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Duke Arts Presents

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Free, open-to-the-public events with visiting artists throughout the season.

ENGAGEMENT

Duke Arts Presents fosters the study and the expression of art at all levels. We believe that connections between artists and audiences that extend beyond a performance or exhibition can serve as an important social catalyst, providing opportunities for the examination of ideas and positive social change.

Duke Arts Presents will continue and build upon Duke Performances' long history of partnerships with a range of campus and community organizations to create artist engagement events throughout our season. These engagement events bring the world’s leading artists to Duke classrooms, local K-12 schools, and public forums in ways that directly enrich the life of our vibrant, inclusive city and community. Below, you will find more information about these programs. Our 2023-24 residency events will be added to our free public events calendar in early September.

  • DUKE STUDENTS & FACULTY
  • AUDIENCES & COMMUNITY
  • K-12 STUDENTS & EDUCATORS

DUKE STUDENTS & FACULTY

DUKE STUDENTS & FACULTYAt Duke Arts, we believe that engagement with creators and performers builds space for learning and inquiry, facilitating collisions between ideas, forging connections, and animating course material. Duke Arts partners with faculty across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields, reaching students through class visits, performances, and other engagements.

Duke Arts contributes to a vibrant campus life, creating opportunities for every student to have creative, cultural, and artistic experiences that enhance their understanding of the world and enrich their academic pursuits. Through Duke Arts Presents, we arrange in-depth educational residencies that bring artists to campus for days or weeks at a time — placing them directly into Duke classrooms, archives, public forums, and interactive workshops — Duke Arts builds on the resources of one of the world’s leading research institutions, fostering timely conversations and commissioning exciting new work that reflects the vibrancy, diversity, and curiosity of our faculty and students.

We invite students and faculty to reach out directly to our staff about ways to become involved.

AUDIENCES & COMMUNITY

Fundamental to Duke Arts’ artistic engagement work is the understanding that Duke University is one interconnected part of Durham’s diverse, energetic, and ever-evolving cultural community. We prioritize collaboration with local artistic and cultural workers, independent artists and venues, and members of the general public to stage creative encounters beyond the stage or gallery that are attentive to the expertise and interests of Durham-based constituencies. 

Our always-expanding repertoire includes public conversations, master classes and workshops, lecture-demonstrations, pop-up performances, and more.

We invite audiences and community members to reach out directly to our staff about ways to become involved.

K-12 STUDENTS & EDUCATORS

Duke Arts belongs to a network of arts presenters across Durham that partner with Durham Public Schools to support and enrich the district’s emphasis on top-notch arts education within and beyond the classroom. We work closely with educators across disciplines to match the expertise of our visiting artists to curricular foci, and regularly bring artists to K-12 classrooms via in-person and virtual visits. 

We believe strongly in the importance of meeting students where they are: in their studies, in their classrooms. Equally, our engagement work supports opportunities to introduce K-12 students to the University as an open, welcoming space for creative study, research, and arts exposure. Each season, Duke Arts works with Durham Public Schools to host students and educators on-campus for matinee performances, master classes, and workshops with our visiting artists.

We invite K-12 educators and students to reach out directly to our staff about ways to become involved.