It’s the end of the school year, and that means it’s time for summer camp! Among the many offerings for keeping kids in Central Florida busy and enriched are a number of arts camps throughout the area.
For the first time this year, Osceola Arts is expanding its established summer camp offerings through a partnership with Valencia College. Osceola Arts Education Director Jennifer Panzella gets 90.7 WMFE News' Nicole Darden Creston all set up with a script, a paintbrush, and her musical instrument of choice for arts summer camp!
Jennifer Panzella:
At Osceola Arts, we've been hosting summer camps for quite a long time. The facility’s been open since the 1960s. I've officially been there ten years, so we've been running summer camp for quite some time in Osceola County. We offer both visual and performing arts camps for kids ages seven to fourteen through the summer months of June and July.
Nicole Darden Creston:
And there's a new partnership with Valencia College, right? Tell me a little bit about that.
Jennifer Panzella:
Yes, we're so excited for this new partnership with Valencia. We've been working with them on our campus for the past season here, but this year we are going to be offering two offsite camps - at Valencia College in Lake Nona, and Valencia College and Poinciana. Both sites will be offering theater camps, music camps and visual arts camps. We have strings camp happening at Lake Nona campus. We have a visual arts camp - a Star Wars theme - at Poinciana. So there's definitely something for everyone, not just at our campus, but the other offsite campuses as well.
Nicole Darden Creston:
Did you just say Star Wars?
Jennifer Panzella:
I sure did.
Nicole Darden Creston:
That's a great idea. Where did that come from?
Jennifer Panzella:
I do always take pride in my summer camps, because I have fun coming up with these themes every year. I definitely ask the kids in the area and in our current programming, what kind of programs they're looking to do throughout the summer, and kind of compile those and think of the fun things for the summer. So, we have Disney Broadway happening at the Lake Nona campus. We have a comedy camp happening at all three campuses this year. And our visual arts camps at our facility will be Marvel-themed and Minecraft-themed. So definitely very popular themes going on that the kids are really into right now.
Nicole Darden Creston:
Oh my goodness, I think I want to come to these camps! (laughter) So what are the dates that these camps go on?
Jennifer Panzella:
We start our summer camps at our campus a little sooner, but both the offsite camps in Lake Nona and Poinciana will start on June 5. And we run the full month in Poinciana until the end of June. And we run at Lake Nona through July as well. May 30 is our first camp at Osceola Arts. We'll be starting with our LaughLab comedy camp at our campus.
Nicole Darden Creston:
I understand there's a showcase of sorts at the end of camp. Can you tell me about that?
Jennifer Panzella:
Yes, at the end of every camp on that Friday, we invite all family and friends to see what the campers have worked on throughout the process. It's usually packed with friends and family to watch their camper. It's a great final performance. For our visual arts camps, we set up a full gallery of the artwork that they worked on. Our performance camps obviously have their performance in the theater at the end of the week. So very exciting. The campers love to show what they've been working on for the duration of the camp.
Nicole Darden Creston:
You talk about the value of the arts, in child development, and in education, how music helps with math and how it helps to build a well-rounded person, and why we do these art camps in the summer with our children.
Jennifer Panzella:
We are so excited to offer these camps, and they are so beneficial to children. Whether it's social skills, or their confidence, or literacy skills, whether it's playing an instrument with the music programs, being in a theater program…we've had many kids, firsthand, I've seen, through the program develop through the arts and through this program. So we're so excited to be offering them again. It's so important to get them exposed to all of this. They will grow as humans, and they will come up better on the other side of the end of summer.
Nicole Darden Creston:
You mentioned before that sometimes your students will stick with the arts and continue to evolve through your youth theater program.
Jennifer Panzella:
Yes, I do recommend starting with our summer programming. It's a great introduction for the students to see what we do here. And we do have a lot of kids that continue in the program through our young actors company, which has become very elite. We're very proud of that program. It's grown so much throughout the past few years. So kids will stay on board and continue to do our shows, continue to be in our youth orchestra and our rock band, and continue to be in our art classes and continue their art learning throughout the year.
Nicole Darden Creston:
Do any stories stick with you about a child's journey through these arts classes?
Jennifer Panzella:
I recently thought about one of our little students. He started in our young actors company actually. And he played one of our lead roles but we could barely hear him on stage. He was so shy, so closed off. You couldn't hear a word he said. And last year - he still takes our summer camps - I just looked at him and he was part of one of my summer camp commercials! So this kid who you could barely hear on stage was doing a full commercial for me on camera loud and proud! So he's one that came to mind first of all, but there are so many stories of students who have grown through us and it's so exciting to watch.
