The Block Museum of Art has received a $100,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Block Museum director Lisa Corrin said the Warhol grant will fund an exhibition the Block Museum plans to open in January 2016.

The exhibition will focus on Charlotte Moorman, an American cellist and artist who is often called the “Joan of Arc of avant-garde music,” Corrin said.

“This is the first time the museum has ever been awarded a grant from the Warhol Foundation,” said Samantha Topol, manager of grants and donor engagement at the museum. “It is a significant achievement for the Block Museum.”

This is the third large grant the Block Museum has been awarded in the last six months, Topol said.

The Terra Foundation for American Art, a Chicago-based organization, has also awarded the museum a grant that will serve as critical funding for the beginning of the process to make the Moorman exhibition a reality, Topol said.

Charlotte Moorman became well known in the 1960s, when she worked closely with experimental composers, choreographers, artists, filmmakers and writers, Corrin said. Moorman’s experiences with many other artists inspired her to start the New York Avant Garde Festival, which ran for almost two decades.

The exhibition will contain works of other artists in addition to Moorman’s own works. Works by artist and singer Yoko Ono, who was Moorman’s roommate in New York City in the 1960s, will also be featured, Corrin said.

Corinne Granof, curator of academic programs at the museum, will curate the exhibition with Corrin. Joan Rothfuss, author of the biography “Topless Cellist: The Improbable Life of Charlotte Moorman,” will act as a consulting curator for the exhibition.

Northwestern’s Special Collections Library contains Charlotte Moorman’s archives and is a partner in the project, Corrin said. After it completes its stay at the University, the exhibition will travel to the Grey Art Gallery of New York University in fall of 2016. It’s also expected to travel to Europe in the future, Corrin added.

The Block Museum was also awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for an upcoming exhibition titled Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and its Legacies. This is the first time the Block Museum has received an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Topol said. The Collecting Paradise exhibition opens Jan. 13.

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