Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts

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The Suzanne and Nathaniel Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (often referred to as the Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts) is a Wheatley Heights, Long Island-based summer day camp, situated on 200 acres (0.81 km2) in the middle of the woods.[1] Founded by tenor and violinist Andrew McKinley, it opened in 1968 to 1,000 students, and now 1,700 "Usdanites" ages 6–18, come back annually.[2] The camp was started by artists and Jewish community leaders. Its second Executive Director was cellist and educator Dale Lewis.[3] The current Executive Director is Lauren Brandt Schloss. It is named for the daughter and husband of Samuel Lemberg, a philanthropist.

Usdan is an intensive camp which focuses on creative and performing arts in particular. Notable alumni include singer Mariah Carey, actresses Natalie Portman and Olivia Thirlby, jazz singer Jane Monheit, dancer Dara Adler, and musician Adam Abeshouse.[4]

The camp is divided into four divisions based on grade level: Discovery - Grade K and 1; Partners in the Arts - Grades 2 and 3; Junior - Grade 4 through 6; Senior - Grade 7 through 12. Students have a choice of classes from the following disciplines: art, chess, dance, language arts, music, or theater. They must then choose a "major" (two fifty-minute periods) and a "minor" (one period) activity. The schedule is based around these two activities along with swimming at the pools, assembly at the 1,000-seat McKinley Amphitheater, and lunch at picnic tables at his/her major department for the entire four or seven week camp.[5]

In 2008 Usdan celebrated its 40th season.[6] That year also marked Dale Lewis's 25th year as director of the Center. In 2018, the Camp will celebrate it's 50th anniversary summer.

History

In 1968, one thousand New York-area children arrived at the newly created Usdan Center to pursue their love of the arts. This extraordinary inaugural enrollment was testimony to the vision and dedication of the Center's founders. They included artists, educators, and communal leaders. The Center was created in collaboration with Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, under the guidance of Federation’s dynamic and inspirational leader, Dr. Maurice B. Hexter. He embraced the concept of arts education in a camp setting, and enlisted the partnership of a great philanthropist, Samuel Lemberg. Mr. Lemberg provided the initial donations to establish the Center, and to honor his extraordinary generosity, the Board of Trustees named the new Center for his beloved daughter, Suzanne Usdan.

Arts educators created the educational and artistic plan for Usdan. The Center's founding Executive Director, Andrew McKinley, was a concert artist, a member of the Juilliard faculty, and a renowned opera singer. The Center’s Educational Coordinator and longtime Board President, Dr. Jerrold Ross, worked side by side with Mr. McKinley. Dr. Ross was then Chairman of the Department of Music Education at New York University. Together with Mrs. Usdan, Dr. Hexter, and Mr. Lemberg, a Board of Trustees was established, and Mr. McKinley assembled a superb faculty of prominent artists and teachers from the country’s leading conservatories and universities. A hallmark of Mr. McKinley’s leadership was his demand for the highest possible standards of performance and teaching, standards that Usdan is known for to this day. In 1983, following 16 years as Director of the Center, Andrew McKinley retired. The Board appointed Dale Lewis to become his successor, and Mr. Lewis has been Usdan’s Executive Director since that time.

Through the years, the Center's original curriculum of music, art, dance, and theater has expanded into additional fields of study in the arts. The program now includes major subject areas in writing, jazz studies, video arts, computer graphics, jazz and tap dance, chamber music, nature and ecology, organic gardening, fashion design, cartooning, animation, classical guitar, and chess. During the past ten years, Usdan has launched programs for beginners as well. Discovery is an arts exploration experience for children in Kindergarten and First Grade. In the Senior Division (students from 8th Grade through 12th Grade) music, art, or dance students are now eligible to apply for scholarships and student internships, and college or conservator students are eligible for consideration as Work-Study Interns as well. Minor classes now include Life Drawing, Actor’s Skills, and Tennis.

In addition to its primary programs for children, Usdan also sponsors professional development programs for arts educators. Lifetime learning is another programmatic theme at Usdan, and these programs include alumni study days, lecture and concert workshops for adults, and a popular summertime event known as Usdan University. Usdan’s professional staff provides collaborative programs with schools on Long Island in New York City, and the Center hosts training events for young professionals in the arts, and for community events such as the Long Island Envirothon.

Usdan’s leadership includes it Board of Trustees, and a Leadership Council of Long Island community and business leaders. Since the Center’s inception, the Board has completed capital campaigns to build state-of-the-arts theaters and teaching studios on Usdan’s 100-acre woodland campus. These include the Lemberg Drama Center, Hexter Sculpture Museum, Goetz Art Gallery, Block Video Arts Center, Jerrold Ross Discovery Center, and Usdan's campus center, the 1,000-seat Andrew and Lily McKinley Amphitheater, completed in 1999.

References

  1. ↑ "What is Usdan?". Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  2. ↑ "The History of Usdan". Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  3. ↑ "Newsletter". Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  4. ↑ "Meet our Alumni". Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  5. ↑ "Programs". Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  6. ↑ "The History of Usdan". Retrieved 2008-07-28.

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