Courtesy of Milwaukee Art Museum
It’s time for summer camp in Wisconsin. But 2020 is quite a different time for this outdoor Wisconsin tradition. A number of organizations have come up with some innovative virtual ways to engage the kids while keep safe. The Milwaukee Art Museum got plenty of feedback from families that wanted “fun educational activities” according to Emily Sullivan, Director of Youth and Family Programs. Children ages 6-15 will get to choose from three virtual camps: Painting from Nature, Experimental Drawing, and Painting the Abstract.
“We’ll still be offering the key components that make our camps special: looking at art in the galleries, informal discussions, learning new techniques, and most importantly- making art,” Sullivan explains. “Our format will be different this year in that it’s all online. However, teachers will be live, and still offering individual attention to each student. Gallery ‘tours’ will take the form of slideshows, and we’ll record some of our demonstrations, so that kids can watch them more than once if they like.”
MAM camp proxies include an art supplies kit that will be mailed to the student before class begins. Of special note are the need-based scholarships offered through the Sue Dunham Memorial Scholarship fund which cover tuition and supplies.
First Stage
Over at First Stage, in-person classes are limited to eight students per class, with staggering start and end times for classes, says Julia Magnasco, Director of Programming. First Stage classes will implement social distancing procedures in the classrooms by taping out grids on the floor to ensure students and staff maintain six feet of separation at all times, taking temperatures of staff and students upon arrival each day and requiring face masks while entering and exiting the building, and sanitizing classroom spaces between class sessions and nightly, she emphasizes.
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“We made these changes to our Summer Academy programming in order to provide the same high-impact theater arts training for young people as always,” Magnasco adds, “yet taking new measures to ensure the health and safety of our students, families, staff, and teaching artists.”
First Stage has also developed a virtual camp component for Next Steps, a program that works with children with autism. “Traditional classroom aids such as visual schedules and multi-sensory tools,” will be adapted for an online platform, Magnasco continues. “It is a common misconception that individuals with Autism do not enjoy or aim to engage socially, but that is simply not true. Our students possess the same needs, rights, and desires to connect with others and to express themselves as anyone else,” she says, adding “our virtual program will ensure that they will have a meaningful and accessible way to do so, in a time where new, and traditionally unheard voices are needed more than ever in world.”
And with Summer Camp now becoming a virtual activity, Magnasco emphasizes that there are benefits to online summer camp, no matter where you live. “We are discovering the major advantage that virtual programming offers students and families: students can engage in class from their home, no matter how far away it might be, and do so at their own comfort level more than ever before.”
Artworks for Milwaukee
Artworks for Milwaukee had originally planned to paint a mural and lead an art workshop at an in person summer camp, but COVID-19 changed all of that according to Executive Director Terry Murphy. Artworks found a partner in NEIGHBOR Art Studio on the East Side which teaches classes and workshops online working with children K 3-5 for six one-week sessions. The first-time partnership allows the Artworks high school interns to teach classes through a new advance program, Artworks for You.
“[This is] a new opportunity to use their creativity and leadership skills to develop fun, engaging art activities for youth in a virtual summer arts camp,” explains Murphy. “The camp idea builds on art workshops our high school interns have conducted with children at Our Next Generation, Project Ujima of Children’s Hospital, and Silver Spring Neighborhood Center. The virtual camp supports ArtWorks’ mission of offering paid arts internships to high school students to learn transferable job skills, and NEIGHBOR’s mission to provide families with children 8 months to 10 years a space to explore, play, create and get messy!”
Each week, campers will receive an art kit with a variation on the theme “Explore My Universe.” Week One explores their neighborhood, Week Two: their city; Week Three: their state; Week Four; their country; Week Five: their galaxy. The $125 weekly camp fee includes the art kit, weekly Zoom hang-outs with ArtWorks’ interns, and pre-recorded videos to help guide the children in making the art kits. Scholarships are available to assist with camp costs. To register for camp, visit: neighborartstudio.com. For more information on Artworks in Milwaukee, visit: www.artworksformilwaukee.org
So, take a look at the varied virtual camp listings and dive into all the activities while staying safe and healthy.
Other local organizations are offering summer arts camps this year, including the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts and Danceworks.
