Kang named Special Assistant to the Chancellor for the Arts
Emil J. Kang, who currently serves as the Executive and Artistic Director for Carolina Performing Arts, was selected by Chancellor Carol L. Folt to lead a groundbreaking new University-wide arts initiative.
Leading arts administrator Emil J. Kang has been named Special Assistant to the Chancellor for the Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He will begin his appointment July 1.
Kang, who currently serves as the Executive and Artistic Director for UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Performing Arts, was selected by Chancellor Carol L. Folt to lead a groundbreaking new University-wide arts initiative to integrate the arts with the teaching, research and service mission of the University.
“I am extremely pleased to have one of the nation’s leading arts administrators direct this important University initiative,” said Folt. “Emil’s decades of experience and global reputation will help us take arts to the next level for Carolina and the state. He is well-prepared to lead our efforts to integrate the arts across our University.”
In this cabinet level position, Kang will be responsible for programming arts events, activities and installations across campus, creating clear and well-coordinated communications about opportunities in the arts, and ensuring the arts are well-represented in all major campus initiatives, including the master plan, strategic framework and capital campaign. This is a half-time, secondary appointment that will allow Kang to maintain his role with Carolina Performing Arts and as a Professor of the Practice in the department of music.
“I am honored and humbled by this opportunity to expand my role within the University,” said Kang. “Chancellor Folt is a dynamic leader who has demonstrated consistent support for and belief in the arts. I look forward to ensuring the arts play a vital role in the life of our great University.”
Kang arrived at Carolina in 2005 and founded Carolina Performing Arts. Since his arrival, he has made Chapel Hill an international arts destination by inviting artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Merle Haggard and the Bolshoi Ballet, and with projects drawing international acclaim such as “The Rite of Spring at 100.” Through his leadership, Carolina Performing Arts has commissioned nearly 50 new works by some of the world’s most renowned artists. Prior to his arrival at UNC-Chapel Hill, Kang served as President and Executive Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He also held positions with the Seattle Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra and served as an Orchestra Management Fellow with the League of American Orchestras.
In 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Kang to the National Council on the Arts, where he is serving a six-year term. He also serves on the inaugural selection committee of Institute for International Education’s Artist Protection Fund and the boards of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute of the Arts at the UNC School of the Arts and EMCarts in New York.
Kang holds a degree in economics from the University of Rochester in New York and also completed the Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management program at Harvard Business School.
