Museum Initiatives 2024-2025

“How do fields of human endeavor and creativity intersect in unexpected ways to yield entirely new ways of thinking?”

Explore our ongoing projects using art as a springboard for conversation about our world.

One Book One Northwestern

One Book One Northwestern is a community‐wide reading program that aims to engage the campus in a common conversation centered on a carefully chosen, thought-provoking book. Learn more about how The Block is using art to engage the discussion

Interdisciplinary Learning - Course Case Studies

The Block supports teaching with visual art across Northwestern campuses, actively offering the museum as Northwestern's most innovative laboratory. View some of our recent in-depth teaching collaborations.

Collection Council

The Collection Council is a collaborative learning opportunity consistent with The Block’s educational mission. Each year the group builds consensus to propose a work of art to The Block’s Acquisitions Committee. The Council also builds The Block’s resources for acquiring art and invests in structures and processes to support care for the collection and make it accessible to broad audiences.

Athletics Partnership

In academic year 2022–23, The Block launched a multi-year pilot program with Northwestern Athletics to share the museum as an important campus resource, and, through this, to create conditions and support for student-athletes, coaches, and staff to have meaningful encounters with works of art.