Interactive art installations such as spinning chairs and brightly painted pianos stretched from Franklin Street all the way to South Campus last Friday in celebration of UNC’s second Arts Everywhere Day, founded in 2016 by UNC Chancellor Carol Folt.

“We’re here for a complete celebration of the arts and the creativity that it inspires in everyone,” Folt said. “It’s our dream to see the arts in every part of the campus and to see it enliven everyone’s lives in the way that we know that it can,” said Folt.

Folt and special assistant to the chancellor Emil Kang made the announcement that an Arts Everywhere painting studio will open in Morrison Residence Hall in the fall of 2018 and will have the first Arts Everywhere fellow, a Master of Fine Arts student who will help manage the studio.

“We really believe there’s an opportunity for us to really activate that campus so it’s not just a place where student go to sleep but actually a place of living and working,” Kang said. “We really believe with the creation of this painting studio we want to bring people back down to south campus during other parts of the day.”

Arts Everywhere exhibit. Photo via Blake Hodge.

According to Kang, Arts Everywhere is about making sure that everyone knows that arts are for everyone, not just art majors, and that everyone has the creative potential to be artistic.

“Our idea behind this originally was really about how we could animate the campus and evoke the creative potential in everyone on this campus,” Kand said. “So what we have this year are over 40 plus sites of installations, events, performances all across campus from north campus to south campus.”

Another installment during Arts Everywhere was the “Before I die…” wall – an interactive wall created in more than 70 countries that was brought to campus by UNC biology student Rachael Purvis.

Purvis said Arts Everywhere allows students to express emotions, reflect, create creative spaces and share social issues.

“I have found art really important in the sciences as well. Whether it be drawing animals in my marine bio class or, I want to be a dentist, so sculpting in dentistry. So I think art has the capacity to be relevant to any major,” said Purvis.

Arts Everywhere is a signature initiative in the University’s $4 billion fundraising effort, the Campaign for Carolina.