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The MSU Museum is undergoing an 18-month renovation, with a planned reopening in January 2026. During this time, we continue to create experiences at the intersection of arts, sciences, cultures, and technologies.

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Close-up portrait of a woman with long, wavy light brown hair and red lipstick, smiling at the camera. She is wearing a gray collared shirt and hoop earrings, standing in front of a dark wooden wall with green and red ivy leaves.
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(517)-355-2370
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Micah Ling

Curator, Michigan Traditional Arts Research Collections

Associate Director, Michigan Traditional Arts Program, University Outreach and Engagement

Dr. Micah Ling is a curator, folklorist, and musician originally from the banks of the Thornapple River in West Michigan. An MSU alum (BA ’12), she holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Ethnomusicology from Indiana University where she specialized in public practice. Her research interests include the intersection of music and material culture (dress emphasis); identity, belonging, and placekeeping; queer folklife; and nostalgia and historical imagination. In her role as curator, she works to activate the Michigan Traditional Arts Research Collections through community-engaged research, interdisciplinary exhibitions, and collaborative projects that highlight the unique stories, cultural expressions, and lifeways of her/our home region. She also serves as Associate Director of MSU’s Michigan Traditional Arts Program, the statewide program supporting, documenting, preserving, and presenting traditional arts, folklife, and everyday culture in Michigan.

Selected Publications:

Selected Exhibitions:

  • “Futuromarennia: Ukraine and the Avant-Garde,” English language translation consultant, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia, 2022
  • “Art of the Character: Highlights from the Glenn Close Costume Collection,” graduate assistant, Sidney and Loiz Eskenazi Museum of Art. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 2021
  • “Sisters of the Cloth: This is Our Story,” graduate assistant, Mathers Museum of World Cultures, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 2018
  • “Indiana Masters of Traditional Arts,” co-curator, Indiana State Fair Grounds, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2017

Degrees:

Ph.D., Folklore & Ethnomusicology, Indiana University, 2025
M.A., Folklore & Ethnomusicology, Indiana University, 2019
B.A., Art History & Visual Culture, Michigan State University, 2012