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UMMA’s Impact Report

A photographer takes a photograph of people standing inside a large heart made out of paper flowers
Photo by Mark Gjukich

UMMA puts art and ideas at the center of campus and public life — creating a true gathering place where everyone can Feel Free.

Your Support In Action.

See how the power of art came alive in 2024-2025.

UMMA is the place where art, ideas, and community connection pulse through campus life. In 2024-25, we energized classrooms and galleries, we sparked conversations, and we created spaces where students and visitors alike could gather, reflect, and celebrate the power of creative expression, all thanks to your catalytic support.

Learn more about how you can deepen your impact at UMMA today.

“I am proud to share this report highlighting UMMA’s impact over the last year. We are truly becoming the cultural heart of the University of Michigan.

With your support UMMA has emerged as more than an art museum. We are a true campus crossroads, where art, ideas, and community meet. We bring Ann Arbor alive with opportunities to connect with art; build civic engagement muscles; find community; discuss, disagree, learn; and explore the most important topics of our time.

Our exhibitions, residencies, and programs are now woven into both the campus and community creating dynamic opportunities for students, faculty, and visitors to connect with art and with one another. Together, we’re not just imagining more just and vibrant futures, but creating them here, at UMMA, with all of you.

Thank you for supporting us.”

Portrait of UMMA Director Christina Olsen wearing a black top with a scarf in shades of red.
Christina Olsen
UMMA Director

UMMA is a Welcoming Hub For All

179,000
On-Site Visitors
681,000
On-Line Visitors
154,000
Views to UMMA’s new online collection since launch in Sept 2024
38%
First Time Visitors
98%
Visitors who were satisfied or extremely satisfied with their experience

UMMA is the Creative Heartbeat of Campus

134
Public Programs
14,000+
Event Attendees
78
ongoing partnerships with campus and regional community groups

UMMA is doing such creative work and you will change the creative world as we know it!

Lavender Morin, Performer

UMMA is Critical to All Students

216
University courses integrated UMMA into the classroom experience
5,560
U-M Students participated in class visits to UMMA
53%
of regional Title I schools came to UMMA for curricular art experiences
$13,119
in bus funding provided visit opportunities for 60 K-12 classes

Thank you for offering us the chance to come to UMMA. It was most likely the first museum experience for most of the children, and it was perfect—varied, hands-on, caring, and relatable.

Ypsilanti Community Schools Kindergarten Teacher

UMMA Empowers Voters

37,000
processed voter registrations and ballots since 2020.

The meal I shared at UMMA led to one of the most remarkably candid yet in-depth conversations with people I’d never met before. It was an honor to hear their stories.

Hey, We Need to Talk participant

Building A Vital Collection For The Times We Live In

Thanks to the generous support of donors and the members of the UMMA Director’s Acquisition Committee, UMMA continued to diversify and expand the collection in exciting ways that make the art at UMMA more responsive, accessible, and meaningful to more people.

192 New acquisitions, including:

  1. M’barek Bouhchichi, La société de métayage
  2. Tanaka Yu, Tsutsumimono Bajōhai
  3. Frank Stella, Juam State I
  4. Helen Frankenthaler, Mirabelle

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Fifty-four rectangles of identical size, each with a distinct arrangement of brass on black metal, arranged in the shape of a stepped pyramid.
La société de métayage, 2021-2022, M'barek Bouhchichi Heat-treated metal and yellow brass, 59 1/16 x 58 ¼ x 3/4 in. (150.02 x 147.95 x 1.91 cm), Museum purchase made possible by the Director's Acquisition Committee, 2024, 2024/2.40
Fifty-four rectangles of identical size, each with a distinct arrangement of brass on black metal, arranged in the shape of a stepped pyramid.
A trompe l’oeil ceramic sculpture that appears to be a green cloth wrapped around a small cup-shaped object and knotted. It is accompanied by an orange cloth and wooden box with a pink paper wrapping. The sculpture is painted on the lid of the box.
Tsutsumimono Bajōhai, 1989-2024, Tanaka Yu clay, 4 3/4 x 3 1/8 x 3 1/4 in. (12.07 x 7.94 x 8.25 cm), Gift of Richard W. Anderson, Class of 1967, 2024/2.59
A trompe l’oeil ceramic sculpture that appears to be a green cloth wrapped around a small cup-shaped object and knotted. It is accompanied by an orange cloth and wooden box with a pink paper wrapping. The sculpture is painted on the lid of the box.
An abstract composition of multicolored overlapping rings over black geological-looking shapes. In the background, a red, yellow, blue, and white pinwheel pattern fills a circle in the center of a field of turquoise and a border of red and yellow.
Juam State I, 1997, Frank Stella, dye and ink relief, woodcut, etching, and aquatint on hand-colored white TGL paper and hand-colored paper, 83 ¼ x 64 ½ x 2 in. (211.45 x 163.83 x 5.08 cm);75 ½ x 59 in. (191.77 x 149.86 cm), Gift of Martha Mayo, 2024/2.28
An abstract composition of multicolored overlapping rings over black geological-looking shapes. In the background, a red, yellow, blue, and white pinwheel pattern fills a circle in the center of a field of turquoise and a border of red and yellow.
An irregular white shape curves across a plum-colored rectangular field that is bordered by black; a thin, multi-colored line stretches from one end of the shape to the other. Above it floats a rosy circle and below it a ground of white with hints of light blue, purple, and green.
Mirabelle, circa 1990, Helen Frankenthaler, lithograph on paper, 39 1/2 x 46 5/8 x 2 1/8 in. (100.33 x 118.43 x 5.4 cm), Gift of Robert Hunt Berry 2024/1.359

UMMA Hosts Trailblazing Artists

Through extended residencies, UMMA weaves artists into campus and community life, fueling courses, sparking public dialogue, and creating collaborative moments where we all learn, imagine, and push ideas forward together.

2024-2025 Artist Residencies included:

Philippa Pham Hughes

Fred Wilson

George Vargas

Jarod Lew

La Raza is not just an exhibition — it’s a platform for our histories, our activism, and our creativity. It’s powerful to see our stories take center stage at UMMA.

Nicole Marroquin, participating artist and educator

2024-2025 Highlights Exhibitions & Programs

UMMA’s exhibitions and programs in 2024-2025 turned the museum into a hub of creativity and energy. Crowds packed in to celebrate, argue and get inspired together. Our galleries were buzzing with new ideas, proving that UMMA is where the most exciting conversations at Michigan begin.

Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection

more info

An exhibition spanning more than 100 years and showcasing the rich history of African American art production in the United States.

The exhibition was presented alongside A Love Letter to Blackness, a series of public programs developed with local activist and non-profit leader, Yodit Mesfin Johnson.

Learn More

Hey, We Need To Talk

more info

Artist in Residence Philippa Hughes

The flower wallpaper in UMMA’s gallery was a hit—but so were the more than 20 meals artist Philipa Hughes hosted in the space, where guests came together for honest conversations about identity, community, and justice.

85% of participants said their participation made them more open to having conversations with others whose political views differ from their own.

Learn More

Jarod Lew: Strange You Never Knew

more info

The first solo museum exhibition for Detroit-born artist Jarod Lew brought audiences face-to-face with a deeply personal story of family and identity. Through intimate portraits and a quiet, poetic lens on Midwestern Asian American life, Lew invited visitors to reflect on the stories we inherit, and the ones we choose to create for ourselves.

Learn More

Feel Good Friday

more info

Thousands gathered to be surrounded by art and community at our three Feel Good Friday events!

Learn More

Brightly colored star-shaped balloons float in the foreground against a bright blue sky. A large angular red sculpture stands tall over a green lawn behind them.
Photo by Mark Gjukich

Your Support Matters Most!

None of the important work UMMA does would be possible without the support of incredibly dedicated members and donors such as you. UMMA is able to change lives and re-imagine what a campus art museum can mean for its community because of the generous support from people around the world–people like you.

Thank you for supporting our mission in so many ways—by visiting the Museum, by participating in our virtual programs, sharing news about UMMA with friends and family, and through your financial support—we couldn’t do it without you!

If you are able, please consider making a gift to help us continue this important work!