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 from “Notre Dame 2033: A Strategic Framework.”

One of several University-wide priorities outlined in the framework, the Arts Initiative, also known as Arts@ND, will spearhead collaborative research projects in the arts, promote strategic curricular innovation and stage high-visibility events with substantial community outreach.

“Scholars at Notre Dame are producing groundbreaking research and innovative creative work in the arts, and Arts@ND will amplify the impact of this work and foster its growth,” Schreffler said. “We will do this by building on existing areas of strength and advancing the successes of early-stage collaborative projects with colleagues from the sciences, engineering and other parts of the University. Our ultimate goal is for the University to be recognized as a beacon in the landscape of research and creative practice in the arts.”

A key part of the initiative is the establishment of a biennial arts festival that engages faculty, students and staff from all parts of the University and opens Notre Dame’s doors to the local community and the world. The Notre Dame Arts Biennale will include a major exhibition, performances, an academic conference, visiting artists and speakers, curricular tie-ins, and substantial campus and community involvement. Each iteration of it will be thematically aligned with the University’s mission and strategic priorities and with the research goals of Arts@ND. The plan is to announce the theme for the first biennial in spring 2025, with the festival to take place across the spring 2027 semester.

The initiative’s leadership structure includes an executive committee, a research and curricular strategy committee and a biennial committee. These teams of faculty and staff campus arts leaders will work closely with the director to plan the inaugural festival and guide strategic investments. Together they will advance the Arts@ND goals of making the arts an integral part of a Notre Dame education and making the University a preeminent locus of arts research and creative practice.

While the Arts Initiative is new, the University’s commitment to the arts is longstanding and deeply rooted in its Catholic identity and its mission to educate the whole person — mind, body and soul, Schreffler said.

“This effort aligns with the Church’s long and distinguished tradition of placing the arts at the center of devotional and intellectual practice,” he said. “The visual and performing arts invite communal experiences that bring us together physically and emotionally, create shared understanding and sense of meaning, and have the potential to cross social and partisan divides. The arts shed light on complex and sometimes difficult issues and at the same time they inspire and bring joy.”

As a professor in the Department of Art, Art History and Design, Schreffler’s scholarly work focuses on Spanish colonial art and architectural history. His most recent book, “Cuzco: Incas, Spaniards, and the Making of a Colonial City,” won the 2023 Spiro Kostof Book Award from the Society of Architectural Historians.

As associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts and Letters, Schreffler oversees the Departments of Art, Art History and Design, Film, Television and Theatre, and Music, as well as the Shakespeare at Notre Dame and Sacred Music at Notre Dame programs. He will continue in that role during his three-year appointment as director of the Arts Initiative. A search is underway for a full-time managing director for the initiative who will begin work this fall.

The Arts Initiative’s launch comes at an exciting time of increased energy and collaboration among Notre Dame’s arts departments and programs, Schreffler said, pointing to the unified Arts@ND website launched last year and the new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. The museum anchors the Arts Gateway area at the southern edge of campus, along with the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Walsh Family Hall of Architecture and O’Neill Hall of Music and Sacred Music. Future plans call for the construction of a new building in the Arts Gateway to house the Department of Art, Art History and Design along with additional space for the museum and an administrative office for the biennial, creating more opportunities for synergy.

“The arts at Notre Dame have never been stronger, with remarkable facilities, superb faculty, talented students, dedicated staff and increasing engagement with South Bend and the region,” said John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost. “The challenge in the next generation is to build on our collective resources to create compelling interdisciplinary programs that provide intellectually rich arts experiences to the Notre Dame community and beyond. Under Michael Schreffler’s leadership, the Arts Initiative will help us work together as an institution to do just that.”