Kids! Parents! Guardians! Teens! Veterans!
Summer’s Coming Up!
And with it, Terrific Workshops & Programs
Treadwell, NY – Bright Hill Press & Bright Hill Literary Center of the Catskills, located at 94 Church Street, Treadwell, NY, announces its 25th annual
Summer Literary & Visual Arts Workshops
for Kids & Teens & Veterans Program
SUMMER WORKSHOPS AT BHLC! (Registration Forms Available Here)
1. “SLAVERY & ABOLITION IN NEW YORK: THEIR STRUGGLES, THEIR LIVES” – Ages 6 – 14, Five Consecutive Days, June 25 – 29 (Includes a trip to the National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum Peterboro, NY) – Ages 6 – 14 – Five consecutive days, June 25 – 29. Teaching Artist Bertha Rogers: (Includes a bus trip to the National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum in Peterboro, NY on the first day; also includes walks around Treadwell to find and visit stops on the Treadwell Underground Railroad, with information and assistance from Debbie Tuthill, Treadwell History Center). After we visit the Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum, we will select people from history to study, make dioramas of their lives and travels, and write about them. We will also make time-tunnel books of the Underground Railroad and pop-ups of their characters. On the last day we will present our projects to parents and friends.
2. “GLASS & OTHER BREAKING THINGS: FAIRY TALES WITH GLASS AS PART OF THE PLOT” – Ages 6 – 14, Five Consecutive Days, August 6-10 (Includes a trip to Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY) – THINGS” – Ages 6-14. Taught by Master
Teaching Artist, Bertha Rogers: (Includes a bus trip to the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, on the first day). There are many fairy tales that include glass and mirrors, among them Snow White, Cinderella, The Glass Mountain, and The Glass Mermaid. We will travel to the Corning Museum on the first day to learn about glass and how it is used; then we will listen to fairy tales that include glass and mirrors, and write our own as accordion or carousel books with glass insets. We will also make glass pendants/amulets with help from Treadwell Historian Debbie Tuthill, and the Treadwell History Center glass kiln. On the last day, we will present our projects to parents and friends.
PLUS + Four special Teen (HS students) and Veteran Workshops: (And Performance!)
1. SUMMER WORKSHOP I: War, Words, Dance: Stories and Shakespeare – July 13, 14, 15 Participants: HS Students and Veterans WORKSHOP TAUGHT BY DIRECTORS OF FEAST OF CRISPIAN: Bright Hill will host a workshop led by the Directors of Feast of Crispian, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to bring together professional actors with post deployment service veterans in order to teach and strengthen emotional resources that veterans need to overcome traumatic and reintegration issues. Military Vets and high school student writers (especially those who may have an interest in entering the service), will take part in a series of acting and storytelling exercises. Veterans will share stories with high school students about coming home and dealing with challenges of family and reintegration. The foundation of Feast of Crispian’s work in this phase is a three-day acting and storytelling Shakespeare intensive. Feast uses simple acting exercises to build an ensemble feeling, and to give the veterans an experience of risk free stress – the dangerous “thrill” they might have encountered in the military without the danger. Special techniques developed by the directors allow collaborators to then work scenes from Shakespeare, without the need for reading the difficult language or even any prior familiarity with the plays. The veteran participants (in this case, vets and teenagers) are given the “mask” of character to express big feelings without telling any personal information. Feast uses different scenes to explore emotions and relationships, and the lines of poetry give a safe container for big, emotional expression. Workshop leaders have many ways of supporting participants in engaging their bodies. The goal is to facilitate the interaction of students and veterans, in order to generate ideas for creating visual art, poetry and dance. Story telling circles with enough social interaction to encourage trust and bonding is anticipated.
2. SUMMER WORKSHOP II: War, Words, Dance: Writing Workshop – July 23 thru 27 – Participants: HS Students & Veterans STUDENT WRITERS WILL PARTICIPATE IN A FIVE-DAY WRITING AND VISUAL ART WORKSHOP led by Master Teaching Artist Bertha Rogers. Rogers will lead the students in a series of exercises during which the students will write and create visual art about the vets’ experiences, based on various themes that will evolve organically, such as leaving and/or returning home (a transformed person). Rogers will structure workshops around the five senses, and lead experiential exercises that will focus on various elements of soldiers’ stories. Student writers will describe combat environments (such as the desert, rainforests), the specific sounds of battle (bombs going off, artillery, the sound of soldiers gathering to eat their meals in the field), so that the receiver can visualize and experience the Veterans’ stories
viscerally.
3. SUMMER WORKSHOP III: War, Words, Dance: Advanced Dance Workshop – August 6 thru 17 – Participants: Advanced Regional Student Dancers &
Professional Choreographers ) led by LAKE ARTS PROJECT, A NOT-FOR-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION WHOSE MISSION IS TO GIVE YOUNG PEOPLE an experience immersed in art, teaching them that art is an essential part of life. Lake Arts will bring
10 – 20 New York State advanced student dancers and musicians together with advanced level student dancers of Milwaukee Ballet School, and six professional choreographers, for a two-week intensive dance workshop. Collaborators will
workshop, rehearse, and create multi-media performances inspired by the writing and visual art created in phase II, including the Vets onstage. Throughout the workshop, students will get to see their artwork uniquely blossom to align with the mission of Lake Arts Project. Lodging is available for visiting student participants. For more information: contact Beatrice@brighthillpress.org.
4. SUMMER WORKSHOP IV: War, Words, Dance: Bright Hill Video Mentorship Program – Days 1 – 4 TBD/Day 5: August 18 – Participants: 5- 6 high-school videography students – 5-DAY PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHY TRAINING WORKSHOP for 5- 6 HS students interested in training professionally in videography led by Jessica Vechionne, owner of VeccBrowne Productions. Students will film project workshops, performance rehearsals, and the final performance of the project at the Walton Theatre. Dates TBD for first four days of schedule based on student availability.
* August 18 Final Performance: Walton Theatre – War, Words and Dance: A Collaboration will stage a final performance on August 18 for residents of the Catskills, the Southern Tier and the Central Leatherstocking regions. Finally, the writing created by the students and veterans will be published in an anthology edited by Bertha Rogers and published by Bright Hill Press, Inc.
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Bright Hill’s 2018, 26th year programs are made possible by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the New York State Regional Economic Development Councils Grants program; the National Endowment for the Arts Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works Program; the Otis A. Thompson; A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor; Mee, A.C. Molinari; Dewar, and Tianaderrah Foundations; Stewart’s Shops; the Abraham Kellogg Education Fund; the Delaware Youth Bureau, through the auspices of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services; the Delaware National Bank of Delhi, Delaware County Office of Economic Development, and with the support of Bright Hill’s members and friends.
Bright Hill’s facilities include the Bright Hill Community Library, home to more than 12,000 books and literary and art periodicals that may be borrowed by local residents. Bright Hill also developed and administers, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts, The NYSCA Literary Map of new York State and The NYSCA Literary Tree. The organization, library, and education wings are located at 94 Church Street, Treadwell, NY 13846. Contact 607-829-5055 or wordthur@stny.rr.com for more information.