Vendredi

by Mary-Devon Dupuy

On Friday night, the Country Day Creative Arts camp will be showing off what the kids have been up to for the past month, and the closeout promises to go well beyond Paper Mache and finger painting. For the 30th year, CDCA has managed to attract professional artists from New Orleans and all over the country to create one of the most eclectic summer camps in the metro area. Art enthusiasts of all kinds can come to Metairie Park Country Day School (300 Park Dr., Metairie) to enjoy the products of young inventors, dancers, drummers, visual artists, and much more.

At 5:30 p.m., CDCA will kick off with a marching drum corps leading 400 kids and staff members while they play “the duck song,” on kazoos. The opening ceremony fits the mood of the night, which is an all-inclusive celebration.

There are 100 classes, so guests will experience art in every medium, including martial arts. Traditionalists can enjoy large-scale nature paintings, Shakespeare in the Black Box, and music from local cellist Helen Gillet. Those who take pleasure in the weirder side of art can look forward to the 25 costumed stilt walkers, new takes on fables and fairy tales, flash fiction readings, comedy, and a Capoeira demonstration involving 50 people. As the night begins to die down, 60 kids will perform in Peace Quest, a musical.

There are 70 staff members at CDCA, and they’re all professional artists of some kind, whether it be music or stilt-walking. Camp Director Sara Stevenson told us about what makes CDCA so special.

The 300 kids that contributed their time and energy represent 60 schools in New Orleans, and Stevenson wants to see that number increased. Money raised will go into a scholarship fund, Stevenson asks that people consider patronizing food vendors at the admission-free event.

“Edible Art will be serving amazing crepes, and all the food that’s sold goes towards our scholarship fund. There will be spinach and artichoke crepes with jumbo lump crab, ham crepes, ham and cheese crepes, and iced coffee with vanilla cream,” Stevenson said.

They will also hold a raffle, the winner of which will take home “a beautiful mosaic bird bath that the kids created.”

In terms of traning and personnel, the annual kids' creative confab goes to a place beyond where most summer camps don't dare to go, Stevenson said.

“We have professional artists sharing their passion for their art forms with kids,” she said. “We’ve got all these incredible risk-taking artists out here, and the kids are working really conceptually.”