On May 15 this year, my novel for ages 9-14, The Finding Place, will be published in both Canada and the States, by Red Deer Press. I’ve been asked quite a few times about my experiences with this novel, so I thought I would share some of those here, with a second blog entry to [...]
Tonight at camp, Aaron and Alanna ran their fourth annual Choose-Your-Own-Adventure program, and this year the theme was DRAGONS! Dorms began with a treasure hunt for dragons' eggs, then found themselves creating 'good' and 'evil' dragons with a host of costumes and other items. After that, the entire camp (about 150 dragons in total...) marched [...]
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. [...]
Hello Centauri Arts Camp families and friends, It's been an exciting second week here at camp as both campers and staff gear up for final performances. The clowns have been running around grabbing props, actors can be found wandering the quad holding scripts, and it is always lovely to listen to one of the musical [...]
Aaron Alviano: An Interview Aaron Alviano has headed our Fine Art Department at Centauri Arts Camp for 7 years now. It wasn't hard to get his answers to these questions, because he also works with us part time in the camp office! Julie: What is your history at Centauri? Aaron: Unlike many staff, I was [...]
Interview with Soyeon Kim, Fine Art Director at Centauri Arts Camp This past week, I had the opportunity to interview the multi-talented Soyeon Kim, who returns this summer to teach fine art with us at Centauri Summer Arts Camp. Here's a transcript of our conversation! Julie: Hi, Soyeon! Last summer you joined us for the [...]
Theatre Arts at Camp…or just Drama at School? Sometimes, when campers give their reasons for choosing to take programs in Film, or Creative Writing, or Dance with us at camp, they say: I don’t get to do anything like this at my school! True – and a great reason to explore these art forms at [...]
The other day camp had a wonderful surprise. Julie spilled the beans at lunch on Day 3 that Centauri was welcoming back some very special guests. Excitement spread like wildfire as campers and staff alike remembered back four years ago to our very first music festival when the final act of the night had been an up and coming folk duo from Scarborough Ontario. Dala, which is made up of Amanda Walther (the “Da”) and Sheila Carabine (the “la”) brought their unique brand of folk music to Centauri for a second time the other night, singing songs from their new album Best Day and having a great time joking around on stage.
There were three parts to our Hunger Games. For the first part, Tributes had to charge across an open space towards the ‘Cornucopia’ without being caught by Mutts (the LITs again!). Eight of the Tributes were eliminated at this stage.
Why does a participation in the arts equal an increase in empathy? Because each time we imagine and create – or appreciate the creations of others – we are invited to step inside the shoes of another person totally different from ourselves, and walk around in them.