As a collaborative series of programs in its second year, Embrace the Dream brings together many institutions throughout the Grand Traverse region to provide free or low-cost programming for the public to experience in early 2014. This year’s partners include Dennos Museum Center; Northwestern Michigan College Student Life; History Center Traverse City; Building Bridges With Music; Great Lakes Children’s Museum; State Theater; Traverse Area District Library; Traverse City Human Rights Commission; and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. As its mission, Embrace the Dream is a collaboration founded upon the values of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., engaging the whole of our community through programming that inspires social justice and equality for all people.Embrace the Dream invites the public to participate in this welcoming and energetic discussion of equality for all people, featuring film, exhibition, panel, lecture, music, and hands-on art programs throughout Traverse City. The keystone event will be the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Celebration at the State Theatre, where Building Bridges With Music will perform Jeff Haas’ original jazz composition entitled MLK Suite: Then and Now, with students from TCAPS. This powerful performance will be presented throughout the state by a variety of schools as part of Building Bridges With Music programming.
Additional highlights include the Dennos Museum Center’s Created Equal Film Festival, January 23-26, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, with special guest Dr. David Pilgrim on January 26. History Center Traverse City will host exhibitions and panel discussions about Father Fred and Roy and Ellen Brigman, January 22 – March 15. Great Lakes Children’s Museum will host its annual MLK Peace Day on January 20. And the Traverse Area District Library will present several hands-on workshops during the month of February.
Embrace the Dream 2014 Programs
Dennos Museum Center
January 16 – 20: Interlochen/STEP collaborative exhibition (Milliken wall cases)
The Dennos Museum Center, in partnership with Northwestern Michigan College Student Life, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and Traverse City High School, will present a collaborative exhibition, January 16 – 20, 2014, with an opening reception on Thursday, January 16 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. The opening reception will be open to the public free of charge. Designed as part of an “intermester” class at Interlochen, the comparative arts department will work with Traverse City High School students to develop a variety of visual, written, and performance art around the theme, “What is home?”
The program and exhibition is sponsored by the Dennos Museum Center and NMC Student Life with additional support from STEP: Student in Transition Empowerment Program, Blackbird Arts, and Third Level Crisis Intervention Center.
January 23-26 (preview January 9): Created Equal Film Festival & Discussion
The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College presents the Created Equal Film Festival, January 23-26. All films will be shown at 7:00 pm in Milliken Auditorium free of charge, with a final discussion program on January 26 at 2:00pm with Dr. David Pilgrim from the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University. All films are screened with subtitles, and the Milliken auditorium is equipped with a T-coil hearing loop for individuals with hearing impairments.
Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that uses the power of documentary films to encourage community discussion of America’s civil rights history. NEH has partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to develop programmatic and support materials for the sites.
The Dennos Museum Center is one of 473 institutions across the country awarded a set of four films chronicling the history of the civil rights movement. These powerful documentaries, The Abolitionists, Slavery by Another Name, Freedom Riders, and The Loving Story, include dramatic scenes of incidents in the 150-year effort to achieve equal rights for all. Freedom Riders received an Emmy in 2012, and The Loving Story and The Abolitionists have been nominated for Emmys in 2013.
Visit http://createdequal.neh.gov for more information.
Thursday, January 9, 2014 – 7:00pm
Created Equal Preview (2013) 45 min, looped
Dutmers Theater
Free Admission
Created Equal encourages communities to revisit the history of civil rights in America and to reflect on the ideals of freedom and equality that have helped bridge deep racial and cultural divides. This preview event features all four films in the series: The Abolitionists (2013); Slavery by Another Name (2012); The Loving Story (2011); and Freedom Riders (2011). In conjunction with full screenings of three films, January 23-26, this preview will help to frame a conversation and community-centered dialogue to take place on January 26 at the Dennos Museum Center.
Thursday, January 23, 2014 – 7:00pm
Slavery by Another Name (2012) 90 min
Milliken Auditorium
Free Admission
It was a shocking reality that often went unacknowledged, then and now: a huge system of forced, unpaid labor, mostly affecting Southern black men, that lasted until World War II. Based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning book by Douglas Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name tells the stories of men, charged with crimes like vagrancy, and often guilty of nothing, who were bought and sold, abused, and subjected to sometimes deadly working conditions as unpaid convict labor. Interviews with the descendants of victims and perpetrators resonate with a modern audience. Christina Comer, who discovered how her family profited from the system, says that “the story is important no matter how painful the reality is.”
In conjunction with the Created Equal Film Festival, January 23-26, Slavery by Another Name will help to frame a conversation and community-centered dialogue to take place on January 26 at the Dennos Museum Center.
Friday, January 24, 2014 – 7:00pm
The Loving Story (2011) 77 min
Milliken Auditorium
Free Admission
Mildred and Richard Loving knew it was technically illegal for them to live as a married couple in Virginia because she was of African American and Native American descent and he was white. But they never expected to be woken up in their bedroom and arrested one night in 1958. The documentary brings to life the Lovings’ marriage and the legal battle that followed through little-known filmed interviews and photographs shot for Life magazine.
In conjunction with the Created Equal Film Festival, January 23-26, The Loving Story will help to frame a conversation and community-centered dialogue to take place on January 26 at the Dennos Museum Center.
Saturday, January 25, 2014 – 7:00pm
Freedom Riders (2011) 117 min
Milliken Auditorium
Free Admission
This inspirational documentary is about a band of courageous civil rights activists calling themselves the Freedom Riders. Gaining impressive access to influential figures on both sides of the issue, it chronicles a chapter of American history that stands as an astonishing testament to the accomplishment of youth and what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.
In conjunction with the Created Equal Film Festival, January 23-26, Freedom Riders will help to frame a conversation and community-centered dialogue to take place on January 26 at the Dennos Museum Center.
Sunday, January 26, 2014 – 2:00pm
Is the United States a Post-Racial Society?
Facilitated by Dr. David Pilgrim
Milliken Auditorium or Janis Room
Free Admission
As the closing event for the Created Equal Film Festival, the community is invited to a presentation and discussion with Dr. David Pilgrim of the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI. With documentary film as the catalyst, this event will explore themes surrounding the question, “Is the United States a post-racial society?” There is no requirement for watching any of the films, and the entire community is encouraged to attend. This program is free of charge, and light refreshments will be available.
Community Cinema: Thursday, February 6, 2014 – 7:00 pm
Las Marthas (2014) 66 min
Milliken Auditorium
Free Admission
Las Marthas is a documentary about an extraordinary rite of passage in Laredo, Texas where Mexican-American debutantes are presented at a grand Colonial ball dressed as American revolutionaries – a border tradition that’s 114 years old.
Friday, February 7, 2014 – 7:00 pm
The Spirit of Harriet Tubman
Milliken Auditorium
$10 All Seats (Free for NMC Students with ID)
For more than ten years, “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” has been thrilling audiences of all ages across North America. This powerful portrayal of the life of Harriet Tubman, written and performed by Leslie McCurdy, has been called “exceptional!”, “amazing!”, “brilliantly conceived!”, “compelling!”, “beautiful to watch!”, “like watching Harriet Tubman grow up!”, “one of the best performances I have ever attended!” It is an inspiring, must see performance for the whole family!
Community Cinema: Thursday, March 6, 2014 – 7:00 pm
The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) 90 min
Milliken Auditorium
Free Admission
The Trials of Muhammad Ali is a feature-length documentary film covering Ali’s toughest bout, his battle to overturn the five-year prison sentence he received for refusing U.S. military service. This is not a boxing film. It is a fight film tracing a formative period in Ali’s life, one that is remarkably unknown to young people today and tragically neglected by those who remember him as a boxer, but overlook how controversial he was when he first took center stage.
History Center Traverse City
January 22– March 15, 2014
Legends of the Grand Traverse Region: Community out of Diversity
The History Center of Traverse City will be celebrating Legends of the Grand Traverse Region with exhibitions featuring Father Fred, founder of the Father Fred Foundation, and Roy and Ellen Brigman, who ran Camp Roy-El, a retreat for children with special needs, from the late 1950s into the 1980s.
Legends exhibits and public programs will explore the history of these individuals and examine the current contributions and challenges faced by the people they served so well in the past.
In choosing Father Fred and the Brigmans, Legends is highlighting an often-unseen portion of our diverse community. Those with financial, social, or physical challenges are as much a part of our community as anyone else. Dr. King’s dream of a nation that treats all of its citizens as people of value would certainly include such citizens.
Admission $5, children 4 and under FREE.
Legends partners also include: the Grand Traverse Genealogical Society, the Northwest Lower Michigan Women’s History Project, Temple Beth El, the Hispanic Apostolate of the Diocese of Gaylord, the Traverse City Human Rights Commission, Professor Jim Press of Northwestern Michigan College’s History Department, Cindy Winslow of the Grand Traverse Tribe’s Eyaawing Museum and Cultural Center, and the Traverse City Human Rights Commission.
All Events occur at the History Center of Traverse City, 322 Sixth Street.
Saturday, February 8, 2014 – Afternoon, time TBD
Gather to explore and celebrate the history and accomplishments of Camp Roy-El
Thursday, February 20, 2014 – 7:00pm
Experience the story of Father Fred and his Foundation.
Thursday, March 13, 2014 – 7:00pm
A panel discussion will explore the evolving place of special needs citizens in our community.
State Theatre
Monday, January 20, 2014
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – FREE films and events
Monday, January 20
9:00 am – To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 129min
Noon – King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis (1970) 185min
5:30 pm – Statewide Live Performance of the MLK Suite by Building Bridges with Music
9:00 pm – Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013) 132min
Wednesday, February 5 – 11:00am
Amistad (1997) 155min
Tickets 25 cents
Wednesday, February 12 – 11:00am
Malcom X (1992) 202min
Tickets 25 cents
Wednesday, February 19 – 11:00am
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) 76min
Tickets 25 cents
Wednesday, February 26 – 11:00am
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) 108min
Tickets 25 cents
Great Lakes Children’s Museum
Monday, January 20, 2014 – 11 am to 3 pm
MLK Peace Day
Activities encourage children to think about diversity, tolerance, and acceptance, including age-appropriate experiences with messages about anti-bullying, peaceful communications, and cooperation. Cost: included with price of $6 admission or annual membership.
Building Bridges With Music
Monday, January 20, 2014 – 7pm
Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance Day
State Theatre
Building Bridges with Music, the TC Human Rights Commission and the State Theatre will host the Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance Day celebration. This performance will feature local student musicians, who have participated in a 16-week educational initiative that combines an intensive study of the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a structured musical rehearsal schedule.
The music to be performed is Jeff Haas’ original jazz composition entitled MLK Suite: Then and Now. The 12-piece student ensemble will be comprised of high school musicians from Traverse City. The students will also present various excerpts from MLK speeches and teachings at the performance.
This effort will be duplicated in 5 other communities from diverse regions of Michigan. The initiative is a highly structured approach to utilizing music as a means to engage students in an in-depth study of the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students will participate in supervised weekly rehearsals and group studies culminating in simultaneous state-wide performances in each participating community on Jan. 20, 2014.
Traverse Area District Library
Saturday, February 1 – 11:00am
Create Your Own Peace Flags
Main Branch – TADL
Children and their families will create peace flags, which we will hang and be on display in the atrium of the Woodmere (Main) Branch throughout March.
Wednesday, February 5 – 4:00pm
Create Your Own Peace Flags
Main Branch – TADL
Children and their families will create peace flags, which we will hang and be on display in the atrium of the Woodmere (Main) Branch throughout March.
Wednesday, February 12 – 4:00pm
Create Your Own Peace Flags
Main Branch – TADL
Children and their families will create peace flags, which we will hang and be on display in the atrium of the Woodmere (Main) Branch throughout March.