The Little Artshram

This summer we get off to a fresh start with our Art-Farm Camps beginning in June and held through August at the Rolling Centuries Farms Community Gardens. The Community Gardens are located on the Grand Traverse Commons grounds near the State Hospital Historic barns. The barns and the surrounding acreage provide a rich agricultural heritage of a once thriving, sustainable, and theraputic healing place of living and work.

The Summer Art-Farm curriculum follows the Permaculture practice of carefully studying natural patterns, cycles, and diversities. The focus areas in our Art-Farm Camp programs are: food, water, shelter and community–and will include:

• Exploration and practicing sustainable, organic gardening; soil preparation and simple overview of the soil-food web; growing herbs, vegetables, flowers.
• Nature awareness and hiking on the Munson Trails; locating the natural water sources and wetland areas on the farm, identifying wildlife habitats and bird-watching.
• Natural building with cob and willow; creating a gathering space at the entrance of the Community Gardens with each camp-group, throughout the summer.
• Storytelling with puppets, mask and music-making; taking inspiration from our outdoor classroom we will create characters and perform musical puppet theater teach-ins at the close of each camp week.
• Gathering and preparing simple fresh food dishes from our garden bounty for our weekly puppet teach-ins; (later in the summer)setting up a flower-bouquet and vegetable stand at Building #50.
• The Art-Farm Camps will culminate in a Harvest Festival, which will be coordinated with Rolling Centuries Farm (September) with all campers and their families invited to attend and participate.

Each weekly camp will accomodate 25 children and young people with a staff of two adult artist facilitators and two assistants.

The Summer Art-Farm Camps focus on two age groups, and meet M-F, from 10 AM- 2PM;

Beehive Program: 1st through 6th grade

June 26-30th

July 17-21

July 31-Aug.4th

August 7-11th

Artist Apprentice/Mentoring Program: Jr. and Sr. High students

Apprentice/Mentor Training: Friday-Sunday, June 16th – 18th (Times TBA)

Apprentices then choose one or two weeks of the Beehive Program dates (see above) to work as assistants.

Camp cost: $125 per student Some scholarship/work trade funds are available to help families in need.

Little Artshram also accepts 10% in Bay Bucks, local currency towards the camp cost. Check out: www.baybucks.org.

For further info on the Summer Art~Farm Camp, contact: Penny Krebiehl, Program Director and Instructor

P.O. Box, 166, Empire, MI 49630

231-326-3493

penny@littleartshram.org