Emil J. Kang (born 1968 in New York) serves as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's first Executive Director for the Arts, a senior administrative post created to help unify and elevate the performing arts at the University. In his first season, Emil Kang introduced the University’s first major performing arts series, inaugurated in conjunction with the grand re-opening of the University’s main performing arts venue, Memorial Hall. Emil Kang also co-teaches courses in artistic entrepreneurship and performance theory. Kang is also a member of the music faculty and currently serves as Professor of the Practice.

Prior to coming to Chapel Hill, Emil Kang served as President and Executive Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). Emil Kang has also held positions of Vice President of Operations for the DSO, Orchestra Manager for the Seattle Symphony, and Orchestra Management Fellow with the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL). As an Orchestra Management Fellow, Kang worked with symphony orchestras in San Francisco, Houston, and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He is a frequent speaker and has led numerous local, state and national outreach efforts. He has also chaired panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Full Frame International Documentary Film Festival, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, among others.

Emil Kang was the youngest and first Asian-American to hold the top administrative post of a major symphony orchestra. Kang was selected by Crain’s Detroit Business “40 under 40,” is a graduate of Leadership Detroit, and has served on national boards including Henry Ford Hospital and United Neighborhood Centers of America. Kang currently serves on the boards of the North Carolina Symphony and the Kenan Institute for the Arts at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Kang has also been a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and completed the Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program at Harvard Business School. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Rochester in New York.

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