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Camp Location
St Paul’s United Church in Warkworth Kennedy Park/Rotary Hall & St Andrews Church 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 donate to the ArtWorth Bursary Fund, please write to us at artworthcamp@gmail.com.
ArtWorth would like to acknowledge the generous support of Elizabeth Aikenhead, Bob Crate, Monica Johnson, Meggin King, and Elizabeth Heon for their support of the ArtWorth bursary fund in 2021, 2022, or 2023.
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 over fifteen 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 all of Trent Hills including camps in 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 visiting local farms and businesses and using public spaces for the creation of art installations and performances.
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 Black Oak Savana in Alderville First Nation, as well as visiting the studios of several local artists. Nature sites have included Ferris Provincial Park, Hasting Community Edible Peace Garden and Rhythm Hills Forest School.
Artists Programs
A key objective of the camp is to have local artists mentor and inspire the children, youth and teens and over our 19-year history more than 50 artists have worked with the campers. Many of these artists have participated multiple times and one artist deserves special mention. Monica Johnston at Frantic Farms Clay and Glass Gallery was a founding member of ArtWorth, served on the Steering Committee for a number of years and taught pottery annually for more than 10 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 several 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 at a reduced cost.
We wish to acknowledge ongoing financial support has come from The Warkworth Community Service Club for the teen leadership program. For many years, the General on Mill Pond in Hastings (formerly the General on Main) has generously supplied the camp with t-shirts for all participants. We also received donations of art materials from Snapshots in Campbellford and private individuals including Delphine White and Brad Francis. Donations of quality art materials are always gratefully received.
The Campbellford Seymour Community Foundation has been providing funding for the salary of the Assistant Camp Coordinator through its Job Opportunities for Youth grants for a number of years. The Board of local charity, INNRESPONSE, is an on-going partner with ArtWorth and is the charitable grantee for our funding applications.
