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Arts & Entertainment

Music is integral to the plot of Down Below, an in-progress feature film by independent filmmakers Collin Davis ’11 and Matthew Valdez Litwiller ’11. In October 2023, Davis and Litwiller called upon Northwestern student musicians to record two original works for the film in Galvin Recital Hall.

Dive deeper

Down Below director of photography Travis LaBella operates a camera while Northwestern student musicians perform original works.
University Archives is home to documents, artifacts and mementos that showcase the rich history of Northwestern and its community, “items that will help people better understand the University we love,” says University Historian Kevin Leonard ’77, ’82 MA. The collections span 25,000 linear feet and include everything from a limited-edition Northwestern University Barbie to a real taxidermized wildcat.

Explore the archives

Man walking down a hallway in Northwestern's Archives Vault
After reporter Lauren Chooljian published a story on a COVID outbreak at New Hampshire’s Granite Recovery Centers (GRC), clients and employees of GRC began reaching out to her, alleging that GRC CEO and founder Eric Spofford had been sexually harassing and assaulting clients and colleagues — and paying people to keep quiet. Reported and produced by Chooljian, The 13th Step podcast delves into the allegations against Spofford and why sexual misconduct is pervasive in recovery settings.

Read the story

Lauren Chooljian wears headphones while sitting at a desk in a radio studio. There is a microphone at her right labeled “NHPR.”
When the Northwestern alum left journalism in 2018, he joked to a friend that he would only come back to news if he could report on Taylor Swift every day. Five years later, his dream is a reality.

Meet Bryan West

Taylor Swift and Bryan West stand next to each other against a backdrop of golden curtains. Swift’s hand is resting on West’s shoulder. They are both smiling at the camera.

View Finder

Winter 2024
Driven to capture rare and unexpected images of fragile landscapes, Los Angeles-based photographer Josh Anon has had his share of awe-inspiring encounters with wildlife around the world. Anon, a Roblox product lead by day, has captured images of penguins, polar bears, walruses and much more.

See his photos

penguins on ice in antarctica
Sheinelle Jones, co-host of the “3rd Hour of Today,” is one of a handful of Black women helming a national TV broadcast. And she thinks it’s important for people to see her full self: accomplished, Black, a woman, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a volunteer, a pray-er, a proud Midwesterner, and a human who embraces joy, who sometimes falters, sometimes loses her nerve — but persists nonetheless.

Get to know Jones

Sheinelle smiles big with a microphone
Snorkeling, tightrope walking, woodworking and competitive whistling — you won’t believe what Northwestern community members are up to outside of the classroom and office!

Check out these hobbies

Portrait of Jeffery Coleman curling

All That Jazz

Winter 2024
This winter, Nitasha Tamar Sharma offers a new Black studies course for students: New Black Music in Chicago: Artists’ Reflections on Music, Race and Entrepreneurship. Students will organize a free public jazz event for the community, which will take place March 4 as part of the Department of Black Studies’ annual Leon Forrest Lecture Series.

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Portrait of grammy-nominated harpist Brandee Younger playing the harp

Light the Way

Winter 2024
Lauren Dandridge Gaines ’04 is co-founder and principal of Chromatic, a Los Angeles–based lighting design firm working at the intersection of architecture and social justice.

Read more about Gaines’ work

Michelin-starred restaurant asterid in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles
Northwestern alum Aspen Buckingham ’23 and senior economics major Steven Jiang are the creators of Intervallic, a new video game changing the way aspiring musicians can practice their skills. Both musicians, Buckingham and Jiang are making practice into entertainment.

Let’s play!

Screencap of the video game Intervallic