The ACE Camp, which will be held at the Grenada Craft Centre from July 16 to 20, will provide a new learning opportunity for approximately 40 students with proven artistic ability, ranging in age from nine to nineteen years.

The ‘ACE Campers’ were selected based on their ratings in local and regional art competitions and in collaboration with Ministry of Education Art Director Mrs. Lisa Francis, who is also Chair of the Patron of the Arts Fund Management Team.

“The Management Team is very pleased to partner with UNESCO and the Grenada Arts Council in developing the Camp. The primary objective of the Fund is to support the School Art Programme, and this is exactly what the Camp will do. In addition to the students, five teachers will assist the Tutors, so it will be a learning experience for them as well,” Mrs. Francis said.

On the first day of the Camp, a field trip is scheduled for Grand Mal, Duquesne Bay and Pearls as an introductory class experience to Grenada’s indigenous people and to collect ‘found objects’. The students will spend the next four days in intensive class sessions, which will be conducted by local artists Gordon Hamilton, Kenneth Noel, Ursula Williams and Suelin Low Chew Tung.

The classes include drawing and painting; fabric painting and printing; paper maché masks and jewellry from found objects, as well as information on how to generate funds from these activities. One of the main outcomes of the Camp will be a student mural under the theme ‘Art from the Start’.

The Patron of the Arts Fund was established with proceeds from the sale of the ARD Art Adventure 2006 commemorative calendar. The ARD Art Adventure used art as a therapeutic tool to help students deal with the trauma of Hurricane Ivan.