WINSTON-SALEM -- It’s official!

N.C. Gov. Mike Easley today signed into law the bill that changes “North Carolina School of the Arts” to “University of North Carolina School of the Arts.”

The name change was sent to the governor for his signature in July, after it won approval by the N.C. General Assembly. On July 9, the bill (Senate Bill 2015) passed in the House by the overwhelming margin of 115 to 1. The bill had already passed unanimously in the Senate, on June 24.

“This is a great and historic moment for our School,” said North Carolina School of the Arts Chancellor John Mauceri, who recently celebrated his second anniversary at the School. “While the School's leadership had unanimously supported (and indeed, suggested) the name, the U is the tip of the iceberg.

“It is emblematic, in every sense, of a larger and, for us, deeply important shift in the attitude of our university and state leaders toward the School of the Arts,” Chancellor Mauceri continued.

“The really important news is the appropriations received by the school two weeks ago. This includes $24.5 million for two new buildings -- a new central storage and police operations facility and a new animation, gaming and digital production design building, as well as money for the land acquisition for our Center for Design Innovation. This money, coupled with last year's $25 million for a new library, means the School of Arts has received almost $50 million for new buildings and programs from the state of North Carolina as a true vote of confidence in all we are doing,” Mauceri concluded.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of the Arts”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. For more information, visit www.ncarts.edu.