Susan Sontag ends her seminal Notes on Camp this way: “The ultimate camp statement: it’s good because it’s awful . . . of course one can’t always say that. Only under certain conditions . . .”
That may have been a common experience of going to summer camp; a pretty rough week in the woods that can only be nominally redeemed by a parent pulling up in the comfort of their air-conditioned car with some claim of character having been built. But as Sontag says, “only under certain conditions,” like, say, a bog stock summer camp. But for those artistic kids among us there is a better way; art camps! Kayte, Alex, and Tyler offer you a list of some of the most interesting and artistic summer camps in the WFIU listening area.
Constellation’s summer camp calendar is full of different camps for different age groups. They have a production of The Odyssey for kids grade 4-7, Broadway Theater camp doing a production of the Lorax for grades 1-3, and everything in between. And those will be happening in phases across the summer.
The Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute offers a number of weeklong summer classes including comics 101, Wonderous Mandalas, and colorful quilling.
Girls Rock Bloomington will be hosting a camp from July 20th through July 25th for campers ages 8-14.
Boys and Girls Club Camp Rock has programming all summer long, including field trips, musical talent shows, and lots of fun outdoor stuff like trips to the zoo and state parks.
The Monroe County Public Library will offer a summer reading program. The same goes for Bartholomew County Public Library and the Vigo County Public Library also offer summer reading programs as does the Bedford Public Library.
The Columbus Philharmonic will offer Strings Camp for grades 1-9 and Soar Music Camp which focuses on choral music.
Bridges in Bloomington also offers a strings camp summer program.
IU Game Development Camp is a week-long event where campers get to work on the programming and artistic skills needed to enter the gaming industry.
This is not close to all the camps offering art programming this summer, but it’s a good start. And while some of these summer camps events have yet to be announced, slots go quickly, so be prepared.
