REGISTRATION FOR AMERICAN MURAL PROJECT SUMMER PROGRAMS

Winsted, CT—The American Mural Project (AMP) is offering five different week-long summer camps for children ages 7–12, two weeks of Outdoor Design & Building instruction for youth ages 12–16, and a two-week Digital Story Work internship program for young adults ages 17 and older. All programs will take place on AMP’s campus, 90 Whiting Street, Winsted, Connecticut.

Summer @AMP offers five weeks of camps with different themes, indoor and outdoor work and play, and hands-on experiential learning. Grow @AMP, July 13–17, is perfect for aspiring chefs, animal lovers, and nature enthusiasts, with nature-focused art projects. Dabble @AMP, July 20–24, is a week full of indoor and outdoor art and music adventures—from drawing comic books to playing the ukulele. Make @AMP, July 27–31, is a maker-oriented week of tinkering and building toys, sculptures, and wearable art. Tinker @AMP, August 3–7, led by Joe Brien of Lost Art Workshops, focuses on designing and building wooden toys and leather items—from robot creatures to marionettes—on the one-of-a-kind Tinker Wagon. Create @AMP, August 10–14, led by Jessica Russell of Art Room Atelier, is a week of environmental art—small-scale projects to take home and collaborative work on a large-scale artwork to be installed on AMP’s property. Programs run Monday–Friday, 8:30am–3:00pm. Ages vary by program, from 7–12. Cost is $275 per week. Registration before April 30 offers a $25 discount.

Outdoor Design & Building, June 29–July 2 and July 7–10, is ideal for teens who are aspiring builders, landscape designers, architects, and artists. Participants will work with experienced craftspeople to learn basic skills in design and woodworking, and will design and create structures for AMP’s property. Register for one or two weeks, 9:00am–3:00pm, $225 per week. Registration before April 30 offers a $25 discount. Open to ages 12–16.

Following AMP’s mission of honoring work through art, each summer enrichment program focuses on giving participants a chance to help direct projects, solve problems, share ideas, honor the contributions of others, and discover their own resourcefulness and abilities. Full program details, schedules, ages, costs, and registration: americanmuralproject.org/summer.

The Digital Story Work internship enters its fourth summer, with a two-week, full-day program for youth ages 17 and older who are either attending school or who have entered the workplace, Monday–Friday, June 29–July 2 and July 7–10, 9:00am–5:00pm. Interns will work alongside a small crew to learn the basics of video production and compelling storytelling by creating short documentaries, interviews, and marketing videos. Daily workshops offer collaborative project work under the mentorship of experienced professionals in the fields of journalism, communication, and film, who will help participants develop skills in interviewing, story development, and documentary video production. Four internships are available. Each intern will receive a nominal stipend after completion of the internship and assigned project work. Apply online by Monday, May 18: americanmuralproject.org/internships.

“Kids and young adults in AMP’s programs discover that when they work together they can create the worlds that they imagine,” said Michelle Begley, programs director at AMP. “They explore, design, and build—from the structural to the creative elements—and their initiative and ownership keeps them coming back for more!”

To date, the Summer @AMP programs are sponsored in part by the Torrington Savings Bank Foundation.

About the American Mural Project
Launched in 2002 by artist Ellen Griesedieck, the American Mural Project (AMP) is creating the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world—a mural 120 feet long, 48 feet high, and up to ten feet deep. The mural is a tribute to American workers and highlights what has defined the country over the last century. It seeks to inspire, to educate, to invite collaboration, and to reveal to people of all ages the many contributions they can make to American culture. Nothing like it exists in the world.

More than 15,000 children and adults have helped create pieces of the mural, which will be housed in two former mill buildings on Whiting Street in Winsted, Connecticut. Scope Construction finished renovations on the mural building in fall 2018, and the lengthy process of assembling and installing the mural is now underway. Programming is currently offered for schools and teachers, after-school partnerships, summer enrichment camps, and an apprentice-style internship program.

Lead funding for the American Mural Project has been provided by the Newman’s Own Foundation, Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation, and the Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Community Foundation, the Maximilian E. and Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, Eversource Foundation, and Northwest Community Bank.