Season 3 - 2026
Refugia Festival-Ann Arbor
Sunday, October 4, 2026 // Nichols Arboretum
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Hosted and Sponsored by Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum
We are honored to collaborate once again with Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum to host Refugia Festival's third season in Ann Arbor!
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Refugia Festival 2026 is a pay-as-you-can event, with free being the lowest admission cost (suggested ticket prices: $10/students [K-12 + college], $20/general admission). The event is family-friendly and welcome to all!
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Interested in volunteering at Refugia Festival? Sign up here!
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Please visit our "Get Involved at RF26" page for more info on engagement opportunities, including volunteering and presenting your nature-inspired art in our Field Resonances art gallery.
Refugia Festival 2026 Presenters
Kaitlyn Wilson, GREENHOUSE
Kaitlyn Wilson is an environmentalist, performer, cultural organizer, and dancemaker recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.F.A in Dance and a B.A. Environmental Studies specializing in Environmental Behavior and Communication. Using her background in ecological research and her deep understanding of environmental systems she creates meaningful movement experiences that communicate and explore how humans can adapt to our changing world. Her work sources improvisational exploration with manmade and natural environments, site specific experiences, and building relationships through shared movement. Kaitlyn is currently pursuing contemporary company and freelance work in the Midwest in addition to applying for artistic residencies that center arts, ecology, and community engagement.
Jackson Goldklang, "Tree Tour of the Arb"
Jackson Goldklang is a professional forester and filmmaker based in Southeast Michigan. He produces content about forestry and tree identification that he shares on social media (@js.goldklang), as well as teaching regular tree ID classes. He also started a tree nursery called Perennial Gold that focuses on propagating local oak trees and native edible trees like pawpaws and persimmons.
Leslie Science and Nature Center, "All About Pollinators/All Ages Pollinator Exploration Station"
Through activities and play, visitors will learn more about monarch butterflies, their survival strategies, and why their habitats are so important not only to them but also to many other pollinators and species.
Alex Wand, Katri Ervamaa,
Jessica Hemingway,
"Spectre" and "Silver Birch Scroll"
Alex Wand is a musician and composer whose work emerges from his interests in folk songs, ecological thought, futurism, social practice art, alternate tuning systems, field recording, and dance/multimedia collaborations.His project Monarch Waystation Soundmap is a collaborative music/art initiative that documents the Western monarch butterfly migration through cycling journeys, habitat restoration, and geo-tagged field recordings. This work evolved into both a documentary film and an electroacoustic composition called Spectre. Alex is on faculty at the University of Michigan Residential College where he teaches electronic music, songwriting, and music composition. His work can be found online at alexwand.com.
Finnish-born cellist Katri Ervamaa, DMA, is a multifaceted performer of chamber music, new music and creative improvisation. She has performed throughout North America, Europe and Taiwan, most recently on festivals such as the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival and at the Getty Museum in LA. Dr.Ervamaa is a member of the Muse Ensemble, the Järnefelt Piano Trio and E3Q. She appears on Envoy Recordings, Block M Records, and AMP Records labels, and performed in the WFYI-Indianapolis documentary ”Mestiza Music” on 60 PBS stations nationwide as well as recordings with the new music ensemble Brave New Works. Dr. Ervamaa teaches chamber music, improvisation and foundations of musicianship at the UM Residential College. Her non-profit work includes the Pentti Kaitera Charitable Fund at the Oulu University in Finland, and the Randazzo Dance Company based in Ann Arbor, MI. You can find her online at www.katrimusic.com.
I am Jessica Hemingway and I am a performance artist. Rather than list my qualifications, resume, or achievements, I prefer to share my interests. As a performer, I am interested in duration, repetition, form, intensity, humor, chaos, and posing. My inspiration comes from a combined fascination with karate, voguing, lyrical jazz, ballet, flamenco, and American Sign Language. Perhaps viewed as dangerous and chaotic, my movement practice is refined, diligent, precise, joyful, and furious. My goal as a performer is to be forever changing and to channel the divine.
Julie Reinhardt, "What's That Sound?"
Julie Reinhardt has been a professor of Biology at Eastern Michigan University for over a quarter century. Born and raised in Germany, she has lived and studied on four continents in five countries and taught classes in a handful more. Here in Michigan, she teaches ecology, environmental sciences and fish biology. Her research focus is the behavior of fishes, especially fishes important for our natural aquatic ecosystems. Much of her research time has been spent wrangling ugly, slimy bloodsuckers, also known as sea lamprey.
Soft Knee Collective
Soft Knee Collective is an electroacoustic flexible-instrumentation new music ensemble and creator collective of composers, performers, electronic musicians, and collaborators from an array of disciplines, including music technology, science, visual arts, and design. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, we create platforms for artists whose voices and work may not always find a place within traditional music spaces. Through collaboration, we build connections across disciplines, support emerging and underrepresented voices, and foster a vibrant creative community. At the heart of our work is a commitment to curiosity and shared experience. We design welcoming, inclusive events that invite audiences into the creative process through immersive performances, interdisciplinary projects, and meaningful artistic exchange.
Nichols Arboretum
"Stage in the Arb"
Amphitheater
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
We recommend the 1610 Washington Heights (peony garden/Reader Center) entrance to access the space. Please note that the routes to the Stage are unpaved gravel paths and include slopes, staircases, grass, and gravel as part of the terrain.
Accessibility Note
Transportation by golf cart is available on the day of Refugia Festival from the M-29 Parking Lot entrance, but please contact Alexis Ford at forda@umich.edu or at 734-819-0266 in advance to schedule your golf cart transportation or to have any other accessibility questions answered.
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ADA-compliant toilets are available at the Arb Visitor Center, and port-a-johns (including one that is ADA-compliant) are available at the river landing, closest to Refugia Festival.​​​​
