For some utterly mysterious reason, Centauri gets the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen anywhere, ever. And we get them almost every night. Campers call them 'Centauri Skies' and they have been featured in numerous songs, poems and inspirational speeches over the past twenty summers. In fact, at around 9pm every night, everything pauses. [...]
Thursday, July 3rd was our annual play in a day festival! It began the evening of July 2nd with six campers writing the plays. The next morning, the entire camp set to work on four different productions, with a small group of campers creating skits to tie the plays together and move the camp from [...]
THE FIRST TWENTY FOUR HOURS! Programs are all going well. I took a tour around this morning. Our writers were creating pieces based around the concept of 'fear and awe'. In 'Aliens Invade', groups were learning the correct way to set up a professional tripod, and in the film studio next door, campers were learning [...]
The first day of the summer was greatll! We have a 30 minute arrival period, but most families arrived within a 10 minute block. Our program staff worked exceptionally hard to clear the line, and everyone was very good-natured about it! Within minutes we were singing the camp song in the dining hall and officially [...]
So what do we do in Staff Training Week? We bond as a team with numerous leadership activities. We take workshops in First Aid, Teaching Strategies, how to run fabulous camp activities, Tech Theatre, First Aid, Health and Safety, WHMIS, microphone use, potential camper issues, running great dorm activities and much, much more! We play [...]
This year saw the publication, in England, of a fascinating book about childhood - KITH, by Jay Griffiths. In this book the author asserts that children in today's developed societies are unhappier, more anxious, more prone to suicidal thoughts and generally less emotionally healthy than their counterparts in other parts of the world and certainly [...]
Thank you to everyone who attended our Information Session in Toronto last weekend! We had a huge turn-out - more than 50 people, unexpectedly spread over a period of 4 hours, due to the road closures and the Marathon! It was exciting to meet so many campers who will be joining Centauri for the first [...]
A great summer camp comes into existence the week or two before campers arrive... right? WRONG! Exceptional summer camps are 12-month operations, and Centauri Arts Camp is no exception. What we do to make camp the best it can be is pretty obvious during the summer months... walk on to camp at any time in [...]
One of the most popular programs we offer at Centauri Arts Camp– and here at the Arts Academy in Toronto – is Clown. But what is Clown, and why do we do it? What place does Clown have in an arts camp, and in the arts? Alanna Balicki has been involved in our Clown programs [...]
10 Questions to Ask a Camp Director The Ontario Camps Association suggests all families should ask the following questions of their camp director. To make your life easier, we're answering them right here! 1. What are the qualifications of your camp staff? All our program directors have degrees in their specialty area, or equivalent professional [...]