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The Arts at Carolina and in Chapel Hill

It’s hard to imagine Carolina and Chapel Hill without the vibrant arts scene created by members of our campus community. From Pulitzer Prize-winning operas to captivating art work to student performances and more, there’s no shortage of examples of Tar Heels using their creativity and passions to enrich our lives through the arts.

A central part of the Carolina experience, the arts reflect the University’s pursuit of new knowledge and commitment to public service.

People standing in a club.

Some of my happiest moments at Carolina are watching the stage lights come up on a PlayMakers show, hearing the eruption of joyful applause at the end of a Carolina Performing Arts concert or walking through the Pit and seeing something funny scrawled on the side of a cube. The arts spur creativity and bring us together as a community.

Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz

A man in a fox mascot reading a poem he wrote to another man, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz.

It’s easy for students to get in touch with their creative side at Carolina. Whether your interest is singing, dancing, magic, animation or anything else, there’s likely a student group for you.

Each spring, the University hosts Arts Everywhere Day, a campus-wide celebration of the arts. But the truth of the matter is that every day is a chance for students, faculty, staff and the community at large to participate in or simply enjoy the arts at Carolina.

An a cappella group performing in front of South Building facing an audience on Polk Place.

At Carolina, the power of the arts knows no bounds. On campus, in the local community and across the world, Tar Heels are channeling their creativity to achieve lifelong goals, be of service to others and make new discoveries.

Keep scrolling to learn more about the many ways the arts come to life at Carolina.

An artful summer

  • A male teacher, Alex Upton, holding a saxophone and pointing at a whiteboard that is out of picture as music students in the background raise their hands to answer a question.

    Student musicians go from playing to teaching

    Recent, current and incoming Carolina music students grow as educators and showcase the music department at the UNC Summer Jazz Workshop, a week-long crash course on all things jazz.

  • A person standing next to fabric art.

    Maymester packs rich experiences into 2 weeks

    This summer, students in Kathryn Desplanque's "Loving Your Local Art Scene" Maymester course explored art venues throughout the Triangle, creating an interactive arts map for all to use.

  • A silver sculpture.

    Uproar Fest to feature art staged outdoors in Orange County

    With many college students out of town, summer is typically the slowest season for local businesses in Orange County. This year, the Orange County Arts Commission is hoping to change that by hosting an arts festival that will bring artwork to Hillsborough, Carrboro and Chapel Hill, including on campus.

Creative Tar Heels

Arts in and out of the classroom

  • Murals of Chapel Hill

    Chapel Hill and Carrboro are home to more than a dozen murals that brighten the towns and honor and celebrate the community.

  • The art of acing the accent

    Learn how student-actors training with Carolina's PlayMakers Repertory Company learn their characters' dialects, and meet the Carolina faculty member who fine-tunes their accents to create an authentic sound.

  • Students turn downed trees into art

    Since the fall of 2021, the Carolina Tree Heritage and students in Jim Hirschfield’s wood sculpture class have given downed trees from around campus new life.

  • Rhiannon Giddens: Illuminating Omar

    As Carolina Performing Arts’ Southern Futures Artist in Residence, Rhiannon Giddens draws on cultural artifacts and local histories to challenge entrenched narratives about the American South. For her new opera, “Omar,” Giddens spent time in the Wilson Special Collections Library studying the manuscripts of enslaved Islamic scholar Omar ibn Said.

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