About

We are delighted to launch Many Voices at UMMA, a multimedia interpretive and storytelling project designed to allow audiences to explore the collections, access a wealth of contextual information, and connect with a wide variety of perspectives in our galleries. Generously supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, this project is designed to bring creative new voices to the Museum and to increase diverse audiences’ access to and engagement with UMMA's renowned collections.

Watch the new Many Voices movies and see what 17 individuals did when invited to create a video response to a work of art in UMMA’s collection. These new movies—all created by members of our community and inspired by various works of art in the collection— span a remarkable range of topic and style. Each movie includes a brief statement from the filmmaker. UMMA DialogTable movies are also available in the gallery for the first time thanks to Many Voices. Learn More >>

In addition to the community response component of Many Voices, the project has involved a diverse array of individuals from our community in creating new content for use by walk-in visitors, UMMA docents, education staff, and curators, expanding the ways in which we interact with art.

Specifically, this project enables UMMA to provide:

• Videos, images, and contextual information to visitors via their smart phones or other web-enabled devices (including devices which visitors may check out for free in the Museum Store by leaving a government issued photo id or student photo id);
• Docents, education staff, and curators the ability to show original contexts, art-making techniques, cultural information, and performances as part of gallery lessons, tours, and workshops.

Many Voices at UMMA is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.