In 1902 Alfred Stieglitz and other Pictorialist photographers founded the Photo-Secession in New York to position photography as a legitimate aesthetic art form of the highest quality. In conjunction with UMMA's exhibition The Aesthetic Movement in America: Artists of the Photo-Secession, Professor Andrew Jennings and student chamber music ensembles present works which reach beyond traditional boundaries, legitimizing popular music practices, speech, and other sounds as worthy of the concert hall.

The SMTD@UMMA performance series is generously supported by the Katherine Tuck Enrichment Fund and the Greg Hodes and Heidi Hertel Hodes—Partners in the Arts Endowment Fund.

Lead support for The Aesthetic Movement in America: Artists of the Photo-Secession is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment.