Northwestern Athletics Partnership

The "Reframe" Project (2024)

In academic year 2022–23, The Block launched a multi-year pilot program with the Northwestern Department of Athletics and Recreation 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.
In partnership with Dwight White II, former Wildcat student-athlete and Los Angeles and Chicago-based artist and designer, the Block worked with the Northwestern Department of Athletics and Recreation’s JEDI Committee (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) for two years to develop art-centered programming for student-athletes and the staff and coaches who support them, and a self-guided teaching resource and discussion guide using works from the Block’s collection to spark conversations about identity, belonging, and empathy. We expect this resource to be available by the end of Spring 2024.

In February 2024, the Block hosted trainings for NU Athletics staff and student-athletes to introduce this pilot, share resonant works from the collection selected by White, and offer tips on how to use art to facilitate conversations about questions that matter to the student-athlete experience, and to the NU student experience overall. Staff participants in these trainings ranged from football coaches and the director of operations for the fencing team, to athletic academic advisors and administrators in their community engagement work, and student-athletes attended from 5 teams including football, men’s soccer, field hockey, softball, and women’s cross-country. We focused our time on She's Mighty, Mighty (2017) by artist Deborah Roberts, and our powerful discussions touched on issues of gender, race, mental health, teamwork and community, on and off the field.

On February 21, 2024 The Block co-hosted“Reframe” with NU Athletics and Recreation, an evening program in celebration of Black History Month at Walter Athletics Center for the wider student-athlete community centered on the arts, dialogue, and creative excellence. Digital images of objects from the Block’s collection are shared as a prompt for dialogue and discussion.

The following evening, on February 22, 2024, Dwight White was recognized for his work with The Block and in the arts as a community leader advancing diversity and inclusive community-building at the Northwestern men’s basketball game against Michigan as part of their “Together We Win” program.