ARTS IMMERSION SUMMER CAMPS for RISING 1st-3rd, 4th-6th, and 7th-10th grades

Join us this summer for an immersion in the arts geared especially towards youth. Week-long camps feature multi-disciplinary arts immersion that includes opportunities for visual, literary, and performing arts throughout the summer. With a variety of projects and activities each week to engage campers, every day is a new adventure! All art supplies provided.

Camp Weeks for RISING 1st-3rd grades: June 10-14; June 24-28; July 8-12; July 29-August 2; August 12-16
Camp Weeks for RISING 4th-6th grades: June 17-21 (no camp June 19); August 5-9
Camp Weeks for RISING 7th-10th grades: July 15-19; July 22-26 (Half-day options available for these weeks only)
Camp Hours: Monday - Friday, 9am-4pm*
Price per week: $250 (financial assistance available)
*Extended Care: Mornings from 8:30 - 9 AM for $20 & Afternoons from 4 - 5 PM for $40

Camp Details by Week

SOLD OUT! - Week 1: June 10th -14th | 9am-4pm
Rising 1st - 3rd Grade
Visual Arts & Music with Meredith Haggerty & Audrey Smith
>>One-week, full-day arts immersion camp that will include visual, literary, movement, and music activities!

Week 2: June 17th -21st (NO CAMP WEDNESDAY JUNE 19) | 9am-4pm
Rising 4th - 6th Grade
Visual Arts/Printmaking & Visual Arts/Impasto Still Life Painting with Meredith Haggerty & Hunter Blencowe
>>Join Meredith Haggerty to explore simple printmaking and stamp making techniques that will allow campers to create multiple images from one source. Wonderful for middle grade children interested in making their own stationary, gift paper, protest signs, buttons, merch, valentines and more. Then, join Hunter Blencowe in learning about the chemistry of paint through historic Impasto techniques. By building texture with paint, students will see just how far they can manipulate the structure of paint

Week 3: June 24th - 28th | 9am-4pm
Rising 1st - 3rd Grade
Visual Arts with Meredith Haggerty & Jill Moffett
>>One-week, full-day arts immersion camp that will include visual, literary, movement, and music activities!

SOLD OUT! - Week 4: July 8th - 12th| 9am-4pm
Rising 1st - 3rd Grade
Visual Arts with Meredith Haggerty & Sarah Brown
>>One-week, full-day arts immersion camp that will include visual, literary, movement, and music activities!

SOLD OUT! - Week 5: July 15th - 19th
Rising 7th - 10th Grade
Morning (9am-12pm): Visual Arts/Impasto Landscape + Figure Painting with Hunter Blencowe
>>Students will learn about the chemistry of paint through historic Impasto techniques. By building texture with paint, students will see just how far they can manipulate the structure of paint. Students will focus on their choice of landscape or figure composition, hone their mindfulness skills through recreating the textures, and explore the history of Impasto!
Afternoon (1-4pm): Theater Arts with Evan Mitchell
>>Students will focus on learning all the skills needed to improve their acting/performance abilities. Through exercises focused on the elements of improvisation, character development, and scene study, students will experience multiple ways to engage creatively with the art form. Students can expect opportunities to work in large groups, small groups, and individually: everything from group improv games to solo playwriting workshops! All skill levels welcome

CANCELLED - Week 6: July 22nd - 26th
Rising 7th - 10th Grade
Morning (9am-12pm): Visual Arts/Impasto Landscape + Figure Painting with Hunter Blencowe
>>Students will learn about the chemistry of paint through historic Impasto techniques. By building texture with paint, students will see just how far they can manipulate the structure of paint. Students will focus on their choice of landscape or figure composition, hone their mindfulness skills through recreating the textures, and explore the history of Impasto!
Afternoon (1-4pm): Literary Arts with Phillip Shabazz
>>In the Writing Component of this camp, students will work from prompts and write original poems including free verse, poetic styles, and rhymes. In the Reading Component, time is allotted to read original and sample poems, and discuss written work. And lastly, the Speaking Component allows students to read aloud their poems and practice to become effective speakers.

Week 7: July 29th - August 2nd | 9am-4pm
Rising 1st - 3rd Grade
Music & Visual Arts with Audrey Smith & Sarah Brown
>>One-week, full-day arts immersion camp that will include visual, literary, movement, and music activities!

Week 8: August 5th - 9th | 9am-4pm
Rising 4th - 6th Grade
Visual Arts/Bookmaking & Visual Arts/Impasto Still Life Painting with Meredith Haggerty & Hunter Blencowe
>>Join Meredith Haggerty to practice simple bookmaking as a foundation to explore making stories and poetry with words and images. Projects can culminate in zines, picture books, comic books, sketch books, journals and more. Then, join Hunter Blencowe in learning about the chemistry of paint through historic Impasto techniques. By building texture with paint, students will see just how far they can manipulate the structure of paint

SOLD OUT! - Week 9: August 12th - 16th | 9am-4pm
Rising 1st - 3rd
Visual Arts & Music with Sarah Brown & Audrey Smith
>>One-week, full-day arts immersion camp that will include visual, literary, movement, and music activities!

About the Instructors

Audrey Smith is a pianist and certified K-12 music educator based in the North Carolina Piedmont-Triad area & New Orleans, LA. She holds a Masters of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of New Orleans, a B. M. in Jazz Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Level 3 certification in the Orff-Schulwerk approach to music making from the San Francisco International Orff Course. With over nine years of experience teaching general music in early childhood through middle school classrooms, Audrey facilitates engaging, developmentally appropriate musical experiences for people of all ages.

Evan Mitchell has been teaching in NC since 2012. After training as an actor and director at UNC Chapel Hill, he began his career as a freelance teaching artist: traveling to every corner of the state, teaching at elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities, as well as professional and community theatre companies. During that time, he also served as Theatre Arts Director at the North Carolina Governor's School West for eight summers. Evan began teaching full-time at Cedar Ridge in 2017. As an arts educator, he's am passionate about fostering confidence, collaboration, creative expression, and play!

Hunter Blencowe graduated from Eckerd College in 2019, having earned a Bachelors of Arts in Visual Arts and Human Development. She went on to receive her M.Ed in Counseling & Personnel Services with a Concentration in Art Therapy from the University of Louisville, 2022. She currently resides in North Carolina where she works as an Art Therapist, Art Teacher, and Professional Artist. Before moving to North Carolina, she worked in a psychiatric hospital doing individual and group art therapy with all ages and disabilities.

Jill Moffett -is a teaching artist and writer based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She loves sewing, collage, writing, and is always learning new ways to make art. Jill's background is in academia - she has a PhD in Gender Studies and a Masters in Public Health. Her creative practice is grounded liberationist philosophies and using art and writing as a tool for healing and connection.

Meredith Haggerty is a visual artist. She is happily settled in Orange County via time spent training in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Chicago. She works with collage, storytelling, and performance, including participatory collage, classes and gatherings, in her teaching and studio practices. She occupies a flat file at Peel Gallery and sometimes shares her work at Eno Arts MiIl and Lump Gallery in Raleigh.

Phillip Shabazz is a poet-in-the-schools of North Carolina and conducts creative writing workshops across the state. He has taught at over 800 public schools, conferences, camps, and community centers. Currently he is affiliated with the North Carolina Arts Council. He has also been a visiting writer at many arts councils, colleges, and universities including UNC-Chapel Hill, Elon, Winthrop, Warren Wilson, Barton College, East Carolina University, the Writers' Series at Appalachian State, and was Duke University’s third Artist-in-Resident at the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture. Shabazz is the author of three poetry collections, including "Flames in the Fire: poems," and "When the Grass Was Blue: a novel in verse."

Sarah Brown is a teaching artist at Efland-Cheeks Global Elementary, as well as a quilter, art journaler, painter, and all around crafty person. Ever since high school she has been teaching art to youth. As an artist she uses mostly recycled/thrifted/reused materials, and tries to bring that into her teaching. When not making art, teaching, she works with art teachers around North Carolina as a board member for the North Carolina Art Education Association, trying to advocate and improve art education for all North Carolina students.

Policies and Expectations

Orange County Arts Commission aims to provide a happy and safe environment for all our young artists. We ask families to identify and discuss any medical conditions, allergies and additional accommodations or needs in advance to ensure a positive camp experience.
Please only register for the weeks that are grade appropriate for your child. We will not accept registrations outside of the grade brackets.
Parents/Guardians are asked to provide adequate lunch and snacks for the entire day. Our daily schedule includes a morning and afternoon snack break. We are unable to provide snacks, and there are not facilities for purchasing food on the campus.
Campers must be physically signed in and out of camp each day by a registered parent or guardian. We share a busy parking lot with other businesses and safety for our campers is of great concern to us, so we ask that campers are accompanied to and from the door each day.
Extended care options are available - Mornings from 8:30 - 9 AM for $20 & Afternoons from 4 - 5 PM for $40.
A fee will be incurred for late pick up (if not previously purchased, or beyond the time purchased).
Parents agree to the following policies at the time of camp purchase:

Cancellation and Refund Policy
1. Camps are paid in full at the time of booking.
2. Camps are eligible for a full refund of tuition if our organization cancels the camp week due to low enrollment, instructor illness, or facilities issues.
3. Tuition assisted cancellations are non-refundable unless camp week is cancelled by our organization.
4. Cancellations before Friday, May 24, 2024, are refundable at 50%.
5. Cancellations after Friday, May 24 are nonrefundable.
6. Teachers and staff reserve the right to remove campers to be sent home if they behave in ways which are disrespectful to or threatens harm to other campers, instructors, themselves, or property. There will be no refunds issued due to a camper’s removal.
Illness & COVID Policy
1. COVID protocol is subject to change based on current guidelines.
2. Parent/Guardians should monitor camper's health and keep campers home if:
  1. Child has a fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, new loss of taste or smell.
  2. Child has been in contact with anyone with these symptoms or Child has potentially been exposed to COVID-19 in the last 14 days OR have reason to believe they have COVID-19.
3. If a participant has symptoms or is awaiting the results of a COVID test they should not attend classes or camp.
4. Participant tests positive for COVID:
  1. The participant must isolate for a minimum of 5 days, be fever free for 24 hours, have improving symptoms (without the use of fever-reducing medication) and a negative home test to return. Any close contacts will be notified and are encouraged to test on day 5.
5. Participant with symptoms:
  1. Positive Test: See above.
  2. Negative Test: The participant can return if they are fever free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medication) and have improving symptoms.
  3. Exposure: No quarantine/isolation is required unless symptoms occur but are required to wear a mask covering nose and mouth for 10 days.
6. If a participant in a class or camp tests positive for COVID-19 we ask that it is reported to the OCAC staff immediately.
What to Wear: All campers should wear closed-toed shoes they can move in, and shoes will always remain on. Camps will have a range of subjects from visual arts to movement arts and music, flexible clothing that can get messy is highly recommended. Snacks/Hydration: Campers should bring a reusable water bottle marked with their full name for personal use. Bring a packed lunch and a personal snack to enjoy for each morning and afternoon, either in a sack or insulated container marked with their name. There are no refrigerators or microwaves available. Lunch is not provided for this camp.
Personal Items: Please leave all personal items at home excluding snack/beverage, a jack or sweater. Engagement with the arts is the goal of these camps, and these items are major distractions. This includes, but is not limited to:
1. Personal electronics and cell phones
2. Games and toys, including trading cards and fidgets.
3. Make-up, hairbrushes, etc.
Outdoor policy: Campers may periodically take chaperoned walks to Gold Park if weather allows. Parents of campers with conditions that prevent outdoor time must disclose this as time of registration. Campers unable to go outside will be provided alternative, chaperoned, indoor activities.
Inclement Weather: In case of severe weather, OCAC camps will be cancelled if the Eno Arts Mill is closed, as directed by Orange County government. If Orange County government is on a delayed opening or early closure due to inclement weather, parents will be contacted by email by OCAC staff.
Administration of Medications to Participants: It is our intent that everyone may participate in EAM programs regardless of whether a participant requires ongoing medication prescribed by a physician. Staff does not as a matter of routine administer medications, however, will in limited medically necessary circumstances. Every effort should be made by the parent/guardian to administer medications prior to or after program hours. If your child requires medication(s) during a scheduled program, please complete the ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION REQUEST AND CONSENT portion of the camp registration form and review the following policy guidelines:
1. The parent/guardian will make every effort to administer medications prior to or after program hours.
2. It is understood that OCAC, OCAA, EAM staff and volunteers are not required to have medical training. Their supervision of medications is limited to that of seeing that participants get proper medications as prescribed, in a timely and supervised manner.
3. Medications WILL NOT be administered without the signed and properly completed Administration of Medication Request and Consent Form to include specific dosage times of prescription medication.
4. Medication may be administered to participants who:
  1. Take regularly scheduled oral prescription medications.
  2. Take doctor-prescribed over-the-counter medications.
  3. Need medications readily available such as Epi-pens, asthmatic inhalers, and prescription medicines.
5. Department staff and volunteers WILL NOT be permitted to do the following:
  1. Administer needle injections (such as those for insulin) of any type, except for an Epi-pen or “auto injectors."
  2. Dispense “over the counter” medications (such as Tylenol, Benadryl, etc.) unless they have been prescribed by a licensed physician showing scheduled time and dosage.
6. Medications:
  1. All medications must be in their original labeled containers with clear instructions of scheduled time and dosage (pharmacist may provide a second labeled container). A general statement such as ‘take in AM or PM’ will not be accepted; specific times are required.
  2. If a medication requires a measuring device (cup, spoon, etc.) for proper dosage, it must be provided with the medication and include the participant’s name and home phone number on it.
  3. Pills that are to be split and given as half-doses must be provided as such. Provide only the amount of medication necessary for the program session.
  4. Over-the-counter medications must be accompanied by written doctor’s instructions and signed by a licensed physician with dosage and specific times.
7. Transfer of medications:
  1. The transfer of all medications will be documented, both into and out of staff control. Confirmation of medication name and quantity will also be documented.
  2. If medications are transferred into staff control for the duration of a program, and medication remains at the end of the program, the parent/guardian must pick up the medication within one week of the end of the program. Medications left unclaimed after one week will be destroyed.
8. On-site medication storage:
  1. Medications will be stored in a secure area that is accessible only to authorized staff persons.
  2. OCAC, OCAA, EAM cannot guarantee refrigeration for medication at the program site. Medications requiring refrigeration should be packed in a non-breakable cooler with sufficient ice to keep the medication cold for the duration of the program day, and for travel away from the program site, if applicable.
  3. If participants travel off-site as part of the program, their medication will be always kept in the possession of a staff member.
9. Any changes in medications, dose, administration, or conditions under which medications are administered require a new ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION CONSENT FORM be completed.
10. OCAC fulltime staff are responsible for implementing this policy for their program, fully training part-time staff, contractors, and volunteers in the policy and procedures and for all documentation and archiving for three years.

Releases & Waivers

You will have the opportunity to agree to these waivers at time of check out. To review the full documents of each, please click through below.

2024 Summer Camps Policies & Expectations
2024 Eno Arts Mill Summer Camp Release Form
2024 Summer Camps Medical & Insurance Form Information & Release
2024 Eno Arts Mill Summer Camp Supplemental Medical Form Questionnaire (to be completed online)

Contact the host of 2024 Arts Immersion Summer Camp at Eno Arts Mill