Kiarra Reed
Gadsden County News Service
The Gadsden Arts Center & Museum is now hosting its Summer Arts Program. The six-week program began the first week in June and ends the last week of July.
During the program, children participate in different themes each week.
For the first half, some themes were Wild West, Circus Extravaganza, and Time Travel.
Now that they are in the second half of camp, they are doing themes such as Superhero
Academy, Mastery, and Puppetry.
To wrap things up for the final week, there will be live in color, art play, and experimental crafts.
Aside from getting to experience the different themes, arts and crafts, another experience the
students have is meeting new people and giving them the hope of attending the program next
year.
“I would want to come back next summer because of all the fun crafts, and I get to meet new
people and make more friends,” said Kaylee Villarreal, an attendee of the Gadsden Arts’ summer camp.
“Art is a way to be expressive and creative; it gives you the chance to know that you can do art
your way. With the different age groups that the program has, teaching art to young children
allows the instructors to encourage them to be creative, think outside the box, and take different
approaches when it comes to instructing”.
“My approach to instructing a group of kids, five to eight years old, is to do a lot of modeling for
those students, since that really helps them,” said Alondra-Miranda Tirado, an instructor for the
Summer Arts Program. “Instead of giving verbal instructions, showing them how to do certain
things is important.”
This summer camp was community-based, and its goal is to offer programs that make the community
feel safe. Also, to give young children the exposure to learn about local regional artists and
historical artists, and the space to be creative.
“Offering summer camp allows for the children within the community a space where they can
experience art, but that introduces them to more materials and a larger realm of the art world
outside of the classrooms,” said Kaiyla Thompson, supervisor of the Gadsden Arts Center &
Museum.
This year, 38 campers are enrolled. The Gadsden Arts Center always looks to see new, exciting faces and for kids to get the art experience.
If you want to sign your child up for next year’s program, visit GadsdenArts.com for more
information about when the registration opens. Scholarships are also available.
