Summer camps Archives - Arts for Learning Virginia

A Summer to Remember

September 2, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

At the start of this Labor Day weekend, we celebrate with a look back at a summer filled with all things art. Our artists and staff members were busier than ever, working to inspire and engage students in and through the arts.

A Splash of the Arts

Over the course of four Saturdays in July, 40 Arts for Learning artists performed at the Hampton History Museum and Mill Point Park. Hampton City Schools sponsored the series of free performances and activities for families and students. Given the enthusiastic response from attendees, we hope this will become a summer tradition in Hampton!

Frames and Games Summer Workshops

We partnered with Norfolk Botanical Garden for a series of workshops for kids, with our artists helping children create take-home frames using items from nature. We have two more workshops still to come on Saturday, September 10, which are free with the price of admission to NBG. https://norfolkbotanicalgarden.org/learn/children-family-programs/

These summer workshops are part of our new Emerging Artists program for student artists who want to explore becoming a teaching artist as a career. Thanks to Bank of America for underwriting this new program. Read more here: https://bit.ly/A4Lemergingartists.

Summer Arts Camps

With hosting by the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, our teaching artists mentored students through four weeks of summer camps: musical theater, visual arts, and STEAM. Kids got the chance to create while having tons of fun.

Next Step to Success

In a new partnership, we joined with Next Step to Success to bring our Strings Impact program to teens. Teaching artist Tina Culver helped students learn the basics of how to play the violin. We also presented visual art instruction to students. Next Step to Success is a nonprofit in Norfolk geared toward underserved youth ages 13-16, providing after-school and summer enrichment to help participants develop the tools to succeed in life.

Alternatives Inc.

We continued our longstanding partnership with Alternatives Inc. in July, providing a series of arts-rich residencies, including this one where students worked on our Arts + Learning Snacks’ mini-comic. Alternatives Inc. is a youth development nonprofit on the Peninsula whose vision is “healthy, principled, and creative young people valued as members of the community.”

Library Performances

Our artists performed at a number of libraries around Hampton Roads this summer, offering quality arts enrichment to children and families when school was out. Thanks to local arts commissions for underwriting performances in Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Williamsburg, and to the Portsmouth Service League for sponsoring two performances in Portsmouth.

Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation

In another new summer partnership, our artists presented 16 performances and 24 workshops to children in programs at the Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Department.

Common Casting Call

Arts for Learning joined forces with The Zeiders American Dream Theater, Virginia Musical Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Hampton Roads, City of Virginia Beach, and Virginia Public Arts for a common casting call. Dozens of aspiring actors, singers, and other artists came out for this audition opportunity held the last week of August.

We thank all of our community partners who helped make this a summer to remember!

We also thank the individuals who support our mission as we try to reach more students through the arts while paying our artists fair professional wages. Join with us as we work toward equitable access to the arts by making a tax-deductible donation.

And make sure you don’t miss any news by signing up for our monthly newsletter: https://arts4learningva.org/

Happy Labor Day weekend to all!

Arts for Learning Delivers Creative Summer Camps at the Suffolk Center

May 12, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

We’re busy planning three exceptional summer camps in Musical Theater, Visual Art, and S.T.E.A.M. in partnership for the ninth year with the Suffolk Center For Cultural Arts. Campers in third to fifth grades will immerse themselves in each theme as they work with professional teaching artists Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

HURRY: EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION FOR EACH CAMP ENDS FRIDAY, MAY 13

NEW MUSICAL THEATER Camp ~ Lights, Camera, Action: June 20-July 1

Campers will have the chance to do it all as they explore the performing arts in a two-week Musical Theater camp—write scripts, design costumes, sing and make music, act, and dance. Campers will learn what it takes to create and participate in an original production from start to finish—and then dazzle family and friends with their unique, one-of-a-kind show.

VISUAL ART Camp ~ Arts from Around Your World!: August 1-5

Campers will experience the cultures of other parts of the world – Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean – as they create multiple visual arts projects. While discovering ties between cultures and art forms and having lots of hands-on fun, they’ll also investigate their own heritage. Projects will include making a colorful patterned textile called a mola and creating clay coil pots. The week’s highlight will be an art showcase for family and friends.

S.T.E.A.M. Camp ~ Thinking Outside the Box: August 8-12

Campers will think creatively through all aspects of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) as they experience hands-on learning. Projects will include designing using 3D printers, experimenting with dyeing textiles, drawing and assembling tessellations, and so much more! This camp will help kids learn to think on their feet, problem solve, work collaboratively–and have lots of summer fun with their peers–while showing off their projects to family and friends in a special program on the last day.

“Our teaching artists have loved mentoring students at Suffolk Center’s summer camps for the past nine years,” says Anna Heywood Green, chief operations officer for Arts for Learning. “Our artists are inspired by the campers as they watch their creativity and talents flourish throughout the week—they can’t wait to see what campers will come up with this year!”

Summer camp registration is $475 for the new two-week Musical Theater camp and $275 for the one-week Visual Art and S.T.E.A.M. camps. Both full and partial camp scholarships are available. For more information and a registration link, click here: https://arts4learningva.org/summer-camps/

The Sights and Sounds of A4L’s Summer Camps

August 7, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Even though the pandemic and Tropical Storm Isaias aren’t making it easy at times, kids are learning and creating and having tons of fun at summer camps where our performing and teaching artists are working. Check out some of the scenes from the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts’s visual arts camp, which wrapped up last week. Thanks to Carly Holmes for taking these wonderful pictures. This week’s stormy weather has pushed theater camp to next week.

With all of our in-person camps, we’re observing strict safety protocols to keep campers, artists, and staff members safe.

Over at Operation Hero’s Armed Services YMCA camp, Harold Wood showed off his magic to a wowed crowd.

And in teaching artist Beverly Taylor’s class, campers learned about different musical instruments and made their own while joining in a song with some great advice for us all. Click here to listen and enjoy!

One Book, Two Book, Red Book, Blue Book

July 29, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

You can bet there are some big smiles hiding behind the masks—children at Virginia Beach’s Armed Services YMCA camp are the proud owners of some brand new picture books, thanks to a Women United book group who donated them to the United Way of South Hampton Roads (UWSHR). UWSHR is underwriting Arts for Learning’s residencies at the camp which is reserved for sons and daughters of members of the military.

Arts for Learning weaves age-appropriate literacy concepts into its curriculum, so the book giveaway was a natural. In true A4L fashion, teaching artists Lenecia Porro and Gary Garlic made it a fun educational experience instead of kids just being handed a book. In Lenecia’s Artsploration class for five and six year olds, kids drew numbers from a toy cauldron and had to match the numbers with the correct book. In Gary’s Poetry and Percussion class for seven and eight year olds, kids had to identify musical instruments from clues that Gary shared.

No matter whether it’s Pete the Cat or Pop-Up Dizzy Dinosaurs that’s sparking kids’ imagination, hats off to these generous donors and the United Way (hats that may look a lot like the red and white striped one below!)

A Creative Collaboration: Suffolk Center Art and Theater Camps

July 23, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Get set for a rush of creativity flowing out of Suffolk starting next week. We’re thrilled to again collaborate with our partners at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts (SSCA) to offer in-person camps for children ages six to twelve, with Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 measures in place to keep everyone safe and healthy. The camps offer a chance for kids to interact with their peers while learning and having creative fun.

Our teaching artists have led the camps for the past seven years. At next week’s visual arts camp, teaching artists Jerilynn Ruger, Matt Harrison, and Joppa Whitehead will mentor campers on the fundamentals of drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage. At the theater camp, teaching artists Katherine Willet, Jerilynn Ruger, and Jennifer Gammill will share the fundamentals of theater, costume design, set design, improvisation, scene writing, and more. At each camp, students will have the opportunity to share their work with their families at the end of the week.

These photos from 2013 give a glimpse of the fun kids have at the camp. A4L’s longstanding partnership with the Suffolk Center began that summer and has strengthened ever since. In 2018, Arts for Learning named the Suffolk Center its “Partnership of the Year” for the unique summer camp collaboration.

“We partner with Arts for Learning because they have talented and brilliant instructors who spearhead a week of creative fun while weaving in the need for art, the history of art, and the execution of art in our everyday life,” says Gavin Harper, SSCA Program and Education Manager.

The visual arts camp starts this Monday, running from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. through Friday, July 31. The theme is “Our Future.”

We had decided on the Our Future theme before COVID-19 hit,” Harper says, “so what an interesting and pertinent time for students to think about their future and how the world will be affected and how art can be a source of light in a dark time.”

Campers will work on pottery, graphic novels, Picasso shapes/Cubism, pop art, splatter painting, and paper mosaic, and will also learn how art is translated to dance. A final art show will cap off the week, with artwork also to be featured in a new virtual exhibition for family and friends to view.

The theater summer camp will run from August 3-August 7, with campers learning how to act, sing, and dance. Our teaching artists will work with students to write, rehearse, and produce a ten-minute musical that they’ll present on stage at the Center’s Birdsong Theater. The historic 530-seat auditorium offers plenty of space for family members to social distance while they enjoy the show. The Center may also offer a virtual option by live-streaming the performance on its Facebook page.

To make sure campers have a fun, safe week interacting with their peers, Suffolk Center camp staff members will proactively follow guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Campers will have their temperature taken upon arrival and will work in small groups. Hand sanitizers and wipes will be available to campers and surfaces will be sanitized before and during camp. Both camps will take place inside and outside to allow for ventilation. Please visit www.suffolkcenter.org for a complete list of safety guidelines or email Gavin Harper at gavin.harper@suffolkcenter.org for additional information.

Registration is available on-line at www.suffolkcenter.org/summercamps/ or you can reserve a spot for your child over the phone at 757-923-0003, ext. 103. We’re looking forward to a great couple of weeks.