The Arts in Public Service Fellows
In 2015, the Buckley Public Service Scholars (BPSS) program at the Carolina Center for Public Service and Carolina Performing Arts (CPA) partnered to create the Arts in Public Service Fellows, a program that encourages students to enrich their communities and work toward social change through the arts.
UNC-Chapel Hill and the Triangle area are both rich with opportunities to connect the arts and public service. This may mean pursuing public service in a creative mode, pursuing the arts in a service-oriented mode or some mixture of the two. This program emphasizes expansive definitions of both “service” and “arts,” and advocates for creative modes of connecting them. Arts in Public Service Fellows will learn the ways in which the arts have effected and will continue to effect social change, develop necessary skills for engaging in this work themselves and gain first-hand experience supporting local arts and public service projects.
2023 Arts in Public Service Fellows Components
Arts in Public Service Fellows (APSF) fulfill some requirements of the BPSS program and build portfolios with a particular focus on the connections between arts and social change. To complete the program successfully, Arts in Public Service Fellows must complete:
- Orientation to learn more about the program and the expectations.
- 100 arts-based service hours logged on the BPSS portfolio (of the 300 necessary for BPSS)
- Two arts-based skills trainings (of the four required for BPSS), skills trainings might cover fundraising in the arts, ethical engagement, activism in the arts, and more.
- One arts-connected academic service-learning course of your choice for Spring 2022.
- Two cohort performances – Fellows will attend two CPA-sponsored performances together (tickets provided by CPA) and have the opportunity to reflect as a group on their connections with students’ work in community engagement and social change.
- October 14 & 15, 2023– Rimini Protokoll:100% The Triangle – features 100 local (non-actor) residents chosen according to the demographics of our region. This performance includes a unique opportunity for APSF to meet with the artists for a conversation about community and the arts.
- March 26, 2024, 7:30pm –Rhiannon Giddens, featuring Martha Redbone, Pura Fé, and Charly Lowry– Pulitzer-winning composer and Futures Artist-in-Residence Rhiannon Giddens continues to bring untold stories and essential traditions to the stage. This time, she’ll collaborate with Martha Redbone, Pura Fé, and Charly Lowry for a colorful celebration of indigenous artistry.
Students pursuing this distinction will have the opportunity to work with established arts-based projects, to propose and create engagement opportunities with the arts and receive training and support from Carolina faculty and staff in arts-based work with communities. Students who complete these requirements, as well as BPSS components, will receive a graduation cord, certificate, transcript notation, and special recognition as an Arts in Public Service Fellow!
How to Apply
Applications for the 2023 Arts in Public Service Fellows cohort are open until August 30th. Students will be contacted if they are accepted into the program. Apply online through the CCPS Application and Nomination Portal. If you have any questions about the application, please email Katelyn Bodwell at kbodwell@unc.edu.
The staff supporting this year’s cohort includes Katelyn Bodwell, Program Officer for Community Engagement at CCPS, and Amanda Graham, Associate Director of Engagement at CPA. All planned cohort activities are subject to change.
About Carolina Performing Arts
The mission of Carolina Performing Arts is to enrich lives by creating and presenting exceptional arts experiences and connecting them to the UNC community and beyond. Established in 2005 at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Performing Arts presents the very best from the full spectrum of the performing arts: internationally renowned recitalists and orchestras, chamber ensembles, jazz, folk and world music artists, dance and theater.
CPA strives to nurture artistic innovation and the development of new works on and off campus; to challenge and inspire audiences with powerful and transformative performances; and to integrate the arts into the life of the University, embracing its mission of teaching, research and public service.