Now in its 19th\u00a0year, the Janice Wyatt Mississippi Summer Arts PLUS Camp is in full swing at the Bologna Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n
Over 100 children ages 5 to 11\u00a0are all smiles as they gear up for a week of singing, dancing, and creating.\u00a0 Each July, the Bologna Performing Arts Center offers PLUS Camp to children who are interested in the arts. The camp is a one-week, performance-oriented day camp centered on learning a choreographed medley of songs.<\/p>\n
Throughout the week, young artists take classes in painting, ceramics, music, storytelling, and musical. The week culminates with a public performance on Saturday.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme is “Misfits of Broadway,” featuring music from the plays Annie, Peter Pan, Aladdin, and Newsies.\u00a0 Kathy Hull has returned to PLUS Camp as Musical Director. Hull, of Nashville, has been with PLUS Camp\u2019s every summer since it began. She\u00a0was recently named a Music Teacher of Excellence by the Country Music Academy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so grateful to have Kathy and are thankful for her dedication to see this program grow and flourish each year. It\u2019s amazing what she can do with these young people in such a short window of time,\u201d said Joannah Taylor, arts education coordinator at the Bologna Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n
Carrie Sue Alvar, a bilingual storyteller from Miami Beach, Florida, and a Mississippi Arts Commission teaching artist, also has returned to participate in the camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe campers have already been telling a story in Spanish, English, and American Sign Language. Even in this first day, they have been creating and telling their own stories. They have all learned to speak so they can be heard because they all have important things to say,\u201d said Ayvar.<\/p>\n
PLUS Camp will culminate with a free community performance in the Bologna Performing Arts Center\u2019s Delta and Pine Land Theater on Saturday, July 16, at 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The public is invited to attend.<\/p>\n