Interview: Amy Kolling of Carolina Performing Arts

Amy Kolling is the Senior Director of Artistic and Production for Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, she curates a multi-disciplinary performance series, and engages artists from around the world in teaching, research, and creation. She played a lead role in developing CPA’s first festival, All. Together. Now., and its newest venue, CURRENT ArtSpace and Studio. I had the great pleasure of speaking to her about a lot of this and more.

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To start things off, would you mind telling us about CPA?

AK: So CPA is, as you said, a multidisciplinary presenter for the performing arts on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We're just a little over 20 years old now. We present a series of performances that includes all kinds of dance, theater, and music from around the world. Also some visual arts and installation work on campus in the town of Chapel Hill. We also host artists from around the world to do research and create new works, and also to teach and collaborate with faculty. 

When did you first start working with them and how did the opportunity come about?

AK: In 2014. I'm a graduate of UNC. I was a music student. When I graduated, I went to work for the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh. I was there for just under 12 years. I was part of the team that did their artistic planning. So selecting the repertoire that the orchestra was playing and hiring soloists and guest conductors and working on tours for the orchestra around the state. That was a really great opportunity, and I learned so much. Through that, I got to know the former executive director of Carolina Performing Arts, Emil Kang. He created a programming position to help curate the series here. So I took the leap and have been doing that ever since.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

AK: I enjoy supporting artists. Getting to know them and what they're curious about. What they're trying to make and share, and kind of activating the resources and the talent on campus to collaborate with them. To create new things, and to help continue to invest in their creative process. That's what's most fulfilling for me.

CPA has continued to showcase Carolina as a leader in the arts. Three productions they’ve been associated with are now reaching audiences outside North Carolina. What does that mean to you?

AK: Well, the university is a place where knowledge is created and shared. Being on the campus of the University of North Carolina, our mission is deeply tied to that. So it's really meaningful to be able to activate our mission and the university's mission for the sake of research and development, artistic research and development. To create knowledge the way that scholars and researchers do on a campus. Artists do the same thing. To try to share that around the world is a really exciting opportunity. So when we're able to launch new works by commissioning them or hosting an artist's research process or just being the first stop on a U.S. tour, it's really exciting to be sort of a launching pad for those works to be made and then to kind of go travel around the world as far as they can.

The latest, Tao of Glass, recently opened at Soho Place in London's West End. What can you tell us about it?

AK: The beginning of that story goes back to I think like the 2017-2018 season for CPA when we hosted a festival in celebration of the 80th birthday of the American composer, Philip Glass. We invited artists from around the world to present a breadth and depth of his work, and he was here along with us to celebrate his birthday in all of these different ways. After that, we got to know the folks at the Manchester International Festival in the U.K. We're kind of kindred spirits. Our organizations were interested in creating new, similar kinds of works. So this project, Tao of Glass, which is really focused on Philip's music, came about as an opportunity for us to co-commission something new with the Manchester International Festival. So we said yes, and that's how the work came to us. It's a really beautiful piece of theater with a lot of Philip's music inside of it created by an artist named Phelim McDermott. We presented it here on campus a couple of seasons ago, and it's just really beautiful. It's sort of an exploration of creativity and friendship and the human mind and kind of what it means to be alive. Like, very lofty ideas, but presented in a really accessible, beautiful way. 

Earlier this year, two other CPA-connected productions ran in New York and were featured by the New York Times. They were Johnny Loves Johann, and Pony Cam's Burnout Paradise. What do you make of all this success?

AK: Something that means a lot to us at CPA is investing in long-term, what I would call iterative relationships with artists. So we get to know someone, we learn what they're curious about, what they wanna make next. We try to help them out with that, and we kind of continue our engagement with them as they make new work and continue to develop creatively. It's lovely to see artists with whom we've had these long relationships and kind of been on so many adventures together to create new projects. We continue to be successful and hope that we're building relationships with artists who will have those long, exciting careers. It's thrilling to see them all kind of go off and, and have greater success.

Going back to the beginning, how did you first get started in the performing arts?

AK: I was just a young musician. I played lots of different instruments and different ensembles when I was a kid. I think it's a pretty common story and it always meant a lot to me. My family and I moved around a lot, and wherever we landed, I could find a community in music. So that was personally really meaningful to me. I just wanted to continue doing that. I went to school to be a professional musician. When I graduated, I learned sort of about the entire world of being an arts worker. Like an arts administrator, and trying to help bring new things to life and help support artists and all of these things and wanted to be a part of that. So yeah, that's how I'm here. 

Looking ahead into the future, is a global expansion of other CPA-connected productions something you’d love to see more of?

AK: Oh, for sure! I want everyone to be able to experience the things that are created here. We believe very strongly in the work that we do and in the artists that collaborate with us. Of course, we want it to be shared with as many people as possible. 

For those who haven’t been to the Carolina Performing Arts yet, why should they give it a shot?

AK: I think we hold a special place in the cultural ecosystem of the triangle. We tend to bring projects from around the world that other presenters in the region don't for whatever reason. I think we hold a special place, and so I would just encourage people who want to follow their curiosity. Maybe have a surprising unexpected experience, encounter something new to come and spend time with us because you can definitely do that here.

Before we go, do you have any other upcoming projects you’d like to share with us?

AK: Absolutely! We are launching our next season in October, so there's a lot of richness there for people to explore. But something very special about this coming season is that we are also launching a festival called All. Together. Now. It will happen from February 19th-21st, in venues all across Chapel Hill, the downtown area, and the campus with artists from around the world, also artists from all over the Triangle region. It's really a celebration of how artists and researchers and scholars are really engaged in these sort of kindred efforts of exploring the world, trying to answer big questions, creating knowledge, and sharing it with people. So it'll feel like a sort of a playground of ideas between researchers and scholars from the university and artists from around the world. 

For those who’d like to pursue a career in the performing arts, where do you think would be a good place to start?

AK: I think experience is probably the best teacher, right? So hopefully you have a creative practice that you can explore and build community with other artists, and then just get out there and do it. Find some way to experience what it means to bring something to life in a creative way. That's the best starting place.

Amy, I thank you very much for devoting your time to this conversation. For those who’d like to keep up with your career, where can people find you on the internet?

AK: Oh, I'm very much not on the internet. But you can follow my work with Carolina Performing Arts. That's the best place to find me.

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For more information, please visit: www.carolinaperformingarts.org.

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