Community invited to see what children learned at Arts Camp

Ana Michael, 8, shows chef Stephen Thompson of Harrisburg the progress she’s made on a ball of dough. She’s being assisted by Melody Rice, of Butte, Montana, a member of the BuildaBridge Team. Dr. Vivian Nix-Early, co-fouder of BuildaBridge and director of the camp, is also helping teach the class. (Courtesy photo)

PABLO — The Montana Arts for Hope Camp, held this week at Two Eagle River School, will showcase what the children have learned at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15 in the Arlee Charlo Theater at Salish Kootenai College.

Everyone in the community is invited to attend this exhibition.

“They will see their young people doing things they haven’t seen them do before,” said Dr. Vivian Nix-Early, director of the camp and co-founder of BuildaBridge International of Philadelphia, PA. “The arts give family and friends an opportunity to see children in a new and positive light.”

Seeing children in a positive light is important, added BuildaBridge’s co-founder and president, Dr. J. Nathan Corbitt, who is also here helping lead the camp. “When we encourage our children we enhance the future for all of us,” Corbitt said.

The camp is staffed by volunteers, most from the Philadelphia area, who came to Pablo at their own expense and are donating their time. The team includes a professional actor, dancer, mural painter, chef, photographer and writer, along with several graduate students from Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia.

Two Montana residents are also on the teaching team: photographer David J. Spear, who teaches and works in Pablo, and Melody Rice of Butte, a licensed professional counselor and certified specialist in grief counseling and art therapy.

BuildaBridge programs use the arts as a means of building hope and communications skills that help children perform better in school and get a job later in life.

The camp this week includes five classes: movement and dance, mural painting, culinary arts, photography and acting.

BuildaBridge has conducted arts camps and after school programs in Philadelphia since its founding in 1997. Its growing group of volunteer “artists on call” have also conducted hope-building arts camps overseas.

BuildaBridge International was invited to the Flathead Reservation by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council.