Ackland Events

TOUR: A Closer Look at the Collection
2026-03-01 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-07 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-13 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-14 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-15 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-28 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-29 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-04-04 13:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) and 1 more date | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Ackland educators for a lively half-hour look at a small handful of artworks. These engaging conversational tours offer a closer look at and new perspectives on works on view at the Museum.
This is a free, walk-in event – no RSVP required.

This event is part of UNC–Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience (CLE) program. Students who attend can scan the QR code provided at the event to receive CLE credit.

Tour: A Closer Look at "Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men"
2026-03-06 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-21 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-22 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-04-03 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-04-10 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-04-11 13:00 - 13:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Ackland educators for a lively half-hour look at a small handful of artworks. These engaging conversational tours offer a closer look at and new perspectives on works on view at the Museum. Today’s tour looks at Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men.
This is a free, walk-in event – no RSVP required.
This event is part of UNC–Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience (CLE) program. Students who attend can scan the QR code provided at the event to receive CLE credit.

Ackland Film Forum: "Boyhood" (Richard Linklater, 2014)
2026-03-09 19:30 - 21:00 | The Lumina Theater, 620 Market Street, Chapel Hill, 27516, United States
Filmed over twelve years with the same cast members who conspicuously age from segment to segment, Boyhood offers one of cinema’s most literal and radical explorations of coming of age. Following Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from early childhood through his first days of college, the film refuses traditional narrative climaxes in favor of accumulation: small moments, shifting family dynamics, and incremental changes in perception as time itself figures as the “main character.” Linklater’s method allows us to experience maturation as something lived, uneven, and quietly profound.
The film will be introduced by Rick Warner, Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor and Director of Film Studies.

This film will be screened at 7:30 p.m. at The Lumina Theater (620 Market St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516).
Tickets are free for all audience members, and registration is required via The Lumina’s webpage. Please click here to reserve your free ticket. UNC-Chapel Hill students can receive CLE credit for attending by scanning the QR code at the event.

About the Series:
Join the Ackland Film Forum this spring for Growing Up, Looking Back, a series that accompanies the Ackland exhibition Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men. This semester’s series highlights the filmgoing experience by using three local movie theaters as its venues.
The Ackland Film Forum is co-organized by the Ackland Art Museum and UNC Film Studies, housed in the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of English and Comparative Literature.

Tour: A Closer Look at "Color Concentrated"
2026-03-13 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-20 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-27 13:00 - 13:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Ackland educators for a lively half-hour look at a small handful of artworks. These engaging conversational tours offer a closer look at and new perspectives on works on view at the Museum. Today’s tour looks at Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection.
This is a free, walk-in event – no RSVP required.
This event is part of UNC–Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience (CLE) program. Students who attend can scan the QR code provided at the event to receive CLE credit.

Art and Literature: "Soft Night, Watching" and "The Colour out of Space"
2026-03-13 15:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join Lauren Turner (associate curator for contemporary art and special projects), artist Jen Clay, and Ben Boiling (teaching assistant professor of English and Comparative Literature) for a special viewing and discussion at the Ackland Art Museum. Explore the interactive, quilted installation Soft Night, Watching, currently on view, along with the H.P. Lovecraft story that helped inspire it.
The Ackland is thrilled to partner with Carolina Public Humanities on a program with UNC-Chapel Hill scholars and the artist in conversation about the artwork, the broad themes it addresses, and the literary worlds it reflects upon. Participants will receive a copy of the story in advance and enjoy light refreshments during the program.
Space is limited; tickets are required. The $40 ticket includes a copy of the book and refreshments at the event. Click here to purchase your ticket today!

2nd Friday ArtWalk: Extended Museum Hours
2026-03-13 17:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for extended hours at the Ackland Art Museum during the Carrboro-Chapel Hill 2nd Friday ArtWalk! Each month, we stay open from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. to give visitors more time to explore.
Stroll through our galleries featuring highlights from a collection of over 21,000 works of art, browse the Museum Store, and sketch in the galleries using art supplies from our lobby’s art cart.
Admission to the Ackland is always free; no prior registration needed. Whether you’re stopping by solo or bringing friends, come be inspired during our extended open hours!

Drawing in the Galleries
2026-03-14 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-04-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us for our popular Drawing in the Galleries program this month during Studio Saturday! Amanda Hughes leads participants in a creative exploration of a particular object in the Ackland’s collection.
Participants all draw from one object using their own gallery-safe materials (paper/notebooks and dry media like crayons and pencils), then discuss what they’ve noticed through the process of drawing.
This is a free public program. No registration required; all skill levels are welcome.

Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2026-03-14 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
In this art-inspired, hands-on art-making class for six- to nine-year-olds, participants will create their own artwork inspired by the art on view in Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection.

Space is limited; registration required. Free for Ackland Members at the Household Level and above; $5 per child for all others.

Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2026-03-14 13:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

Ackland F.A.M. Day: Growing Up
2026-03-22 13:00 - 17:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Activities for the whole family inspired by the Ackland’s current exhibition Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men.
F.A.M. (Families at the Museum) Day is a free, walk-in program for all ages; drop in all afternoon!

Ackland Film Forum: "Crooklyn" (Spike Lee, 1994)
2026-03-24 19:30 - 21:00 | Varsity Theatre, 123 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Set in 1970s Brooklyn, Crooklyn recounts childhood from the perspective of nine-year-old Troy Carmichael (Zelda Harris), whose coming of age unfolds within the rhythms of Black family life, neighborhood culture, and social constraint. The film balances warmth and humor with moments of rupture, revealing how maturity often arrives through confrontation with authority, injustice, and grief. Lee presents growing up as both deeply personal and inseparable from place, race, and community—an education shaped as much by environment as by experience.

The film will be introduced by Daelena Tinnin-Gadson, Assistant Professor of Black Film Studies and African American Literature.
This film will be screened at 7:30 p.m. at the Varsity Theatre (123 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514). Tickets are free, but must be reserved on the Ackland’s webpage. Register below. UNC-Chapel Hill students can receive CLE credit for attending by scanning the QR code at the event.

About the Series:
Join the Ackland Film Forum this spring for Growing Up, Looking Back, a series that accompanies the Ackland exhibition Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men. This semester’s series highlights the filmgoing experience by using three local movie theaters as its venues.
The Ackland Film Forum is co-organized by the Ackland Art Museum and UNC Film Studies, housed in the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of English and Comparative Literature.

A Closer Look at “Color Concentrated” – Featuring Weixin Zhou
2026-03-27 15:30 - 16:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Join us at a special time for a conversational tour led by Weixin Zhou, UNC-Chapel Hill doctoral candidate in art history, specialist in European modernism, and researcher and co-author of exhibition texts for both Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection and last fall’s Color Triumphant.
Please register for a free ticket below as space is limited.
This event is part of UNC–Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience (CLE) program. Students who attend can scan the QR code provided at the event to receive CLE credit.

Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2026-04-11 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
In this art-inspired, hands-on art-making class for six- to nine-year-olds, participants will create a portrait based on the themes in the works on view in Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men.

Space is limited; registration required. Free for Ackland Members at the Household Level and above; $5 per child for all others.

Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2026-04-11 13:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
