Notes From the Board - Summer Camps
Every year I look forward to seeing what exciting summer camps River Arts is offering for youth. My kids have always loved going to River Arts camps, from building fairy houses to making musical instruments to painting murals. They love the beautiful, messy, joyful act of engaging in art and they always come home having made new friends and feeling confident in their abilities. As a parent, I enjoy meeting other parents in the community as we pick up and drop off our children, expanding my circle of friends.
This year more than ever, our youth need connection with each other to get outside of their homes to engage in creative pursuits. River Arts’ 2021 Summer Youth Arts Program offers nine different week-long camps from June through August, for ages 5-17. Although we have had to scale back a little because of the pandemic and the uncertainty of the planning process back in the winter, it is so exciting to tell you that our camps are almost already full! This year the camps will focus on various types of art - visual, performance, culinary and clay. Covid-19 has prevented children from playing and collaborating together in real-time or from being as physically active as they need to be because of canceled school sports and group activities. Most of the camps this summer will be formatted for outdoor engagement to maximize the potential for children to gather safely. Keeping children active and connected to nature is a big focus of River Arts.
One of our new camps this year is “Gather & Make: Eco-Arts Camp” which features nature education with hands-on creative activities, where kids will learn how to make art from the surrounding natural environment as a source for both materials and inspiration. This is so important - to have children find beauty in their surroundings and care about their community’s natural resources. River Arts is also for the first time offering a teen camp this year that will focus on social entrepreneurship in rural Vermont called “Leveling Up the Lemonade Stand” about developing new business ideas to help with challenges the youth identify in Morrisville or Lamoille County.
Given all the screen time, stress, and anxiety our youth have had to endure this past year with remote school, the loss of family members, and food insecurity, River Arts summer camps are designed to foster health and wellness through the arts for all families. My kids can’t wait to go to camp!
- Jessica Ticktin (she/her)
