Converting the campus into a creative hub, Arts Everywhere Day on April 7 will engage the University community with diverse arts experiences and opportunities for creative expression. Along with professional installations, student and departmental work will be on view and more than 50 pop-up performances by student arts groups are scheduled. Creative, hands-on activities will also take place at The Pit, Polk Place and Rams Head Plaza.
With the belief that the arts are an essential tool for learning and engaging communities, Chancellor Carol Folt created Arts Everywhere to revolutionize academics and enhance public service at Carolina. Emil Kang, special assistant to the chancellor for the arts, will drive this long-term strategic initiative to invest in sustained creative practice, live arts experiences and arts learning, with the goal of making Carolina a leader in transforming the 21st century liberal arts education.
College of Arts & Sciences faculty and students are involved in events on campus, which run from noon to 9 p.m.
Highlights include:
- Arts Everywhere Mural Wall – Designed by the UNC Arts Ambassadors, in collaboration with the Undergraduate Art Association, the wall will feature outlines of figures representing Carolina students and community members. The campus community is invited to fill in portions of the outlined design with paints that will be provided.
- Campus Keys – Ten pianos (nine painted by students), installed at outdoor locations across campus, will be played by student art groups and music students during class changes (12:05 p.m., 1:10 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3:20 p.m.). The pianos will remain on campus though April 12 and will be open for anyone to play.
- Capstone event for Maker-in-Residence – Carolina Maker-in-Residence Donovan Zimmerman, of Paperhand Puppet Intervention, will showcase his mask work with Carolina students at the Murray Hall Makerspace. The event will culmintate with a presentation of these larger-than-life pieces at 3:30 p.m. at Historic Playmakers Theater.
- “Dumpster Monster” – This unique installation by Carolina Performing Arts DisTIL Fellow Robin Frohardt on Polk Place sends a poignant message about the inordinate amount of waste that humanity contributes to the earth.
- “Los Trompos” – A large-scale interactive outdoor installation by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. “Los Trompos” is inspired by spinning tops and will be on view at the Ackland Art Museum, Rams Head Plaza and the Campus Y courtyard through Sept. 17.
- Snake Pendulum demonstrations – Designed and built by students and faculty of the physics and math departments, this kinetic sculpture, on view in front of Phillips Hall, will demonstrate tension, phase and simple harmonic motion, as well as the creativity inherent in both disciplines.
- Evening lectures and performances – The day will close with a keynote speech by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s at the Fifth Annual Global Africana Conference and evening performances by Kenan Theater Company, UNC Opera and UNC Baroque Ensemble and PlayMakers Repertory Company.
