Location: South Main Street in Winston-Salem
County: Forsyth
Original Date Cast: 1985
In 1963 the General Assembly of North Carolina, during the governorship of Terry Sanford, designated funds “to create and provide for a training center for instruction in the performing arts.” As a result, the North Carolina School of the Arts, which opened in September 1965, became the first such state-supported school. In 1971 it became one of the sixteen constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina.
Vittorio Giannini, an American composer, was the first president. Following Giannini’s death in 1967, Robert Ward, also a composer, served as chancellor from 1967 to 1974. During his tenure the school doubled its faculty and enrollment.
The School of the Arts enrolls over 700 students in secondary school and college programs in dance, drama, film, music, design and production, and visual arts. They are led by over 100 faculty members, most of whom are artists who continue to perform in their fields. Admission to the school is by audition or portfolio.
References:
North Carolina School of the Arts catalog and website: http://www.uncsa.edu
James B. Greenwood III, “The Establishment of the North Carolina School of the Arts” (M.A. thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1971)
“Giannini’s Dream: A Tribute to Dr. Vittorio Giannini, Founding President of the North Carolina School of the Arts” (1974)