School isn’t quite out, but the stage is already being set for an unforgettable summer.
Kansas City’s arts camps are getting ready to fuel kids’ creativity, offering the perfect space to explore, create and make new friends.
Matt Rapport, director of education for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, has seen firsthand how summer camps shape young minds.
“Theater skills are a gateway to greater use of imagination, creative problem-solving and self-confidence,” he said. “Students gain social skills by learning to collaborate, build focus and concentration, and even develop research skills as they explore Shakespeare’s world.”
Beyond Shakespeare, arts-focused summer camps across the city provide young people with a space to be imaginative and expressive.”
Most students don’t get that opportunity in a traditional learning environment,” Rapport adds. “Here, they can push boundaries and truly be themselves.”
Check out our listings for summer camps that will inspire, challenge and ignite your child’s imagination this season.
Spotlight on Student Artist
Caroline Place & A Shakespearean Journey
For nearly a decade, Caroline Place has been a fixture of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival (HASF), growing from an enthusiastic third-grader in Camp Shakespeare to a seasoned performer and mentor.
Now, as she wraps up her senior year at Blue Valley North High School and prepares for her next adventure in Northwestern University’s prestigious theater program, she reflects on how HASF shaped her into the artist she is today.
“I attended camp for the first time in 2016 and continued nonstop with HASF since then – at camps, Conservatory, and now my last year as part of Team Shakespeare,” Place recalls. “… Truly, HASF changed my life.”
