visual-art-camp-2016Junior high and high school students from all over Mississippi spent a solid week at MSA for the third annual Summer Arts Camp. Campers were indulged in many facets of the arts including theatre, literary, dance, visual, and vocal music. From 9:00am until 4:00pm, campers pursued their dream of spending the night in the residence, waking up every morning to a Brookhaven sunrise, and learning about the arts from a pre-MSA student point of view. Evening fun activities were included, of course!

The 2016 Summer Arts Camp attracted over 70 campers, a new record attendance at only the camp’s third year of existence. The camp is expected to grow as more students and parents learn about Mississippi’s residential fine art high school and camp. Not only were campers involved in day-to-day fine arts instruction, they also participated in evening activities such as water games, movie night and popcorn in the Black Box Theater, murder mystery theatre, carnival games, dance night, and many more.

literary-camp-2016At the final event held Friday, June 10th, family and friends gathered in Lampton Auditorium for the main showcase, but not before stopping by Enochs Hall Art Gallery to see the work of the visual artists. Campers performed their work in front of a large audience, representing many different geographical areas of Mississippi.

In addition to the instructors and summer MSA staff on campus during the week, Mississippi School of the Arts had the privilege of inviting back alumni of MSA to serve as interns throughout the week. Duties included supervising campers at residence life, coordinating evening activities, working with instructors in each arts discipline, and more. Darian McGehee, a recent graduate of MSA (’16), shared a part of her experience on the Mississippi School of the Arts Alumni Association Facebook group page: “Working at the Mississippi School of the Arts Summer Camp this past week was an amazing experience. I was the only Visual intern on staff and it gave me the opportunity to really get to know the kids and to help them experience what life at MSA is really like. I will definitely be interning again next summer and I highly recommend that other MSA Alum do it as well! There were only 8 of us this year and the camp needs all the help that it can get!”

Interns assisting during camp included all MSA alumni Daniel Moran – camp coordinator (’10), Darian McGehee (’16), Amelia Stanford (’16), Hunter’Allen Pope (’16), Lis Stanford (’12), Austin Showers (’16), Abi Smith (’15), and Jessica Moore (’16).

theatre-camp-2016Summer Arts Camp is open to any student entering the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade. It’s a great experience to get a small feel of the daily life of a junior or senior attending Mississippi School of the Arts. Interested in attending our camp in the future? Get more information here: Summer Arts Camp. The Mississippi School of the Arts’ Summer Arts Camp is sponsored by the Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mississippi Department of Education. Enacted by legislature in 1999, MSA is a state residential high school for artistically gifted 11th and 12th graders throughout Mississippi. Interested high school students apply during their 10th grade year. For more information, see the admissions section.