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Camp Location
Percy Park / Mill Creek Park in Warkworth
and Kennedy Park in Campbellford
artworthcamp@gmail.com
About Artworth
HISTORY
ArtWorth was conceived in 2005 when a small group of parents, grandparents and artists met at the Warkworth Heritage Centre to explore creating a summer arts day camp for the children of Trent Hills. A guiding principle was to offer children the opportunity to grow and express themselves through the arts facilitated by professional artists based in Trent Hills and area. In early 2006 a working Steering Committee was formed including Heidi Schaeffer, Sara Jane Shakura and David Lyon who continue to help lead the camp to this day. ArtWorth has evolved into a flourishing arts and nature connection camp in all three communities and has become a much-anticipated annual feature of summer for the children and parents of Trent Hills.
Vision
Vision
Artworth is rooted in the beautiful landscape of Trent Hills. An area known for its many artists and creatives who live in and around the culturally vibrant communities of Warkworth, Campbellford and Hastings.
Artworth’s vision is to nurture a love of art and a deep sense of belonging to the land, to each other and our communities. Artworth sees inspired and connected young people becoming stewards of the earth and co-creators of flourishing communities.
First Arts and Nature Camp for Kids
Artworth is a not-for-profit arts and nature camp that brings children, youth and teens together from different backgrounds, to learn from local artists, musicians, performers, and nature-connection facilitators.
Bursaries
Early on, the ArtWorth Steering committee recognized that if the ArtWorth program was to be made available to all the youth of Trent Hills a bursary program would have to be put in place to assist some residents.
The funds for these bursaries have come from a variety of sources; ArtWorth sponsored fundraisers, private donations, and the support of several community organizations such as the Warkworth 50+ Club, the Ruth Stephens Memorial Bursary and the Eastern Star organization. It is these partnerships that show that our community is thriving and caring.
If you would like to make a donation to the ArtWorth Bursary Fund, please write to us: artworthcamp@gmail.com.
ArtWorth would like to acknowledge the generous support of Elizabeth Aikenhead, Bob Crate, Monica Johnson, and Meggin King for their support of the ArtWorth bursary fund in 2021 and 2022.
Location
In the first few years, camps were based at the Warkworth Town Hall Centre for the Performing Arts, and several other venues in town were used. For twelve years, the Gathering Place at St. Paul’s United Church has been the permanent home of ArtWorth. More recently, during the pandemic, Artworth has delivered a fully outdoor program and expanded across in all of Trent Hills including Campbellford and Hastings. An important aspect of ArtWorth is to provide children with experiences of community belonging and connections with village and town life. This may include local farms and businesses and using public spaces for the creation of art and performance.
Art forms
Over the course of ArtWorth’s history children have had the opportunity to make pottery, experience wood turning, carve soap stone, make paper and felt art, make kites, silk screen fabric, photography, food art, create songs, improv skits, dance shows and short movies, interview their elders, learn drumming, paint murals, and make creations still seen in the gardens outside the Warkworth library and at the Warkworth Manor. Also, a collective painting at the Aron Theatre Co-op in Campbellford and a mosaic bench at the Westben Centre for Connection & Creativity through Music.
Field Trips
Full and partial day field trips have included a visit to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Lang Pioneer Village, Westben and a planned trip to the Black Oak Savana in Alderville First Nation as well as visiting the studios of several local artists. Nature sites have included Ferris Provincial Park, Rhythm Hills forest school and the Warkworth Nature Academy site.
Artists Programs
A key objective of the camp is to have local artists mentor and inspire the children, youth and teens and over our 16 year history nearly 50 artists have worked with the campers. Many of these artists have participated multiple times and one artist in particular deserves special mention. Monica Johnston at Frantic Farms Clay and Glass Gallery was a founding member of ArtWorth, served on the Steering Committee for many years and has taught pottery for 12 years.
Partnerships
ArtWorth is a non-profit that generates much of its annual budget from registration fees. However, we could never have continued to deliver the programming we do without a number of significant and long-term community partnerships.
We are very grateful to St. Paul’s United Church for its ongoing support and commitment to the children of Trent Hills. We also want to thank St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and the Campbellford Rotary Club for allowing us to use their facilities to deliver some programs.
We wish to acknowledge on-going financial support has come from The Warkworth Community Service Club and for the past several years, the General on Mill Pond in Hastings, has generously supplied the camp t-shirts for all participants. We also received donations of art materials from Snapshots in Campbellford and from private individuals including Delphine White and Brad Francis from Art Farm Produce. Donations of quality art materials are always gratefully received.
The Campbellford Seymour Community Foundation has been generously providing funding for the salary of the Assistant Camp Coordinator through its Job Opportunities for Youth Fund. The Board of local charity, Inresponse, is partnering with ArtWorth and is the charitable grantee with the Foundation.
