A New Identity: Arts school has even bigger plans as it rolls out its name, plans for logo and updated Web site

As students and instructors begin arriving this month for classes at the region's premier arts conservatory, they will notice an important change when they look up.

Banners with the words "University of North Carolina School of the Arts" went up yesterday along Giannini Drive, off of the school's entrance at South Main Street. They signify what the General Assembly made official over the summer, namely that the former N.C. School of the Arts now has a "U" in front of its name.

"I think it's great that the new name is being celebrated on campus," said Robert Wildman, the director of UNCSA's performing-arts-management program. "It's clear that they're working it into … the campus culture immediately. I think that's good."

The banners are among the most conspicuous consequences of the name change, which school officials say will enhance recruitment and fundraising. Other actions, both interim and permanent, will soon follow.

In a recent e-mail exchange, James Pao, the school's recently hired marketing manager, answered questions about the name change from the school's staff members. He said, for example, that the school's official name is "University of North Carolina School of the Arts," without the word "the."

Visitors to the arts school's Web site (www.ncarts.edu) will see the school's new name at the top of the home page, proclaimed in large letters.

People who want to know more about the name change will find a link that both explains the change ("to clarify that we are indeed a university," not just a high school) and states that "most likely you will see changes continuing to be made over the course of the year."

Some of these changes are predictable. The school's new name will soon show up in institutional advertising, campus signs, stationery, staff uniforms, and on campus police and maintenance vehicles.

As of yesterday, all the costs associated with the name change weren't available, as UNCSA's administration was still completing the budget for the coming school year. The costs that are known appear to be modest. For example, additional lettering for the three activity buses is $175.

In some instances, the new name will come in the form of an "interim logo" until a permanent one is introduced in December. The interim logo has been designed by the Mitre Agency of Greensboro. UNCSA's staff members have been told to use it on all school documents.

School officials stress that the name change will be integrated into planned updates of existing marketing vehicles, including the school's Web site.

Suzanne Hilser-Wiles, UNCSA's chief advancement officer, oversees the school's fundraising, marketing and communications efforts.

She said that the updates would have happened whether the name change was approved or not. She said they are needed because "a lot of the marketing of particular programs had fallen to each of the different arts schools" under UNCSA's umbrella.

The result has been an inconsistent message, or what she called "a different look and feel and language" in each division.

UNCSA now aims to "create one visual identity that will be used … for all the programs of the school that will help reinforce that this is one institution doing a whole body of really stellar work in the arts and arts education," Hilser-Wiles said.

Mitre has been hired to do just that. The effort to create a new identity is being led by Mike Fox. It will draw on the input of focus groups consisting of staff members, alumni, students and an advisory committee made up representatives from UNCSA's five divisions.

It will culminate in the creation of a new logo, along with what school officials call "a new seal for the university, along with graphic standards for both the logo and the seal."

Mitre was hired for $55,000 -- a little more than a quarter of the $200,000 that has been earmarked for marketing UNCSA this year.

Though $200,000 isn't a lavish marketing budget, it represents a significant increase over the $28,000 that UNCSA's advancement division got last year.

"Yes, we would love to be able to devote additional funds toward new initiatives to strengthen our ongoing marketing efforts, but it won't happen this year unless we are able to raise additional private dollars for it," Hilser-Wiles said.

■ Ken Keuffel can be reached at 727-7337 or at kkeuffel@wsjournal.com.