WINSTON-SALEM – It’s the same place, but with a different name.

The new school year will kick off at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) this weekend, when high school students descend on the campus.

New high school students arrive on Friday, Aug. 22, and returning high school students arrive Monday, Aug. 25.  High school academic classes begin on Tuesday, Aug. 26.

The new high school students will move in during the morning on Friday. Later that day, UNCSA Chancellor John Mauceri will greet the parents of the new high school students (at 1 p.m.) and the students themselves (at 3 p.m.) in the Proscenium Thrust Theatre, Performance Place.

New college students arrive Friday, Sept. 12; and returning college students, on Sunday, Sept. 14. College registration is on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and all arts and academic classes begin on Thursday, Sept. 18.

The annual opening convocation is scheduled to take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Crawford Hall in Gray Building. The convocation, which is for the campus community only, will be followed by an all-school picnic.

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.