Children’s arts programs among last to get green light

Just as we need to safely return our kids to sports as fast as possible, kids desperately need to resume creative activities too, says a Sarnia educator and co-owner of a local musical theatre camp.

Just as we need to safely return our kids to sports as fast as possible, kids desperately need to resume creative activities too, says a Sarnia educator and co-owner of a local musical theatre camp.

“It’s wonderful that sports are starting again but where are the arts, and why aren’t they opening as quickly?” asked Jen Brown Nead, a Kindergarden teacher who operates the Showtime camp with teacher Dan Sonier.

Though the music camps are starting up again this week they must run at 50% capacity and with children ages 4 to 12 masked and distanced, as they would be at school.

Ontario’s reopening plan doesn’t yet allow children to sing in groups. Showtime can’t stage its usual end-of-camp production, and singing must be done by soloists from behind a Plexiglas barrier.

Kids who thrived at performance arts before the pandemic have been isolated, forcing teachers and camp leaders to be extremely creative, Brown Nead said.

According to child development experts, arts education is critical to brain development, and kids who spend time dancing, singing and drawing are often better at other subjects like math.

The arts are also called a building block to compassion, by teaching how to find solutions in creative ways.

Youth who have been unable to socialize with their peers at choir practice, rehearsals, and art classes have lost an important factor in mental health, officials say.

Over at Great Lakes Dance Academy, owner Tia Colborne is a mom of two, ages eight and 13.

“My own children are heavily involved in dance and other activities and it’s been hard on them. They’re lonely,” she said.

“You can’t replace having someone in the room with you, leading the activity, who believes in you and can build your confidence. The kids definitely miss that.”

Brown Nead agrees.

“I feel one of the greatest benefits of music theatre camp is the confidence it helps our children discover in themselves,” she said.

This summer’s long-running art program at the Lawrence House Centre for the Arts has been cancelled, much to the disappointment of its board, said chairman Leonard Segall.

The city, which administers the program, couldn’t manoeuvre through the province’s COVID-19 protocols and allow the arts program to go forward.

Sarnia has been more successful at salvaging children’s sports programs but arts programming is a no-go, said city recreation co-ordinator Krissy Glaven.

“It all boils down to the Ontario Roadmap to Reopen and the guidelines. That’s what drives the programs we can start again,” she said.

“It’s a huge loss to the kids and their families,” said Segall.  “We have many who came to the Lawrence House for the first time to attend camp and they say it was their first experience with art.”

Covid has not only managed to affect every single one of us; it’s managed to impact just about every aspect of our lives. And that strongly impacts children who love the arts and feel accepted, happy and loved there.

The Arts Journal highlights Sarnia’s cultural fabric.  Send your ideas to [email protected].