Bugs flying, pools filling up and the sun warming up after a cold winter means summer is heating up in Statesboro. That means the lovely people of Bulloch County are going to be looking for (possibly air-conditioned) entertainment and enrichment. The Averitt Center for the Arts, as always, is here to meet the needs of the Statesboro community — even if it is just the need to get out of the heat.
School’s out for summer, which leaves the kids and parents alike with plenty of time to enjoy our wide array of summer camps. Camps go through July 28, with time off for the Fourth of July. We have nine weeks of action-packed, fun-filled activities for children and adults who want to flex their creative muscles. For kids, we have half- and full-day camps for theater, visual arts, music and dance. Some camps, like our theater intensives, culminate with a performance for parents at the end of the camp session. Others, like our art camps, will leave children with works of art and new skills to take with them into the upcoming school year.
Adults can enjoy one of our three summer ceramics classes: the summer ceramic sampler session with our visual arts director Kim Riner, Square Pottery on the Wheel or Beginner Throwing, taught by John Skelton. These courses offer several different forms of ceramic creation, with opportunities for beginners and more seasoned potters.
Adults may also be interested in our Paint-n-Party class, held on the second Friday of each month, where artists can paint alongside their friends with instruction on how to create specific images selected for each month. These events are catered and allow painters to have a good time with friends while creating a masterpiece to take home with them. We also offer two ceramics workshops. Try Your Hand at Clay and Give it a Spin offer interested artists a chance to try hand building and wheel throwing, respectively. Try Your Hand at Clay is held the last Saturday of each month and Give it a Spin is held the second Saturday of the month. All classes are available for online sign up at averittcenterforthearts.org. With all of these classes and camps offered, there’s endless opportunity for creativity and new beginnings.
Summer camps are a great way to get kids involved in the arts, especially if they have interests in several areas and want a way to explore without a high level of commitment. It can be scary to dip your toes in the water, especially if it seems like everyone else is always miles ahead of you. I myself first got introduced to theater through a musical theater summer camp when I was in elementary school. I was a shy kid, but my mother signed me up for camp and encouraged me to audition for the role of a mouse. Since then, I have participated in 20-plus theater productions as an actor, stage manager, and recently, a director. My love for theater was sparked there in that summer camp, and led me down the path of pursuing theater in higher education and now in my career. Without the theater camp version of “Cinderella” in 2007, I would not be working at a community arts center directing, stage managing, and working in administration.
These summer camps, like “Little Mermaid Jr.” and “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” musical theater camps, may be the start of a journey that will lead your child to pursue their dreams — or it may just be a summer of fun.