Arts Everywhere Day returns April 14
The seventh annual Arts Everywhere Day will feature performances, installations and activities across campus, beginning at 11 a.m. There will be an all-day informational art fair in the Gift Plaza at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.
You may not have invested most of your childhood years into developing your talents as a dancer, musician, painter or actor, but you can still be an artist.
That’s the message behind the theme of this year’s Arts Everywhere Day: “YOU Are an Artist.”
Ashley Melzer, director of Humanities for the Public Good in the College of Arts and Sciences and producer of Arts Everywhere Day, says the event is about empowering the Carolina community to access their artistic side.
“The goal is to expand our understanding on campus of what it means to be an artist, where art can happen, who has access to it and what level of commitment you need to be an artist,” said Melzer. “I think there are a lot of students who walk across campus, and they don’t necessarily know that they can do that or that calling themselves an artist is completely legitimate, and it’s welcome.”
The seventh annual Arts Everywhere Day on April 14 will feature performances, installations and activities across campus, beginning at 11 a.m. There will be an all-day informational art fair in the Gift Plaza at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. The art fair will include details about the day’s events and various student groups, as well as interactive opportunities like painting and screenprinting. Student groups such as Que Rico, UNC Clef Hangers and the UNC Glee Club will perform nearby in the Pit and the West Lounge of the student union.
The South Building steps will feature performances throughout the day, including “The Big Scream” at 3 p.m., an interactive event in which students from the PlayMakers Repertory Company will lead participants in several screaming exercises.
Melzer said that organizers decided to repeat “The Big Scream” from last year’s Arts Everywhere Day because it was a much-needed catharsis, enabling people to release pent-up emotion from the pandemic. Performances at Coker Arboretum and Morehead Planetarium and Science Center will follow “The Big Scream” in the late afternoon.
Whether you opt to take in performances from student groups, try some swing dancing or simply scream, the Arts Everywhere team encourages you to find the artist within yourself and express it.
“The beauty of Arts Everywhere Day is seeing the diversity of campus, of the way people express their creativity,” Melzer said.
