in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governor Terry Sanford, it was the first public arts conservatory in the United States. The school owns and operates the Stevens Center in Downtown Winston-Salem and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The school consists of five professional schools: School of Dance, School of Design & Production (including a High School Visual Arts Program), School of Drama, School of Filmmaking, and School of Music.
== History ==
=== 20th century ===
The idea of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts was initiated in 1962 by Vittorio Giannini, a leading American Composer and teacher of Composition at Juilliard, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music, who approached then-governor Terry Sanford and enlisted the help of author John Ehle and William Sprott Greene, Jr. and Martha Dulin Muilenburg of Charlotte, North Carolina, to support his dream of an arts conservatory. State funds were appropriated, …