The camp, which is entitled the Y Media Works Summer Institute 2010, runs 5 weeks, from June 28 through July 30, 2010, and a commitment to all 5 weeks is required. During the first week, campers will stay overnight from Monday through Friday at Camp Ohiyesa in Holly, MI, for an intensive team building experience in the outdoors. Activities such as swimming, canoeing, and high ropes will be offered during the day; our evenings will be spent learning about the media production process and planning our productions.  After we come back from the July 4 holiday, the remaining four weeks of camp will be spent in teams creating a variety of digital media for local community partners (our clients!). Camp will run from 9am to 4pm, Monday through Thursday.

Space is limited, so the application process will be very competitive.

For more information, and to register, please visit the Camps page!

May 7, 2010

A diverse line-up of Detroit artists including blues and gospel legend Rev. Robert B. Jones will perform a benefit concert for YMCA summer camp. The concert will take place on Friday, May 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Marlene Boll Theatre of the Boll Family YMCA, 1401 Broadway, Detroit. A donation of $10 supports the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign supporting YMCA camp experiences.

Rev. Jones, a longtime Detroit acoustic blues and gospel musician, will be joined by the YMCA Deep River Choir. Special guests include hip hop artist Stevie Soul, performance poet Marsha Carter, and dancers and musicians from Freedom House Detroit. The concert will include traditional and contemporary American music as well as music and dance from Africa.

Recognized nationally for his work as a blues and gospel artist, Rev. Jones has also been awarded “Blues Educator of the Year” by the Blues Foundation in 2007 for his “Blues in Schools” education program. Along with YMCA Vice President of Arts and Humanities Gillian Eaton, he helped to create the YMCA Deep River Choir in 2007. The community choir is comprised of 30 singers from the metropolitan area and is directed by Bobbi Thompson, a member of the Central United Methodist music staff and former back-up singer for Motown recording artists. Known for its roots-based repertoire of gospel, blues, folk and Motown, the choir has gained a reputation for its originality and cultural diversity.

Stevie Soul is a Detroit improvisational artist who mixes live percussion, scat singing, blues, and soul using voice and body. He also teaches music classes for Art in Schools, the Y-Arts school outreach program. Poet Marsha Carter is also an instructor for Art in Schools, as well as a popular performer at many of the city’s literary events. She was a member of the Detroit slam team that competed in the 2007 National Poetry Slam. Dancers and musicians from Freedom House, a Detroit residence that houses political refugees awaiting asylum status in the U.S., will perform several traditional pieces from the Congo and Rwanda.

Proceeds from the concert will support Y Media Works Summer Institute 2010, the five week-long summer camp component of a year round media production and service learning initiative from Y-Arts Detroit.

Tickets will be sold at the door. For additional information contact Y-Arts at 313-223-2751.

Y Arts is delivering the camp in partnership with the Macomb County Abstinence Partnership (MCAP) and the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC). Each partner is delivering a complete curriculum to the camp, giving kids the tools to make healthy choices when confronted with drugs, alcohol, and sexual activity (MCAP’s portion), as well as a smart respect for our local environment and investigations into issues of environmental justice (EMEAC’s portion).  The kids use the information and knowledge gained from these groups as the subject matter of their video and other media, which they learn to produce from the Y Arts team of multimedia and visual artists.

You can read about the entire Summer Dreams program in this feature from the Detroit Free Press which outlines this and other camps it supports. Please consider giving to this incredible program, and if you have given already, please accept a sincere thank you from Y Arts, MCAP, EMEAC and the more than 50 children using the cameras this summer!

2009 Y Media Arts Camp

Our summer camp is shaping up to be a really great Summer experience. We’d like to invite anyone aged 12 to 16 who is interested in film/video, Web design, digital photography, graphic design, animation… all things digital… to apply. The camp runs from 9am to 4pm beginning July 6 and ending August 14. We have a lot of work to do in the way of making films and other media (we offer a project-based curriculum), so we are asking students to commit to the entire 6 week session. The cost of the camp is $0 (yup, ZERO DOLLARS… except a $50 registration fee for those accepted).

For more information and to download the camp application, visit our Camp page!