Culture
Stuart’s to Provide Virtual Performing Arts Camp July 6-August 14
By: Emily Votaw
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Every summer, Stuart’s Opera House (52 Public Square, Nelsonville) provides a performing arts day camp experience for kids ages 12-18 that includes a wide variety of training from professional artists in the areas of theater, dance, and music. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, that hands-on experience will not be possible this summer, but the camp has been replaced with a virtual performing arts experience that will be accessible to the same age range of children July 6 through August 14, from 9 a.m. EDT to 12 p.m. EDT Monday through Friday.
“Last year was my first summer and it was such a successful, emotional, wonderful camp with the kids, I didn’t hesitate to come back again this year,” said Ginger Gagne, Stuart’s summer arts camp coordinator. “I’ll keep coming back as long as they’ll have me!”
The camp starts out with a two week theater camp curated by Skye Robinson Hillis, a playwright, director, and dramaturg based out of Chicago.
“(Hillis) will focus on encouraging the kids to explore themselves and putting in current events as well and communication through playwriting and theatrical movement, a lot of really interesting stuff comes out of these processes,” said Gagne. “Kids are focused mainly on what is happening today in their lives. Maybe it’s another kid they have a crush on or something that is going on at home — we’ve had kids come out of the closet during camp, and it will come out in either their theater performance or they write a song about it, it’s just so moving — it really is a life changing camp.”
Angelica Bell, the artistic director of Factory Street Studios (37 Ohio Avenue, Athens) will provide the next portion of the camp, two weeks dedicated to dance and creative movement, followed by a final two weeks with singer-songwriters Adam Remnant and Jess Kauffman focused on performing and writing music.
For more information on how to enroll at the camp, visit this link.