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Spring is almost here, which means summer is just around the corner and registration for Park Slope’s many summer camps is in full swing. Aside from the usual fare, Park Slope also offers some very special and creative camp experiences with focuses on sword fighting, writing, filmmaking, singing, acting, and more.

For the Young Director (Ages 6-11)

“I consider myself a creative person and I work with creative people, but no one’s as creative as the seven-year-old students in my action film class,” says Tim Sutton, whose camp and after-school program Video Kid reflects the needs of the YouTube age. “Kids are so creative. They can make worlds out of nothing. And video is not a foreign environment to them.” Through collective projects incorporating production design, animation, improvisation, directing, acting, and effects, kids make films worthy of the festival circuit.

While the campers are treated to film screenings, Tim and his team of teachers also like to keep the focus on creation. “One of the things that is very important to me is that media is something to engage in the how-to sense, not necessarily just to glaze over and watch,” he says. “When students learn how to do what they see, it makes it seem more engaging than when they’re just watching it.”

Video Kid began as an after-school program at PS 321 last year then grew exponentially to other schools throughout the year including PS 10, 39, 107 and The Children’s School. Its great success has led to the special summer camp that runs for three weeks in July. Students can focus on everything from adaptation to comedy to special effects year-round, or they can explore filmmaking from all aspects in the Video Kid 101 class. “These students,” Tim notes, “come out of here knowing what a close-up is, they know what a mid shot is, they know what a high angle is, they know what stop-animation is, they know what an actor is. And the ideas they come up with and the energy they put toward it – adults don’t have that.”

For the Uncommon Gal (Ages 6-11)

Some girls prefer to work on their art without having to deal with boys, and Curious Jane offers an ever-changing assortment of themed week camps that foster education in art, science, building, and design in an environment where girls can learn, experiment, and create. “Women are open with sharing resources, so it’s been a very supportive, ‘let’s figure this out together’ environment,” says founder Samantha Razook Murphy, who employs a range of teachers and artists to navigate the campers’ journey through themes like zine publishing, toy design, DIY fashion, story arts, and wired technology.

The all-female aspect is new to Samantha, but as a mother of two daughters, she enjoys giving girls a gender-friendly learning environment. “With girls there tends to be an internal and external pressure to get the right answer, while boys have more of a freedom to try something and if it doesn’t work, it explodes, it falls apart, then we’re going to try again,” Samantha says. “Girls often move at a more hesitant pace at first than boys, so it’s great for them to have the freedom to experiment. All of our classes are very project-based, so we’re trying to emphasize to the girls that this is about them, they can play around. Plus our all-female staff is great – they all have experience and comfort in what they teach, and the girls can look at them and see a role model.”

Since its inception in 2009, Curious Jane has branched out to multiple New York City locations as well as Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Naples, Florida. In addition to daily games and theme-focused activities, Curious Jane students also take occasional field trips, like to the Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, or even to give trapeze a try or visit a real woman-owned woodworking studio. But for the most part, Curious Jane’s true home is Park Slope, which Samantha says has been very supportive: “People want to be involved. It strikes a chord.” Curious Jane’s fourth annual summer program starts in July with classes at The Berkeley Carroll School, The Brooklyn Free School, and International School of Brooklyn.

For the Blossoming Actor (Ages 4.5-14)

If your child has a flair for the theatrical, White Bird Productions’ Creative Theatrics offers a summer workshop for kindergarten to sixth grade students. Celebrating its 13th year in operation, Creative Theatrics gives campers real theater and stage design training from its staff of teaching artists and professional actors like camp director Lorrie Harrison, who has been with the non-profit founded by Kathryn Dickinson for the last eight years. “There’s always more to learn and explore,” Lorrie says, “and the right place to be is when you’re almost falling off the log, but not quite. You always need to be at that point of discovery.”

A typical day at Creative Theatrics includes a mix of acting, music, and art design split up by lunch, snacks, outdoor time, and group activities. Students from kindergarten to second grade meet at the Prospect Park Picnic House on Prospect Park West and 3rd Street, and older students meet at the Old First Reformed Church on 7th Avenue and Carroll Street, which serves as the shared stage for all Creative Theatrics campers for their end-of-the-week performances. “We have a show to put on every Friday at 2:00,” Lorrie says. “There’s something about that that’s energizing.”

While Creative Theatrics campers get to learn acting genres, dance choreography, and costume, prop, and puppet design, Lorrie wants them to leave the program with three things: “First, I want them to have a great time because it’s summer. Second, I want them to feel good that they can make and perform a play in a week. Thirdly, kids are always asked to make meaning out of difficult subjects in school and in life — like Shakespeare, parts of history, math, science, and anything they’re faced with in school, and we want kids to face these challenges in a fun and creative way, and then to feel the empowerment of saying ‘I know Shakespeare! So what if I’m in first grade?’”

For the Greek God Bookworm (Ages 6-13)

For fans of the popular Rick Riordan children’s book series Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Brownstone Books’ Camp Half-Blood gives kids ages 6-10 a chance to experience a real training ground for young demigods just like in the books. After hearing about the camp’s success in Texas, Park Slope mother Crystal Bobb-Semple decided to bring the magic to the neighborhood for her children in 2010. “Most of all so much of what makes Brooklyn special converges in Park Slope,” Crystal says, which is why the park was the ideal location for the demigods-in-training.
Camp Half-Blood takes advantage of Prospect Park’s combination of both open space and narrow pathways for a range of Greek god-inspired activities like phalanx training, sword-fighting battles, and even chariot battles updated to the modern day via rickshaws. Campers team up in the name of Athena, Hermes, Apollo, and others and engage in storytelling, role-play, and even daily quests and prophecies under the guidance of their counselors AKA The Golden Fleece. In addition to the physical challenge of learning archery, sword fighting, and Greek war formations, campers also get a lesson in art by decorating swords, flags, and creating their own Pandora’s box and labrynth.

As for the camp’s growing success, Crystal credits her campers: “Children are such truth seekers,” she says. “They know that the world can be unfair, that good people sometimes misbehave, and that results can be arbitrary. Greek mythology does such a masterful job of explaining history, morality, and consequence without being preachy. The frailties of the Gods and heroes in Greek mythology allow kids – all of us, really – the freedom to be both flawed and fantastic.” Sounds a lot like Park Slope itself, a place where it’s safe for kids to plunge into projects with like-minded thinkers and aim high, make fearless mistakes, and try again like true warriors.

Learn more about these camps here:

Video Kid
videokidbrooklyn.com

Curious Jane
curiousjanecamp.com

Creative Theatrics
whitebirdproductions.org

Camp Half-Blood
brownstonebooks.com

Shopping may be changing with the internet age, but Park Slope’s storefront-lined avenues still sparkle, offering what the web sites can’t — a sense of community alight with charm, care, and collaboration. We met owners of four local businesses — a photography studio, an art gallery, and two designer jewelry and clothing boutiques — to find out what makes running a business in Park Slope unique and what they have planned for next year.

“Park Slope has become much more of a shopping destination, even for tourists and people coming from Manhattan,” says Diana Kane, whose boutique on 5th Avenue and President Street has been in business for the past nine years. Aside from showcasing handmade rings, pendants, beaded necklaces, earrings, and other items from her jewelry line, Diana also sells shoes, clothing, lingerie, and accessories from sustainable, hard-to-find, and independent designers including locals like Aki Kano and Megan Noonan for Marijn Bennett, Prairie Underground from Seattle, and Belgium’s Mia Zia. “I feel like the closer you are to the source and the least poison you can put on your body, around your body, in the atmosphere – that’s important to me,” Diana says. “As a mother especially, it becomes clear that your choices across the spectrum make a difference, so you might as well go greener.

Diana has stocked her store with plenty of designer items perfect for holiday shopping – seasonal coats and dresses, locally-made handbags, cozy cashmere pop-top gloves and arm warmers, and Diana’s own jewelry. When it comes to choosing products and designers for her store, she likes to keep it simple: “If I want it, I figure most of the time somebody else will too. That’s the most consistent thread through this store.” Diana says that running a business is always challenging – “it’s all about recognizing your neighborhood, knowing who your customers are, and just being available to them.”

Tara Silderberg at The Clay Pot on 7th Avenue has years of experience finding some of the most unique jewelry designers, and her relationship with her jewelers seals the deal for personal service. “I think we may be partially responsible for the Park Slope baby boom,” she says with a smile. “All these starry-eyed young couples come out here to look at wedding bands and then see all the kids and babies – you can draw your own conclusion.” While their bridal service attracts customers from all over, the store inspires loyalty from neighbors who’ve been coming by since Tara’s parents opened the business in 1969.

The Clay Pot carries a wide array of jewelry from designers like Alexis Bittar, Susan Fleming, Patricia Locke, and Ten Thousand Things. “By being loyal to my jewelers, I in turn can get amazing favors done for my customers. I had a request from a dear customer, who is also a friend, this summer after his wife suddenly passed away, to turn a strand of pearls they had purchased together into a bracelet for him and a necklace for his daughter. Not only did my jeweler do this for me in a week, but they didn’t charge us. While things like this don’t happen every day, it is an example of the tight-knit nature of what I do.”

440 Gallery, a gallery and artist collective on 6th Avenue and 9th Street, shares a similar in-tune relationship with the neighborhood and with its artists. “I was anxious to have a steady place to show my work,” says Nancy Lunsford, who co-founded the gallery in December 2004 along with ten other artists. The space is currently booked for the next seven years and showcases solo exhibits in its front area and the ongoing work of its members near the back – an inviting setup that gives visitors and potential buyers an art experience that’s both collaborative and ever-evolving. “It’s funny because art is a commodity, but you’re really paying for that emotional connection,” says Nancy, whose experience  selling art goes back to her days as a street portraiture artist outside the Grand Ole Opry when she was nineteen.

“The comment we hear from people who are familiar with galleries and have gone to our space is that the prices are so reasonable for the quality. A large part of that is because we are a collective – we don’t have as high an overhead as some other galleries,” Nancy says. “The fourteen artists we have right now are very strong in their fields. We like to keep a variety – we’re abstract, we’re realists, we’re photographers, we have collage, sculpture – we work for a constant balance.” Nancy and her fellow artists will host their annual Small Works Show from December 8th through January 7th then bring another year of exhibitions, both from the collective and other artists, to the neighborhood.

At Roberto Falck Photography next to Union Market on 6th Avenue, Roberto and partner Rachel Elkind have been photographing weddings, babies, children, and family portraits for the past six years. Roberto opened his Park Slope studio after stumbling across the available storefront while visiting his brother, which is when the business evolved from wedding photography to family photography as well. “Park Slope is a magnet for couples who are thinking of growing a family,” he says, noting that he and Rachel want to be “more than a ‘wedding photographer’ – we want to be their family photographer.” That’s why many of Roberto’s clients keep coming back, whether they live in the neighborhood, Manhattan, or beyond: “The family starts growing, they start having kids, and they come back to us.”

When it comes to plans for next year, Roberto says “I see it as a progression. We not only want to grow the business, but we want to be in tune with what’s going on here. What gets me the most excited is the challenge of trying to get something different with every client that we have.” For Diana Kane, 2012 will be another year spent designing jewelry, finding fun and sustainable goodies to sell in her store, and spending time with her family. What’s kept her business so successful? “I think it’s being part of your community, knowing your customers, being friendly and not pushy – those are the things that have kept us here. That, and always keeping a consistent viewpoint about what we like.” Tara Silderberg has a similar year ahead filled with hunting down new designs for The Clay Pot, but she prefers to sum up her outlook with a quote from E.B. White: “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” But there’s one thing they can all count on: Shopping trends may change, but when you make the extra effort to connect with customers and neighbors on a grassroots level, not only can you survive, but you can flourish.