INNOVATING FOR IMPACT
How Spring Break Camp’s new format inspired deeper—and more diverse—connections in our community and beyond.
By Jamie McCrary
Luna Morena, an experimental puppet workshop from Guadalajara, Mexico, isn’t typically on the US East Coast. But this March, they found themselves performing for an eager Maryland audience. The internationally renowned company participated in Strathmore’s Spring Break Camp, a free annual arts enrichment program for 4th and 5th graders. Luna Morena guided students through the bilingual puppet workshop Ánima, inviting them to explore artistic expression, with body and voice, through the creation and animation of puppetry. For the past decade, Strathmore has convened teaching artists, educators, and students from JoAnn Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres in Silver Spring for a week-long Spring Break Camp on Strathmore’s campus. The camp was designed to be the culmination of a semester-long collaboration with Leleck, which included classes in puppetry, music, dance, and visual arts. This year, however, the program looked a little different.
Together with Leleck teachers and administrators, Strathmore reimagined Spring Break Camp as virtual. The program would maintain its interactive nature, focused on exploring stories and artistic techniques— but be offered to more students and include new, culturally diverse perspectives. This shift fulfilled an important goal: presenting more artists of color— and ensuring they reflected the backgrounds of participating students. “The changes we made to Spring Break Camp this year allowed us to nourish our students in a more personal way, through language and cultural identity,” said Monica Jeffries Hazangeles, President and CEO of Strathmore. “The strength and quality of our relationships—specifically, our partnership with Leleck—allowed us to do this.”
A HISTORY OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION For Lauren Campbell, Director of Education at Strathmore, collaboration is key. She says this is the “foundation of our partnerships. We prioritize listening to what students need so that, ultimately, camp addresses themes that are important to the community.” In recent years, Leleck teachers and administrators expressed a need for more diverse cultural representation for students. As a school with an 85% Latino student body, students don’t always have the opportunity to work with instructors that share their cultural background.
During Spring Break Camp students enjoyed hands on experiences, like this mask-making project led by members of Borderlands Theater Company.
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STRATHMORENEWS | Summer 2021
Leveraging Strathmore’s network of community partners—and the camp’s expanded flexibility— Campbell recruited Latino puppetry and theater artists, extending her search throughout the country and beyond. This included Compañía Luna Morena from Mexico, as well as Borderlands Theater Company from Tucson, Arizona.
