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EVENT OVERVIEW

The University Musical Society & Michigan Ross Design Jam: 

Technology and Equitable Design for the Performing Arts 

October 16, 2022 

Ross School of Business Tauber Colloquium and Hill Auditorium 

Sponsored by the William Davidson Foundation Director Discretionary Philanthropic Fund of the United Jewish Foundation

The University Musical Society and the Ross School of Business +Impact Studio are convening a one-day design jam to coincide with a weeklong residency with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.  We gather to look at new ways of getting the arts into the hands of audiences through innovative uses of technology -- using new tools and design methods to generate new formats and equitable access. The design jam brings together an intimate group of artists, business leaders, faculty, students, and arts lovers who will combine their expertise to incubate new forms for reaching emerging audiences. The event features a visit with Wynton Marsalis to share his insights and concludes with attendance at a live UMS performance with Wynton and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Hill Auditorium.

What’s a “design jam”?

A design jam is a structured brainstorming session aimed at producing a deliverable. In this case, we take on the question of how to use new technologies and tools to create innovative ways for performing artists to reach audiences. Innovations in technology are changing how we communicate, collaborate, shop, socialize, learn and teach, even how we know. Consider how something as mundane as getting a meal from a restaurant has been transformed over the past few years (where your server may have been replaced by a delivery driver or a QR code, your food may have been prepared in an anonymous ghost kitchen, and the “restaurant” may exist only on the internet).

All this innovation creates intriguing possibilities and hazards for the performing arts. That is what we will be exploring on October 16. Our event is a collaboration between the University Musical Society and the Ross School of Business, supported by the William Davidson Foundation Director Discretionary Philanthropic Fund of the United Jewish Foundation. UMS has been an innovator for 140 years in connecting audiences in Michigan with the best performing artists in the world. Ross is in the vanguard of research and teaching on new ways of organizing businesses and other kinds of organizations. The William Davidson Foundation has supported forward-looking innovations in education and the arts for decades. And for the design jam we are bringing together innovative and entrepreneurial people like yourself from across generations in the arts, business, education, and nonprofits.

Why now? 

New technologies have fundamentally changed how people organize, collaborate, consume, and know.  How might we use these technologies and tools to create new and equitable vehicles to get art to people in ways that preserve what is unique about the arts? What is the impact of these shifts on art itself? This day is dedicated to these questions.

About Wynton Marsalis

Mr. Marsalis is a trailblazer in leading, partnering with and supporting many culturally diverse  performing artists, and the scope of artistic outputs ranges across styles including classical, jazz and big  band, and technical outputs like concert, film, dance, recordings and curation of older materials. His  advocacy for the humanities in education and community ties directly into this event's partnership  between the university and Ann Arbor's leading arts organization. Mr. Marsalis is also at the forefront of  conceiving new modes of musical expression. Even down to the design thinking work at this event, we  can look to Marsalis's jazz background for ways of thinking about generative and improvisational  thinking. 

About UMS and the +Impact Studio

UMS and the MIchigan Ross +Impact Studio are ideally placed to bring this event to life. For over 140 years UMS  has pioneered innovative ways to bring the performing arts to live audiences, using a lean and flexible  organizational model that anticipates many of the new forms of organization in business today. The +Impact Studio and its award-winning work bring design tools to translating faculty research and innovations in the core materials for creating enterprises into new and equitable forms. Together, UMS  and the +Impact Studio bring a unique set of capabilities to the question of future arts organizing.

Format 

After a light breakfast, the event opens with a set of lightning talks to level up participants on changes in  the performing arts (formats, audiences, demographics, financing) and in the ways business is organizing  itself (particularly how technologies are changing access to finance, labor, supply, distribution, legal  forms, and management methods). Next is an icebreaker to share out expectations and sources of  insights.  

For the bulk of the day participants will work in diverse teams of five, each with representation from  artists, business leaders, faculty experts, leaders in arts organizations, students, and audiences, and  guided by a trained facilitator. Through a series of guided experiences in design thinking, groups will  design and prototype formats for new vehicles for sharing art with audiences.  

The morning will be punctuated by a fireside chat with Wynton Marsalis, who will share insights from his  own journey at innovating around arts organizing. 

After lunch, participants will engage in a gallery wall to see the work of colleagues and have one final  round of prototyping, yielding a set of initial designs. 

By 3:00 the event will conclude and participants will head to Hill Auditorium to see a 4:00pm performance by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.