Katie Cathcart, puppetry teacher at the Mesa Arts Center
(MAC), has been teaching at Spring Break Camp for over 29 years, since she
started graduate school in 1985. Like most teachers, the fundamental basis for
why she’s decided to teach so long is the fact that she loves working with kids
—especially those interested in many art forms, not just in puppetry.
This year, the themes of Spring Break Camp are Fireflies
and Other Things That Light up and Jungle Adventures. Both of these
themes were selected by Katie; she purposely tied them to spark! Mesa’s Festival of Creativity,
held at Mesa Arts Center during the second week of Camp, March 19-23. She plans
to incorporate stories about fireflies, the sun, the stars, and the moon this
week and next, bringing in themes from books she will read to the students. The
stories and topics lend themselves to fun, interactive activities and pretend
adventures, like going into the wild and finding woodland creatures, and
exploring under the sun in Australia.
Classes will run all day, with new projects starting each
day. Students are not obligated to come the day before or the day after.
Katie encourages parents who want to try sending their kids to Camp to
send them early so that if they find that their children do like the classes
(and they will!), they will be able to come back for the rest of week. Over the
years, students have enjoyed Spring Break Camp so much that they return year
after year, or they bring along siblings and friends.
We’re already in week one of Spring Break Camp, March 10-14,
with the Fireflies and Other Things That Light up Your Life theme. Week
two, March 17-21, will be the Jungle Adventures theme. The Camp runs
from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and is $40 per day. A discount is given if
registration is for the entire weekly session: $180 per entire week, $144 per 4
day week or $40 per day. A ratio of one instructor to 10 campers will be
maintained during all activities and campers will enjoy drama, dance, music,
puppetry and art classes taught by trained artists/educators.
