Arts and culture

Through music, literature, performance, and visual art, Notre Dame explores how the arts connect and unify us.

Students carrying folded wooden stools walk past a large, colorful abstract painting with black splatters, near the SOUTH STAIR sign.
  • Woman The Hunter Cover

    News

    ‘Woman the hunter’: Studies aim to correct history

    New research from Cara Ocobock, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Human Energetics Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, combined both physiological and archaeological evidence to argue that not only did prehistoric women engage in the practice of hunting, but their female anatomy...

  • A white man wearing a gray winter jacket and a lanyard is standing next to prison bars.

    Article

    Prisons of our own perceptions

    Scott Jackson’s Acting Shakespeare class is a transformative experience.

  • Michael Schreffler, director of Notre Dame’s Arts Initiative and associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts and Letters

    News

    Michael Schreffler appointed director of new Notre Dame Arts Initiative

    Michael Schreffler, director of Notre Dame’s Arts Initiative and associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts and Letters Art historian and College of Arts and Letters Associate Dean for the Arts Michael Schreffler has been named director of the University of Notre Dame’s new Arts Initiative emerging...

  • Main entrance to the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.

    Article

    The new Arts Gateway: Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

    To blend past and present, art and teaching, step inside to see the sights and hear the sounds of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, open to the public Friday, December 1.

Arts and Culture

Fighting for our cultural heritage

Two Notre Dame professors equip Ukrainian students to identify, record, and preserve their culture in the midst of war

A golden mosaic wall with a large red cross, with ornate cushioned pews in the foreground covered by a blanket.
  • Duncan and Ruth Stroik pose for a photo in front of their four-columned home.

    Article

    Raffaella, Aloft

    A dancer whose too-short life was a prayer to share the beauty of her art performs something of a healing miracle in death: inspiring a rare new, original ballet in her memory.

  • A person stands on a stage, lit by spotlights, with their arm extended while performing.

    Article

    Fighting for Shakespeare for all

    When Christy Burgess started the Robinson Shakespeare Company in 2008, the idea of the youth acting troupe one day performing in England would have been laughed off as an impossible dream.

  • A dinosaur skull, with sharp teeth and a dark brown color, is displayed on a stand.

    Article

    Saving Peck's Rex

    A Notre Dame paleontologist, one of the world’s largest T. rex specimens and a tense standoff in the badlands of Montana

  • Black and white photo of the Giants baseball team with halftone texture.

    Article

    In the presence of Giants

    How Notre Dame students and faculty are uncovering the legacy of South Bend's underrepresented baseball teams.

  2. A smiling blonde haired woman in glasses wears an orange and blue polka dot scarf outdoors.

    Video

    ND:30 - Natasha Lyandres

    What can rare books and cultural artifacts teach us about who we are? Librarian Natasha Lyandres acquires and preserves unique collections in East European studies and the visual arts for Notre Dame's Hesburgh Libraries.

  3. A smiling woman with wavy brown hair in a teal blazer looks towards a blonde-haired person, with bookshelves behind her.

    Video

    ND:30 - Laura Knoppers

    Can a poem written over 350 years ago still shape how we see the world today? Seventeenth-century literature scholar Laura Knoppers believes it can.

  6. A young man in a green Notre Dame

    News

    Notre Dame joins Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru)

    “Arts-activated and informed campuses like Notre Dame are critical to strengthen the national fabric of the arts in higher education.” - Maryrose Flanigan, a2ru Executive Director The University of Notre Dame has joined over 40 colleges and universities driving arts research in higher education through a new institutional membership with...

  7. A smiling man in a dark suit, colorful patterned shirt, and a lapel pin looks up from a table covered in architectural drawings. The drawings feature detailed building designs, including one prominent red brick building.

    Article

    Drawing on the past

    Cutting-edge technology and time-tested techniques inform historic preservation and instruct students in building anew.

  9. A collage of architectural sketches, watercolor paintings of historic buildings, and urban planning maps.

    Article

    Form and function

    The School of Architecture marks 50 years of the Rome Studies Program

  10. A woman in green glasses and a dark blazer reads an open book at a brown desk. Several books are on the desk. Behind her, two computer monitors display a dark head silhouette with a red brain section.

    Video

    ND :30 - Kate Marshall

    Kate Marshall studies American fiction in the 20th and 21st centuries. Her research explores the genres writers are using to speculate about the human in a world of changing environments, technologies, and ways of being together.

  11. Framed caricature sketch of a man with a mustache, facing left, signed and dated March 18, 1954, leaning against books on a wooden shelf.

    Article

    G.K. Chesterton and Notre Dame

    The writer’s things add a new dimension to the University’s presence in London

  12. Video

    Hall of Casts

    In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, cast-plaster fragments of classical and historical buildings were collected so working-class people and students who couldn't afford to travel would be able see some of the world's greatest art and architectural masterpieces.

  13. A glowing archway in a dark, brick-like space.

    Article

    Heritage in the kiln

    Renewal and sustainability through traditional brickmaking.

  14. Gallery view in the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame, with framed religious paintings on royal blue and white walls. Light wood floors reflect the artwork.

    Photo Essay

    In the galleries

    The visitor experience in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.

  15. A white castle with multiple towers and spires sits by a calm lake with a white swan, surrounded by a lush green forest.

    Article

    The inspiration place

    Writers and artists find space to create at Ireland’s Kylemore Abbey

  16. A mounted wound roll of microfiche showing very small, highly detailed images of book scans.

    Article

    Legacy in preservation: Notre Dame safeguards irreplaceable manuscripts

    How a relationship born out of the Cold War made the Hesburgh Libraries an essential destination for medieval research.

  17. A man in a red polo shirt stands and gestures while speaking to a diverse group of adults sitting at a table in a classroom.

    Article

    Fighting for literacy across America

    Inclusive ways of reading, writing and speaking amplify diverse student voices

  18. An artist paints a section of a stained-glass window depicting Saint Joseph and Jesus using a blue hue from a watercolor palette on a light table.

    Article

    Painting with light

    New class explores the history, significance, and making of stained glass.

  19. Stylized image of a person with dark hair, looking upwards. A nighttime view of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Seine River is superimposed over their face and chest. A faded image of Notre Dame's facade overlays the upper right corner.

    Article

    Rising from the ashes

    Notre Dame architecture students get a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration of Cathedral of Notre-Dame.

Discover and engage
  1. A close-up portrait of an older woman with grey hair and black-rimmed glasses wearing a red shirt, looking thoughtfully past the camera with a neutral expression

    Article

    Protecting renters from predatory landlords

    At Notre Dame Law School, the Eviction Clinic gives students real-world experience.

  2. Golden statue of Mary with an outstretched arm atop Notre Dame's Main Building dome under a crescent moon and star.

    Photo Essay

    Hey, May

    The month in photos, May 2026

  3. Focused woman in beige jacket, glasses, and headset, looking up while using a computer mouse. Man works at nearby station.

    Podcast

    Inside Artemis II mission control

    For seven hours, Notre Dame alumna Kelsey Young ’09 sat in NASA mission control, listening as astronauts described the Moon in real time from a vantage point no human had ever experienced before.

  4. Hesburgh Library's Word of Life mosaic under a blue sky, framed by vibrant purple tulips and a blossoming yellow tree.

    Photo Essay

    Spring at last!

    The month in photos, April 2026

  5. A woman in a navy blue shirt helps a young girl wearing glasses assemble wooden craft pieces.

    Article

    25 years of impact in South Bend

    The Robinson Community Learning Center stands as a lasting symbol of trust, partnership, and shared purpose between Notre Dame and its closest neighbors.

  6. The bronze sculpture Desert Rose by Arnaldo Pomodoro is placed at the center of the ecological greenhouse at the Gardens of Castel Gandolfo. The curved glass structure—covered with solar panels—frames the work within a light-filled, sustainable environment. Stone pathways and carefully trimmed hedges unfold beneath a canopy of Mediterranean pines.

    Article

    Sowing seeds of hope: Vatican partnership advances global sustainability

    The collaboration supports research, education, and action to build a more just, sustainable future.

  7. Broadly smiling woman with dark hair in a navy jacket with gold buttons, arms crossed, in front of bookshelves.

    Podcast

    What happened to the American family?

    The American family has changed dramatically over the past four decades, raising urgent questions about marriage, economic stability, and child well-being.

  8. Statue of Sacred Heart of Jesus, two lit candles, surrounded by worn black and brown shoes and scattered red tokens on wood.

    Article

    A saint of our own?

    The humble piety of Notre Dame cobbler Brother Columba inspires a canonization push.

  9. Golden Dome and Basilica of the Sacred Heart silhouetted against a red and orange sunset, reflected in a Notre Dame lake.

    Photo Essay

    A model March

    Semester in full swing, snow, sun, fun, madness, and mulch.