college gradu-
s to Ann Arbor.
fhe city applied for the grant as part
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Cool Cit-
.itiative to make Michigan cities
>re attractive for college graduates
live and work in. The city asked for
0,000 for theater improvements
an art display to be built on the
e of the Maynard Street Parking
ucture, but the grant was only given
the theater.
They said that they were looking for
Jects with one focus. They preferred
Michigan Theater project," said
andt Colutas, chair of Ann Arbor's
ol Cities taskforce.
he theater will purchase two high
inition video projectors, each worth
s of thousands of dollars for its the-
r and screening room. This equip-
nt will keep the theater up-to-date
accessible to small, independent
amakers.
"It's not going to be too long before
luloid film is the exception, instead
of the rule," said Russ Collins, execu-
tive director of the Michigan Theater.
"This will allow us to exhibit all kinds
of digital cinema. A lot of smaller, inde-
pendent filmmakers do their formats
only in digital"
Theater patrons will not have to be in
their seats to watch films, with the addi-
tion of a "micro-cinema" gallery in the
lobby. Like an art gallery, people will
be able to walk along the flat-screen dis-
plays and watch short films. This added
diversity of film will help the theater
live up to its role as an arts organiza-
tion, Collins said.
Collins said the city would alsobenefit
from the theater improvements because
of the theater's reputation for showing
rare films. He also said he hoped that
the digital cinema would turn the theater
into a magnet for filmmakers when the
improvements are finished next year.
Yards away, the Maynard parking
structure will not see its "Soundfall"
project come to life, after the state
rejected the Cool Cities grant.
The Soundfall plan would have fea-
tured a set of LED and aluminum tubes
that would form different colored pat-
terns of light in response to pedestrians
on the street below.
Art and Design lecturer Bill Bur-
gard headed the three-semester class
where his students explored what pub-
tic art should look like, crafted a design
proposal for the Soundfall project and
presented it to the state. Burgard said
that he did not think the Soundfall and
Michigan Theater were competing.
"I don't feel it was us going against
them to get the money. I feel that
the state - the Cool Cities people
- who decided on the grant weren't
ready for our project," Burgard said.
"I'm very disappointed that we had
felt strongly that we were going to
get the grant."
Burgard said he heard that the
Soundfall proposal was rejected
because the state felt it was too
"risky" and abstract.
While the project was not funded
by the state, Colutas said that he
hopes the Soundfall can be complet-
ed with community fundraising.
"We have not given up on the Sound-
fall project," Colutas said.
Burgard said that the project has the
advantage of already being designed,
saving future investors time and money.
The Soundfall project costs an esti-
mated $90,000, but it could be more
expensive if Maynard St. has to be shut-
down for construction.
SA adds new department
Jeremy Davidson
News Editor
The University Board of Regents
roved the reorganization of the Film
ts and Cultures program at their May
eting, a step that recognizes the evols-
nature of the discipline and gives
ependence to the program. Starting
all, the University will put the new
partment of Screen Arts and Cultures
hin the College of Literature Science
Ithe Arts.
Richard Abel, Interim Dean for the
apartment of Film Arts and Cultures,
d people pushed for the name change
cause of the department's specificity.
"We were becoming dissatisfied with
rame because it was tied to the tech-
egy. We wanted to come up with a
ne that encompassed all aspects of the
cipline,"Abel said.
Associate Dean for the Humanities
partment Michael Schoenfeldt said that
new name acknowledges that media
expanded beyond film and video over
last 10 years.
'The new name is a sign of a rapidly
evolving field," Schoenfeldt said.
In a recommendation to the Board
of Regents, LSA Dean Terrence J.
McDonald wrote that while film stud-
ies has always been an interdisciplin-
ary field, they are not interdisciplinary
in the same way as the other programs
within the college.
McDonald argued that "the Pro-
gram in Film and Video Studies is
more on the order of the Department
of the History of Art as an intellec-
tual discipline," and as such, the pro-
gram requires the title of department
according to the University's own
criterion.
Schoenfeldt agreed with McDon-
ald's recommendation.
"Over the last 10 years the program
has grown from an adjunct depart-
ment of English where a few people
taught film to a powerful independent
program with a clear sense of inde-
pendence and its own disciplinary
protocols," Schoenfeldt said.
Nick Tanis, an Associate Professor
of Film and Television at New York
University, who has had 30 years of
experience in the field, said film pro-
grams should be kept independent of
established departments, like English.
"An English teacher may be able to
analyze a screenplay, but they don't
necessarily know how to write one,
or to understand what challenges a
writer of screenplays faces or how to
market a screenplay once it is pro-
duced. Nor can we ask them to be
fluent in film. What will work on the
page will not necessarily translate to
the screen. A screenwriter knows the
difference," Tanis said.
Abel said that the change from
program status to departmental sta-
tus could result in more funding, but
that this was not a given.
Regardless, Schoenfeldt had an
optimistic outlook on the future of
the department.
"It is certain to become the pre-
miere program in the Midwest,"
Schoenfeldt said.
The program will begin to move
into new facilities over the next few
years, and hopes to offer a Ph.D.
program starting in 2007.
Hey, Sophomores
and Juniors...
ORRECTIONS
In the article 'Court limits student pub-
ing freedom,' (7/5/05) Megan Ganz's
me should not have been spelled with
graphic on page nine of last week's
per should have said that Bollinger vs.
-atz was a 6-3 loss for the University.
Please report any errors in the Daily
corrections@michigandaily.com.
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