Acting, singing, music, photography, fine art, design… There’s a camp for that.
If you’re undecided about a camp for your child, consider this: A report from Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, states that involvement with the arts—dance, music, drama, or fine arts—helps children with critical thinking, creative problem-solving, effective communication and teamwork. Additionally, Louisiana residents responding to an Arts in Education survey stated that the arts provide their children intangibles including creativity, self-expression, individualism, tolerance, and self-confidence.
Oh, and arts camps are incredibly fun.
At Isidore Newman, arts literacy is a core component of the school’s curriculum, says Andrew Rodgers, interim Dean of the Arts. That commitment to the arts extends to the summer, when students can focus on theater—movement, dance and acting—through its Summer Theater Conservatory, now in its tenth year.
“It gives them a chance to play, to explore without the stresses of tests and SATs,” says Andrew. “The summer program is a shift from the rigor and critical nature of the curriculum during the year.”
Performances, exhibitions & more
One of the added benefits to an arts camp? The prize at the end for the campers—and their families. Theater and dance camps typically culminate with one (or more) performance for families and friends—and sometime the public at large. Sacred Heart’s theater camps will prepare for and ultimately perform Seussical Jr. and The Little Mermaid; St. Martin’s will perform Sleeping Beauty. Encore campers will stage Peter Pan. Campers at the Southern Rep Theater will perform Annie, Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr., or Legally Blond Jr., depending upon their age. Other performing arts camps, like Hope Stone New Orleans Arts Camp, will have campers script their own plays to act out.
If your child is more into the visual arts, there’s still ample opportunity to showcase what they’ve done. Many arts camps, including the Photography Camp at the Ogden Museum, the CAC Summer Arts Camp and St. Martin’s Visual Arts Camp, have exhibitions of campers’ works at the end of the session. Country Day concludes its Creative Arts Camp with a Community Arts Festival.
Even if your child doesn’t get an exhibition, he’ll at least get to keep his creations. So if you want some really cool ceramics, jewelry, clothing… you couldn’t do any better than an arts camp for your child this summer.