April 6 will be a day for living the arts, no matter where you go on campus or on Franklin Street.
In its second year, Arts Everywhere Day expands its reach to downtown Chapel Hill and broadens its scope to include hearing nature and picturing equality. It will be a day to hang out in a wooden igloo in the arboretum, listen to live performances by PlayMakers Repertory Company and students, decorate the House Undergraduate Library with fluorescent tape and chalk up what you want to do before you die.
The day-long event will feature more than 50 performances, exhibitions, hands-on activities and announcements. For a schedule, download the Arts Everywhere app at the App Store or on Google Play. Many College of Arts & Sciences students and faculty are involved in the day. Here’s a sampling:
- Rachael Purvis (biology major, chemistry/anthropology minor ’18) invites students and community members to complete the statement “Before I Die” in a creative installation outside Davis Library.
- Noon: PlayMakers Repertory Company will have a pop-up performance in the Pit of scenes from the new play “Leaving Eden.”
- 12:30-3 p.m.: Art 290 students and visiting artist Nina Chanel Abney will unveil a mural they’ve been working on outside Morrison residence hall, on the basketball court.
- 1:30 p.m.: Marc Callahan of the department of music performs excerpts from Schubert’s Die Winterreise at the School of Dentistry while visual artist Andrew Myers brings the work to life through live drawing.
- 3 p.m.: Ackland Art Museum’s Peter Nisbet gives a short tour exploring alumnus Patrick Dougherty’s “Step Right Up” stickwork installation and the gallery inspiration for the piece.
- 6 p.m.: Free Jazz Luminaries concert in Kenan Music Building in connection with the 6th annual Global Africana Conference.
Chancellor Carol L. Folt launched Arts Everywhere in 2016 as a way to demonstrate how the arts are an essential tool for learning and engaging communities. This groundbreaking campus-wide initiative invests 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.
“It’s Arts Everywhere Day again! With colorful installations and pop-up performances, it will be a day of dancing, singing, artistic expression and creativity. Through the wonder of the arts, the campus will come to life. I can’t wait to see you there, ” Folt said.
Arts Everywhere is a strategic initiative that supports the Innovation Made Fundamental pillar of The Blueprint for Next strategic framework and also a signature initiative in the University’s $4.25 billion fundraising effort, the Campaign for Carolina.
“The second annual Arts Everywhere Day reflects the growing partnerships that are critical to all that we do throughout the year,” said Emil Kang, special assistant to the chancellor for the arts. “The day is a way for us to celebrate the power of the arts to bring people together across disciplines, interests and backgrounds. The collaborations featured extend all across campus and into the greater Chapel Hill community.”
For the first time, Arts Everywhere Day includes downtown venues. One of 10 painted Campus and Community Keys pianos will be installed for passersby to play on the Social Justice Plaza. The Monumental Voices project will be set up on Franklin St. where organizers will pass out canvas for participants to illustrate.
