About 30 people gathered in 
the Earl V. Moore Building on 
the University of Michigan’s 
North Campus Monday evening 
for a discussion-based event 
hosted by TEDxUofM and 
the School of Music, Theatre 
& Dance’s EXCEL Lab. The 
TEDxUofM 
Salon 
revolved 
around the theme of activism 
in the arts, approaching the 
idea with an interactive event. 
As opposed to the conference 
hosted 
by 
TEDxUofM 
in 
February, the salons are meant 
to be smaller and more intimate 
discussions.
LSA senior Allison Radman 
helped organize the event and 
gave background on the purpose 
of TEDxUofM.
“These salons are supposed 

to be more discussion-based 
events where we kind of bring 
together the community and 
talk about a specific topic,” 
Radman said. 
The events are supposed to 
spark an interactive discussion 
as well as highlight interesting 
speakers and experiences.
“The arts as activism is … 
such an interesting discussion 
and that’s why TedxUofM is so 
interested in having this kind of 
event,” Radman said.
The event started with a 
TEDx video featuring artist 
and activist Marcus Ellsworth. 
Following the video, attendees 
split into small groups to discuss 
reactions and the role art plays 
in activism.
Melissa 
Coppola 
is 
the 
program 
assistant 
for 
the 
EXCEL Lab in the Music, 
Theatre & Dance School. EXCEL 
is a place for entrepreneurship, 

leadership and career services 
within the realm of performing 
arts.
“In the School of Music, 
Theatre & Dance the EXCEL 
program is relatively new,” 
Coppola said. “And one of the 
things that we do is provide 
funding for students with all 
different sorts of projects, from 
performance-based down to 
things with much greater social 
impact.”
Coppola hopes the EXCEL 
Lab can help students who are 
interested in both the arts and 
activism, but who are unsure 
about what that can look like.
“I think for a lot of students, 
it’s really hard to understand 
what that looks like because it 
can take many different forms, 
and today’s event I think is just 
kind of getting people to think 
about what the arts can look like 
when you’re trying to make a 
change in the community 
you live in,” Coppola said.
The featured speaker 
of the event was Deekah 
Rox, program director 
of Girls Rock Detroit and 
founder of the Cosmic 
Slop Music Festival. Rox 
became 
interested 
in 
rock music at a young age, 
partially inspired by her 
father’s love of music.
“My 
dad 
told 
me 
growing up that there’s a 
song for every occasion,” 
Rox said.
Rox 
opened 
the 
event by describing her 
childhood on the eastside 
of Detroit with a loving 
family. 
She 
described 
feeling from a young age 
as if she lived in between 
two worlds because of her 
music taste.
“It was very obvious 
from an early age that I 
was not necessarily into 
the same stuff that the 
rest of the kids in the 
neighborhood were into,” 

Rox said.
Rox remembers her music 
interests 
straying 
from 
what others thought of as 
stereotypically Black.
“In 
my 
headphones, 
the 
music did not necessarily reflect 
the environment that I lived 
in, stereotypically,” Rox said. 
“It made it very uncomfortable 
because I always felt like I was 
trying to be Black enough for 
my Black friends, and trying to 
calm down my Blackness for my 
white friends.”
Rox 
also 
described 
her 
experience in theater as she was 
young, saying it helped her learn 
more about performance and 
herself.
“It kind of helped me carve 
out my place, or what felt like my 
place, even though there were 
some stereotypes that were 
reinforced,” she said. “Because 
I’m a loud Black chick, so I got 
all the loud Black chick roles.”
Rox described her various 
performance experiences, as 
well as being part of a band. 
Despite these experiences, she 
still felt like she was in between 
two worlds.
“I still felt like, every time I 
showed up somewhere with this 
guitar, uncomfortable,” she said.
One of the memories she looks 
back on fondly is the creation of 
the Cosmic Slop Music Festival, 
a place for rock musicians of 
color to come together. Most of 
all, Rox and other Black Detroit-
based rock musicians created 
the festival to be a safe space for 
all people.
“You miss that feeling of being 
in a room that is a safe space,” 
Rox said. “Microaggressions 
are everywhere. I just walked 
away from a very, very good 
paying job because I am not 
going to be able to be the token 
Black girl.”

QUIDDITCH TOURNAME NT 

2 — Tuesday, March 26, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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KELSEY PEASE/Daily
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TUESDAY:
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Discussion-based event sponsored by EXCEL Lab included a speech from the Girls 
Rock Detroit program director, Cosmic Slop Music Festival founder Deekah Rox 

TEDxUofM Salon reflects on arts as activism 

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 is a week dedicated to showcasing the ethical, environmental and health benefits of a 
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