Matt Donahue, PhD

Dr. Matthew Donahue is a senior lecturer in the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, specializing in topics related to popular culture, popular music (rock and roll, punk, heavy metal, reggae, rap/hip-hop, blues, popular music styles from the 1950s to the present), documentary and narrative film, media, visual arts (modern art and popular culture, street photography, art cars), politics and popular culture, travel and tourism and other related topics. He has lectured on such topics regionally, nationally and internationally and has served as an authority on popular culture topics for national and international publications. He is a member of the state of Ohio’s Ohio Humanities Speakers Bureau, lecturing on topics related popular culture throughout the state of Ohio. Prior to serving as a senior lecturer for the Department of Popular Culture, he served as a supervisor for the Bill Schurk Sound Recordings Archive at Bowling Green State University, working on sound recording reissue projects for Time-Life and Smithsonian.

In addition to his academic work, he is also a musician, artist, filmmaker and writer. As a musician, he has released sound recordings internationally working within a variety of music genres. As a visual artist, he uses popular culture as the basis of his artistic creations, working in two and three-dimensional collage/mixed media, street photography and art cars and has exhibited his work at exhibitions, galleries, festivals and museums throughout the United States. He is an award-winning documentary filmmaker for such films as “The Amsterdam T-Shirt Project,” “The Hines Farm Blues Club” and “Motorhead Matters”.  Additionally, he has made documentaries on the history and culture of art cars such as “Taking It to the Streets: An Art Car Experience” and “Car Power: Another Art Car Experience,” as well as music and concert videos related to his various musical projects over the years. His written work consists of the award winning “I’ll Take You There: An Oral and Photographic History of the Hines Farm Blues Club” and a collection of photography related to his art cars titled “Taking It to the Streets: An Art Car Experience.” 

He serves as a board member for the Friends of Jerome Library at Bowling Green State University. He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Metal Music Studies Journal and the Editorial Board for the Media and Popular Culture Journal.   

He has won a variety of awards and accolades related to his academic and creative work.

More information on his academic and creative background can be found on his personal website at www.md1210.com.