Attending a STEM-focused school like NC State often leaves students searching for opportunities to explore other creative pursuits. Enter the Arts Village, one of NC State’s 16 Living and Learning Villages. Located in Turlington Hall, students living here can find a community of their peers that are also interested in the arts
“As a STEM university, there are many pockets of ways for students for engage with the arts,” said Michael Mellas, director of the Arts Village. “The Arts Village was yet another one of those pockets: a place for students interested and engaged in the arts to live and learn together, focused around the arts.”
Living in the Arts Village not only provides students with a network of art-curious neighbors, but also gives them the opportunity to engage with art both on and off campus. Programming includes trips to the Durham Center for the Performing Arts (DPAC) and the Carolina Ballet, free tickets to Arts NC State events and interactions with visiting artists.
J Hallen, a class of 2018 NC State alumnus that majored in business administration, lived in the village for three years and emphasized the impact of living there on J’s college experience.
“Without living in the Arts Village, I would not have been able to attend nearly as many incredible arts events,” Hallen said. “I firmly believe that the Arts Village is one of the most accepting places on campus, especially for the LGBTQ community.”
Residents are also encourage to create their own art, and are given spaces to incorporate it into their transition to college life.
“Arts Villagers work together to design and paint the mural for Respect the Pack during Welcome Week, which typically culminates by inviting the campus community to make a paint-handprint on the mural as a way to pledge to respect diversity on campus,” Mellas said. “It’s a way to bring the Arts Village together through the arts and around an important message of diversity and inclusion on campus.”
Mellas highlighted the makeup of the Arts Village: of its 156 residents, over half are non-first-year students.
“While we still focus on building community with these students, we focus less on learning what resources exist on campus and more on how students can focus their interests in the arts,” Mellas said. “Second-year Arts Villagers have ‘tracks’ workshops just for them led by our partners in Arts NC State. That way students with an interest in, for example, craft arts can get workshops just for them led by staff members at the Crafts Center to further develop their skills and knowledge.”
Mellas also noted that students don’t have to consider themselves artists, or be in an art-related field of study to live in the Arts Village. Over a third of the village’s residents are studying engineering and more than half are in STEM-related majors.
Mia Connell, a fourth-year studying sociology and political science, lived in the Arts Village for a year. Connell cited the village’s convenient location on campus, as well as the accessibility of programs for its residents, as perks of being a member of the village.
“I would absolutely recommend to others,” Connell said. “It’s a great location, you get to stay active in the arts scene at NC State and in Raleigh, and it’s hall style, which I always recommend if you’re looking to make friends.”
The Arts Village prides itself on being a welcoming space for its residents, an element of living there that students continuously reference as one of the village’s highlights.
“About two years ago a student created an informal motto for the Arts Village – ‘Inclusive as Heck in Turlington Hall’,” Mellas said. “And it’s stuck. ‘Inclusive as Heck in Turlington Hall’ shows up on our newsletter, on our swag, and, more importantly, as a mentality that permeates the Arts Village.”
You can find more information about the Arts Village at their website, found at https://villages.dasa.ncsu.edu/village-options/arts-village/.
