'Usdan University': Where Adults Are Campers for A Day

Summer camp is not just for kids, at least on July 18 at Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Wheatley Heights.

For one day only, adults can take part in the art camp’s experience, "Usdan University." The program was created in response to friends and alumni and parents asking “What about something for me, too?”

The day begins with a choice of arts classes, including digital photography, featuring composition and a presentation of Macintosh computers; painting, using acrylics, pastels or both; hand-building ceramics, potter’s wheel ceramics (ceramics students may leave their pieces for firing, and pick them up later in the summer); Broadway jazz dance  – some background suggested; and musical theater, including acting, speech, movement, voice, theatrical expression and improvisation – no prerequisite necessary; cooking and even organic gardening. The cooking and organic gardening were especially popular, organizers say. 

The morning classes are followed by a gourmet lunch, catered by Long Island’s Suburban Eats, and a concert in the on-site in the 1,000-seat McKinley Ampitheater. Then, it’s on to afternoon recreation, which can include chorus, a nature walk, archery or a campus tour, followed by an an optional swim in the camp’s Olympic-sized pools, from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m.

Performance “students” have the option to take the stage in the ampitheater to demonstrate their morning’s work.  And at the end of the day, everyone gets ice cream (a Usdan tradition) and even a diploma.

If you go: The program takes place on Friday July 18, from 9 a.m. -3 p.m. at Usdan, 185 Colonial Springs Road in Wheatley Heights, near Huntington.

Regular admission is $65.00.  The price goes down to $50.00 per person for more than two adults registering together. For more information and reservations, contact Usdan Center at (631) 643-7900, or visit EventBrite online, or http://www.usdan/com and click the Alumni Section.