Arts & Entertainment
Common Fly is a 15-minute stop-motion film about a housefly who is deeply unsatisfied with his family life and, most crucially, his job at a company that makes him feel insignificant. Created by radio/television/film major Ian Castracane and nearly three dozen fellow students, the film premiered at Northwestern’s MultiStudio Premiere event last year and won Best Animated Short at the 2024 Boston Film Festival in September.
By combining elements from seemingly disparate music genres, composer and musician Adegoke Steve Colson ’71 bucked convention and laid the groundwork for contemporary jazz as we know it today. His papers are now collected and publicly available at Northwestern’s Music Library.
Northwestern’s Institute for New Music organizes workshops, symposia and residencies for visiting composers and ensembles and gives students opportunities to interact with and learn from prominent figures in the new music world.
André Crump ’91 MBA founded the World Dog Surfing Championships, which brings thousands of canine lovers to the shore of Linda Mar Beach outside San Francisco to watch the world’s best four-legged surfers catch some waves each summer.
Anamaria Sayre ’21 is co-host of NPR Music’s Alt.Latino, where she celebrates Latinx culture as NPR’s youngest-ever full-time host. She also produces El Tiny, the Latin music version of Tiny Desk Concerts.
Hillary Simms, doctor of musical arts student in Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music and the first woman trombonist on the faculty at the Juilliard School, explains her love-hate relationship with the trombone.
The Block of Museum of Art’s Woven Being exhibit showcases Chicagoland’s many Indigenous art histories, with more than 80 works of various materials — including painting, basket weaving, bead work, sculpture, photography and mixed media.
In 2024 interdisciplinary artist Lilli Carré ’16 MFA won a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in the film-video category. Northwestern Magazine asked Carré about the inspiration behind her artwork and what she’s exploring next.
Susan Avery ’90 MS founded the Pacemakers, a dance team fighting stigma around aging. The group has developed a worldwide following.
Matt Houchin is breaking records by wearing a Hard Rock Café T-shirt every day in 2024, all in the name of charity. His Hard Rock Shirt-a-thon is raising money for the nonprofit Free Guitars 4 Kids.
