Discovery Camp

Arts-in-Action (AiA) co-ordinates an annual vacation camp for children called “Discovery Camp”. Discovery Camp was founded by Dr. Dani Lyndersay, who is a senior lecturer at the DCFA, and a former Head of Department. Now in its 22nd year, the camp is under the astute stewardship of Alicia Goddard, who has coordinated the event for the last 6 years.

Essentially, Discovery Camp provides children with unique experiences that help them grow, learn, and have fun, while building lasting friendships. At Discovery Camp, we foster the values of sharing, responsibility and respect. Discovery Camp allows children to explore, gather information and express themselves in creative and exciting ways. Thus, our campers embark upon a journey of discovery that develops a greater sense of self and community, using the disciplines of Art, Dance, Music and Drama. The ultimate goal of Discovery Camp is to ensure that each child has the most enjoyable experience possible in a fun, safe and enriching environment.

To this end, Discovery Camp engages children ages 5- 14 years in themed participatory arts activities. Past themes have focused on the environment, circuses, and various aspects of our heritage and culture and our local icons and heroes.

Fieldtrips also play a major part in their voyage of discovery. As such, excursions to the Devil’s Woodyard mud volcano at Piparo, the National Museum, Harry’s Water Park, the Tourism Development Company’s Tourism Park, the Wild Fowl Trust, La Vega, the Temple in the Sea at Waterloo, and the Emancipation Village celebrations are among the eventful visits of the past. These outings complement the experience of the camp’s arts curricula.

Discovery Camp 2k11 is titled “SARAKA”. Saraka is a feast of thanksgiving celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Carriacou. It is a tradition bequeathed to us by enslaved and ex-enslaved Africans, who used the ritual, especially given their survival of the Atlantic crossing and the dread of plantation life, to pay homage to their ancestors and ancestral homelands. As such, in the Saraka feast various nations are remembered and celebrated through song and dance. Among these nations are include Igbo, Manding, and Ashanti. The feast itself is characterized by cleaning (preparations); then there is drumming, singing, dancing, the offering of food to ancestors and the sharing of food with the community.

Given the integrated and interdisciplinary nature of the feast, Trinidad and Tobago has been left with a great tradition of dance, music, arts and crafts, performance, language and other cultural practices, because of the Saraka.

Conscious of the commemoration of the International Year for People of African Descentin 2011, Arts-in-Action is using the arts of the Saraka in its teaching at this year’s Discovery Camp with a view to having our children develop an appreciation for African cultural heritage in Trinidad and Tobago. In essence, as is said in local parlance “we giving thanks”.

This exploration, celebration and appreciation of multi-cultural Trinidad and Tobago, culminates in a theatrical presentation by the children to their parents, guardians and other family members. The 2011 camp will feature two, three-week cycles. So from July 11th-30th and August 8th-27th, the Department of Creative of Creative and Festival Arts will be overflowing with the sounds of laughter and children’s voices. Are you interested in having your children be a part of such an exciting and fulfilling experience?

Then, for further information please feel free to visit our website  http://mydiscoverycamp.weebly.com or contact the Discovery Camp Coordinator, Ms. Alicia Goddard at 663-0327 or 662-2002, or via email atdiscoverycamp@artsinaction.org.