Abigail Lowe: 2025 Creative Careers Residency

Abigail Lowe (MFA ​’25) has been named as one of three residents in the University of Michigan Arts Initiative’s 2025 Creative Careers Residency — a pioneering transitional program designed to support emerging creatives as they move from academic study into full-time, professional creative practice.

Now in its third year, the residency provides three recent U‑M graduates at the masters level with a $40,000 work stipend, health insurance, studio access and mentorship as they pursue ambitious, community-engaged creative projects in disciplines ranging from architecture and urban planning to poetry, painting, composition, performance, and intermedia arts. The Creative Careers Residency program is a core part of the Arts Initiative’s broader mission to make the arts central to life at U‑M and the whole Michigan Arts ecosystem. 

In the 2025 cohort, Lowe will be joined by Willie Cornish from the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and Sahara Sidi from LSA’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program.

During the 2025 residency, Lowe plans to build a mobile theatre installation inside a retrofitted 10-foot truck, bringing live storytelling, puppetry and animation directly into neighborhoods and community spaces across southeast Michigan. Over a series of scheduled stops, Lowe will host small audiences for an immersive performance, using installation and scenographic methods to take her work beyond traditional art venues.

“I’ve been thinking about this project, in one form or another, for close to a decade,” Lowe said. ​“I can’t believe I have the chance to develop it alongside this incredible cohort. The companionship of artists and writers while tackling new work is a huge gift.”

Past Stamps alumni selected for the Creative Careers Residency include Leah Crosby (MFA ​’24) and Michelle Inez Hinojosa (MFA ​’23).