Summer Programs

by Pete Smith ’74 Director of Summer Programs

Over 15 years ago, Buxton’s Board of Trustees and then-newly-established director of development, Doe Zottoli, began to glimpse the opportunities that our beautiful campus could offer when school was out of session. Since then, the use of our facilities in the summer has seen a number of different and developing iterations: full-on residencies and retreats; day programs in the arts and sciences for local kids; and weddings. Summer Programs 2021 had all of the above.

Historically, during the summer months at Buxton, it was deemed important that there be a continued sense of home for those on the faculty and staff who fully resided in the dormitories and in the smaller domiciles that dotted the campus. We wanted to be sure that we were being attentive to preserving the serenity of those months as a refuge from an arduous and immersive school year. But with the recognition that the school could benefit from diversifying its potential revenue streams and the reality that Buxton’s property sat largely idle outside of the academic calendar, Summer Programs was fully launched. We haven’t looked back. We started small, but have built loyal clientele. Doe was the first to engage Overland, a local adventure and travel program for teenagers, to use our campus during their leader training, and they have been with us ever since. For well over a decade, their leaders have camped, dined, and held their orientation during the last two weeks in June on Buxton’s campus. In past years, Artsbridge has taken up residency here, a Boston-based arts program that brings Israeli and Arab teenagers together to make art in order to address conflict and build alliances. We have also hosted the New England Puppetry Workshop, a residency in puppet-making and performance for adults, administered by local artist David Lane. David is also parent to Sophie Lane ’19.

For summer 2020, we had some new and ambitious residential programming in place. For adults, we had activated the engagement of children’s book illustrator and author Duncan Tonatiuh ’03 for The Art of the Picture Book, and local artists George Van Hook and Tony Conner for plein air and watercolor painting workshops. For young teenagers, we had also made some headway with a promising collaboration with the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, NY. Hayground is a progressive elementary and middle school co-founded by alumnus and board member Arjun Achuthan ’86 that has a vigorous gardening and food-preparation curriculum. The goal was to create a residential program for “graduates” of their summer program to continue to hone their culinary and farm-to-table skills in a residential setting, while also enjoying some of the more traditional offerings of summer camp. Alas, due to the pandemic, none of these innovations were realized and summer 2021 still felt too soon to put any of them into place. Here’s to actualizing these programs in future years!

In summer 2021, however, we did manage to host two other residences. One was with Bais Chana Women International (informally, the self-named Jewish Uncamp), a three-week program for high-school and college-aged girls and women. The kitchen was made fully

kosher during their stay and the motiondetector lights were disabled during Sabbath, enabling our guests to adhere to observance. Then, for a week in August (and for the third year), we hosted Village Harmony, a program in singing and vocal arts for adults.

Our day camps for local kids have proven to have real sustaining power. Very early on, we tested the waters with week-long programs in filmmaking, creative writing, and musical theater for middle-school aged kids. Later, under the stewardship of Buxton art teachers Frank Jackson and Amrita Lash-St. John ’99, we developed Arts & Ceramics, which just celebrated its 11th year with two consecutive weeks of programming, with 20 kids enrolled each week. Since the inception of A&C, we have run like-programs in Science & Logic, Music, and Creative Writing. On-campus chef Heather Mumford also initiated Thyme to Cook, an intensive in Kitchen Arts. This year—it’s the third running—Heather expanded the program to accommodate both a beginners’ and advanced class, for ages ranging from 6 to 12. Like A&C, families eagerly anticipate this program and it has always been fully enrolled. One of the goals of the day programs was to get more local families onto campus, to introduce them to what Buxton has to offer, and to demystify it. Historically, the school has suffered from being a well-kept secret and it’s gratifying to see parents who are dropping off their children remark on the pastoral beauty of the campus, the richness of the facilities, and the success of the programs for their kids. And since 2015, we’ve had close to a dozen local families whose children participated in one of our day programs enroll their kids in the school. Summer programming is clearly a vigorous pathway toward more robust school enrollment.

Lastly, Buxton’s campus is an ideal wedding venue and we offer both one-day and weekend use of the facilities for the betrothed. The price-point largely attracts couples who are DIY-minded and who see the potential of the campus as a retreat for their unique celebration. We have engaged a number of platforms to help us promote wedding use (The Knot, e.g.) and I receive inquiries on a daily basis. Point of fact, we could probably do nothing but book weddings on our campus; but in order to accommodate other uses, our wedding season is relatively short right now: late July through Labor Day weekend. We only had two weddings this summer, both of which were rescheduled from summer 2020 due to COVID. But summer 2022 has five reservations already, with one more pending. There is no doubt that this is a developing and promising purview for the school and we are currently considering expanding what we can offer couples, both in the planning process and on-site.

Summer Programs are increasingly hale and hearty. Let us know if you know of anyone who is looking for a retreat or residency destination, a local person whose kids are school-age, or a couple who is looking for a place to get hitched!

And please visit the Buxton website (www.buxtonschool.org) and click on the Summer Programs tab for program descriptions, pictures, and videos.