Summer @AMP 2023

AMP offers week-long summer enrichment programs for kids, tweens, and teens ages 7–17. Each week has a different theme and runs Monday–Friday. Led by teaching artists and art educators, each program includes indoor and outdoor art, work, and fun.

$25 discount for siblings

Outdoor Design & Build
Teaching Artists: Chip Heuer & Christine Mitchell

Experience hands-on training in outdoor design and building, and work with experienced craftspeople and artisans to learn basic skills in design and woodworking. Practice the fundamentals of working with hand tools to learn common building techniques with modern dimensional lumber, as well as how to source natural materials from the surroundings. All projects involve design, planning, and fabrication. Past projects have included a roundhouse, A-frame structure, stump platforms, pergola, game table, benches, a tree house, and more. Group project work requires participants to be interested in expanding their problem-solving and teamwork skills.

This program is great for teens who are aspiring builders, landscape designers, architects, artists, and more. All participants will be provided with their own tool set. A 3:1 student-teaching artist ratio ensures individual hands-on direction and attention.

Click here for photos of this year’s ODB program.

*To be placed on the wait list, email Michelle: michelle@americanmuralproject.org.

Rockets & Robots @AMP
Led by CT Stem Academy

Yes, it is rocket science! Blast off at AMP, where we’ll be injecting art into STEAM projects in this new partnership program with CT STEM Academy. Participants will engage in collaborative hands-on experiences by designing, constructing, and launching rockets, as well as engineering and coding robots. Throughout these experiences, participants will utilize NASA-based resources, Ozobots, and LEGO or UBTECH Robotics. Turn your wildest dreams into creations, think about how to solve real world problems, and have fun while doing it!

Click here for photos of this year’s R&R’s program.

Create @AMP
Teaching Artist: Shana Bazelmans

Teen artists will explore popular art through the decades to find inspiration for their next big idea. Constructing unique visual stories using photographs, print, cloth, and a vast array of other mediums, participants will work independently to create individual projects to take home, and collaborate as a team on a large-scale piece. The focus is to concentrate on students’ own artistic inclinations, which could include sculpture, illustration, mixed media work, painting, fashion illustration, design, and more. The week provides an opportunity to try new things, strengthen skills, and take creative ideas to the next level!

*Participants also have the option to create recycled clothing and accessories for AMP’s Recycled Runway event on October 21, where they can showcase their design.

Click here for photos of this year’s Create @AMP program.

*To be placed on the wait list, email Michelle: michelle@americanmuralproject.org.

Grow @AMP
Teaching Artist: Meredith Arcari Luciano

AMP’s popular nature-based program is back! Join AMP’s master gardener-teaching artist for a fun-filled week of learning about the natural world. Design a small installation using native plants in AMP’s pollinator pathway and nature playground. Projects include building a birdhouse, creating a mason bee hotel, and making treats for birds. Document these memories with a bookmaking workshop and bring your sketches of insects, flora, and fauna home. Then relax and practice mindfulness in the surroundings of AMP’s natural habitat and learn how to continue it in your own backyard.

Click here for photos of this year’s Grow @AMP program.

Music @AMP
Teaching Artist: Ed Fast

In this week of “Latin meets jazz” music-making with acclaimed percussionist Ed Fast, teen musicians will learn the energizing rhythms of bomba, rumba, mambo, and more. In addition to studying clave, coro, montuno, and tumbao, participants will explore the exciting concepts and repertoire that are unique to Afro-Cuban music and jazz, as well as write original songs as a group. A variety of percussion instruments—drums, hand percussion, and marimba—will be provided. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own instruments. The week culminates with an outdoor performance on the afternoon of Friday, August 4 on the AMP property.

Click here for photos of this year’s Music @AMP program.

Dabble @AMP
Teaching artist: Shana Bazelmans

Reduce, reuse, recycle! Join us for a week of dabbling in a wide medley of fun art adventures and recycled artworks. Choose from these cool projects: sculpt with natural materials in AMP’s “nature playground,” build 3-D objects with recycled materials, write and make imaginative new creations, and design, draw, paint, and more. Active indoor and outdoor exploration, with AMP as the backdrop, will allow kids’ imaginations to soar as they decide what to explore and dabble with next.

Click here for photos of this year’s Dabble @AMP program.

*To be placed on the wait list, email Michelle: michelle@americanmuralproject.org.

A limited number of scholarships are available through The Kids of Summer Foundation, on a first-come, first-served basis. To apply, click here.

“Evan wasn’t interested in doing any kind of camp until we heard AMP was offering one. Right away we decided to sign up. The first day Evan came home so ecstatic about everything they did and learned. He couldn’t believe this is what he gets to do all week and couldn’t wait to go again. The only wish he had was that it lasted all summer. Even if your child does or doesn’t know their passion yet, AMP offers something kids don’t do as much as they should, and that’s art, whatever it is that art means to them. And I want to thank AMP for helping my son find his passion.”
–Jennifer King, parent of Evan, participant in AMP’s summer enrichment programs and the CHAMPS after-school programs