Ackland Events

Drawing in the Galleries
2026-01-24 10:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
The Ackland Art Museum will be closed Saturday, Jan. 24th and Sunday, Jan. 25th due to winter weather. This session has been canceled. Please email acklandlearn@unc.edu with any questions.

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)
2026-01-24 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
The Ackland Art Museum will be closed Saturday, Jan. 24th and Sunday, Jan. 25th due to winter weather. This session has been canceled. Please email acklandlearn@unc.edu with any questions.

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 the Ackland galleries.

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

Tour: A Closer Look at the Collection
2026-01-24 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-01-25 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-01-30 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-06 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-14 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-15 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-21 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-22 13:00 - 13:30 and 3 more dates | 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.

Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2026-01-24 13:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

Curator’s Tour of “Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men”
2026-01-30 15:30 - 16:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This program is now FULL. To be added to our WAITLIST, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.

A guided look at Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men with exhibition curator Lauren Turner, associate curator for contemporary art.
This event is free, but space is limited; register for your free ticket below.
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.

CANCELLED DUE TO WINTER STORM! Tour: A Closer Look at the Collection
2026-01-31 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-01 13:00 - 13:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

Take Two Tour: Two Perspectives on Salon-Style Exhibitions
2026-02-06 15:00 - 16:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This program is now FULL. To be added to our WAITLIST, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.

Join us for a conversational tour focused on exhibitions installed “Salon Style,” like Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection. Professor Daniel Sherman (UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Art and Art History) and Dana Cowen, Sheldon Peck Curator for European and American Art before 1950 at the Ackland will co-lead the tour.
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.

Drawing in the Galleries
2026-02-07 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.

CANCELED - Art Adventures (Morning Session)
2026-02-07 10:30 - 12:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This event has been canceled – our sincere apologies for the inconvenience. Ticket holders should check their email for further instructions.

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

CANCELED - Art Adventures (Afternoon Session)
2026-02-07 13:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States

Tour: A Closer Look at "Color Concentrated"
2026-02-13 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-27 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.

2nd Friday ArtWalk: Love for Durham School of the Arts
2026-02-13 17:00 - 21:00 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Spend an evening exploring Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men and celebrating the project’s partner Durham School of the Arts (DSA) during this month’s 2nd Friday ArtWalk.
A slideshow of art made by DSA students will play throughout the evening. Additionally, a representative from Wilson Library’s Community-Driven Archives will have recording equipment available for visitors to capture their own thoughts on the questions that DSA students considered during Boys Will Be Men.
The free, walk-in event is for all ages and all materials will be provided. The Museum will be open until 9 p.m. to see the exhibition and more.

Tour: A Closer Look at "Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men"
2026-02-20 13:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-06 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.

"Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men" Artist Conversation
2026-02-22 14:00 - 15:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This program is now FULL. To be added to our WAITLIST, please email acklandRSVP@unc.edu.

Artist Bill Bamberger, exhibition curator Lauren Turner, and select participating current and former students from Durham School of the Arts will host a public conversation discussing the process behind and lessons learned from the community-driven exhibition Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men.
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.

Ackland Film Forum: “Aftersun” (Charlotte Wells, 2022)
2026-02-23 19:30 - 21:00 | Chelsea Theater, 1129 Weaver Dairy Road, Suite AB, Chapel Hill, 27514, United States
Set during a modest holiday at a Turkish resort in the early 2000s, Aftersun approaches coming of age obliquely, through memory and retrospection. Stunningly shot on 35mm film, which is contrasted with mini DV home movie video footage, the plot follows young Sophie (Frankie Corio) and her father Calum (Paul Mescal). But it is the adult Sophie’s somber attempt to reconstruct this formative trip that gives the story its emotional charge. Coming of age here is not marked by clear lessons or dramatic turning points, but by the gradual, dawning recognition of a parent’s fragility—and of the limits of childhood understanding.

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 Chelsea Theater, 1129 Weaver Dairy Road, Suite AB, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Click here for more information on theater pricing; tickets are free for UNC-Chapel Hill students. 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.
This film series is dedicated to the memory of Allison Portnow Lathrop, former Head of Public Programs at the Ackland Art Museum. For more than a decade, Allison was an indispensable champion of film culture on campus and in Chapel Hill, most notably through her visionary stewardship of the Ackland Film Forum. She fostered a spirit of generous collaboration among faculty, students, and artists. Her belief in the power of cinema lives on in the conversations and shared experiences she helped create.
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.

The 11th Annual Symposium of the Art Student Graduate Organization - “Anachronic Enchantment: Temporalities in Visual and Material Culture"
2026-02-28 09:00 - 14:30 | Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
The symposium will be held in-person at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday, February 28 from 9:00 AM- 2:30 PM. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A session and are open to a general audience.
When something is described as anachronistic, it is often to say that it is contradictory, inconsistent, illogical, or misplaced. Essentially, to be anachronistic is to exist outside of historical time. However, has science not demonstrated that time is relative? Is temporality, meaning our relationship with time, not subject to change? Instead of anachronistic, Alexander Nagel and Christopher Wood have coined the term anachronic to refer to art that has “witnessed time.” Art historian, Keith Moxey, adds that anachronicity is the ability of objects “to exceed the parameters of their chronological circumstances.”
With this in mind, this symposium considers temporality as its central framework and invites interdisciplinary reflection on how time is constructed, experienced, and represented across humanistic study. By foregrounding temporal frameworks, we seek to interrogate whose times are privileged, silenced, or contested, and how alternative conceptions of time challenge dominant narratives. Central to this inquiry are questions that examine how artists have engaged with temporality to construct new and alternative histories; how meaning and interpretation inevitably shift across time, requiring us to reconsider our own scholarly and curatorial practices; and how ephemeral forms of art disrupt and complicate traditional art historical methods.

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.
This film series is dedicated to the memory of Allison Portnow Lathrop, former Head of Public Programs at the Ackland Art Museum. For more than a decade, Allison was an indispensable champion of film culture on campus and in Chapel Hill, most notably through her visionary stewardship of the Ackland Film Forum. She fostered a spirit of generous collaboration among faculty, students, and artists. Her belief in the power of cinema lives on in the conversations and shared experiences she helped create.
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.
