Centrum Youth Programs

Updates on Youth Programs

As the summer draws to a close, we are just about ready to begin taking registrations for our 2008 workshops. A quick glance around the site will tell you that things are changing. Here's a recap:

1. We've deepened our commitment to young artists, and the faculty that serves them.
2. We've renamed this new focus "The Young Artists Project."
3. On the top right-hand side of the site, you'll find links to the key information about the Project.
4. We've renamed our middle school offering. It was called "Whatever." It's now called "Arts Exploration." We feel that's a more descriptive name for what actually happens here during those weeks.

Final details are being worked out for our 2008 workshops. Subscribe to this website; we'll post full details and begin registration by mid-September. Plus, we'll have frequently updated information on our Core Faculty as well as students!

Lyrics to "Why, Mrs. Sea?"

Reprinted below for your viewing and singing pleasure, are the lyrics to one of the two group songs written by workshop participants at Centrum's 2007 Waterworld program (here's a link to the other song).
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Why, Mrs. Sea?
by 2007 Waterworld participants with Gina Salá 

Why are you salty, Mrs. Sea

Are you Mrs. or a mystery

Nobody knows where you flow from you to me

Why are you salty, Mrs. Sea?

 

    Is it faulty plates, Mrs. Sea?

    Is there a volcano beneath thee?

    Or could it just be, part of your mystery?
    Why are you salty, Mrs. Sea?

 

I asked the crab, he did not know.

The whale slapped his tail and said it wasn’t so.

The jellyfish said its just – part of the flow

Why are you salty? We may never know…

 

(ooohhs)

 

When I asked the sea she turned to me

And the waves swelled taller than a redwood tree

She crashed upon the shore, but answered no more

So she remains a mystery.

 Yes she remains a mystery

 She remains a mystery.

Lyrics to "We Belong to the Sea"

Reprinted below for your viewing and singing pleasure, are the lyrics to one of the two group songs written by workshop participants at Centrum's 2007 Waterworld program.
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We Belong to the Sea: 

Waterworld 2007 participants with Gina Salá, choreography by participants with Christian Swenson

 

CHORUS:

We Belong to the Sea

Swimming in harmony

Friendship is the key

We belong to the sea

 

VERSES:

1) Hey little waves the ocean is big

And its so much fun under the sun

Don’t be scared cause I won’t eat you

I belong to the ocean too.

 

2) (sung by whales)

Hey little waves the ocean is big and its so much fun under the sun

don’t be scared cause I won’t eat you

we belong to the ocean too.

 

3) And the plankton who just floats along would also like to sing this song

though its very small it plays its part

and the whale loves it with all its heart

We belong to the sea….

 

4) Fishy’s dancing day and night

up and down til they start to fight

crabbies sitting down to tea

they ate a biscuit and said yippee!

 

5)Tentacles moving one by one

They wave hello till the day is done

Happiness is all around

Til a nudibranch starts turning brown.

 

6) A giant sea turtle swam by me

How old is she? 100 plus three!

She lays her eggs under the beach

Just beyond the raccoon’s reach

But she belongs to the sea!

 

7) There is a wave I’d like to ride

But on the bottom I like to hide

The sharks and fish they look for me

So I just sit here happily!

 

8) I dream one day I’ll get to ride

But til then I’ll sit and hide

I know one day I’ll get my chance

To ride a wave in my underpants

Cause we belong to the sea!

 

9) I am just a happy turtle

I love my home it is so fertile

The shrimp keep it O so clean

The cleanest home you’ve ever seen.

10) The octopus too have their home

here and their they like to roam

I like the clam and fish you see

My home’s the best in the deep blue sea!

 

11) (shakers…)

Greetings friends its only me

If you look out you’ll surely see

Mount Baker shakin’ shaker’s of snow

And Rainier’s in the band you know

Yes, we belong to the sea.

 

ENDING

Chorus 1

We Belong to the Sea
Swimming in harmony
Friendship is the key
We belong to the sea.

2nd Chorus Ending:

We belong to the sea
Like a big family floating free
Though we swim drift or float
The ocean is our home and we know it forever will be
We belong to the sea
Yes we belong to the sea
We belong to the sea!

Sharing photos

Sometimes it helps to read the manual!

It looks like Flickr--the website that we are using to share photos--has a 10-day review period when you set up a photo-sharing group. Therefore, it looks like anyone wanting to upload photos will have to wait until next week to do that. I'll make sure to let everyone know. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

In the meantime, you can see a selection of the photos I took here.

The photos from Oasis school are here.

Upload your Waterworld photos and videos.

On the lower right of the site, you will see a random selection of photos from the 2007 Waterworld program. By clicking on one of them, you'll be able to see that photo, and all of the other photos that we've loaded onto www.flickr.com. Flickr is a popular photo sharing website that makes it easy to upload and share photos.

We created a special "photo pool" for Waterworld. To join the pool and upload your own photos from this year, go to http://www.flickr.com/groups/centrumwaterworld/ and start posting!

If you shot video during the week, we hope you'll share that too. We've created a similar sort of group on Youtube where you can upload your Waterworld videos. Go to http://www.youtube.com/group/centrumwaterworld, post your videos, and we'll be sure to let the other participants know!

Day Four of 2007 Waterworld

Closing in on the last full day of activities at Waterworld, students work with scientists and artists on a range of activities, ranging from specimen collection, to preparation for the final presentations of their works-in-progress.

Using watercolor painting to depict scenery and discoveries at Fort Worden State Park.

Students assist Cinamon of the Marine Science Center in setting the specimen collection net.

Christian Swenson assists students as they choreograph a piece for the evening presentation.

Jamestown S'Kallam tribal elder Elaine Grinnell displays tools and shares stories from her culture with students.

Tasting seaweed...

Day Three of 2007 Waterworld

A gray start to the day didn't dampen the spirits of the 5th and 6th graders from throughout Washington who came to Port Townsend to explore art and marine science. The clouds soon gave way to warmer temperatures and interesting discoveries.

Students and chaperones explore and embody the tidal impacts on an anemone.

Journaling on the beach.

Getting up close and personal with marine life at the Marine Science Center touch tanks.

Students improvise and use music to ask the "Sea Oracle" questions.

Waterworld: Elementary School Workshops

[This post refers to our 2007 workshop. For information on our 2008 workshop, please view our "workshops" page at top left.]

Study an octopus.
Be an octopus.

Grades 5 and 6

• April 1–6, 2007 (filled)

Collaborate with artists and scientists and peers from across the state to explore water marine ecosystems and creative expression at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, Washington, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca!

You’ll find an octopus. Feel the grip of a sea anemone. Get to know the smallest and largest creatures in the sea and the largest, and use movement to learn understand how they are connected to each other. You’ll explore the beach, investigate a secluded pond, and a lagoon, that’s home to birds and fish all teeming with life.

Investigate a microscopic world, and assemble the skeleton of a real gray whale. Try watercolor painting, pull a huge seine net to sample shallow waters, use a refractometer to measure salinity, build beach sculptures, and create a journal of your discoveries.

These workshops are a partnership between Centrum and The Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Curricula, subject matter, activities, and projects have been designed to deepen and enhance your understanding of the marine world. You’ll work in small groups that rotate through activities in the field and the Marine Science Center. Every day offers a mix of workshops, all designed to deepen understanding and appreciation of water ecosystems. Group size is small to allow for maximum personal attention and minimum impact on fragile environments.

At the end of the week, take all that you’ve learned about the ecosystems you’ve studied, and discuss some of the challenges facing water environments. Evening programs include Native American storytelling, activities at the Marine Science Center, and a student presentation on the final night.

Renovated Fort buildings, including classrooms, dormitories, performance and studio spaces, serve as your home during your time at Centrum. Students stay in bunkrooms on the second floor that accommodate 4 to 10 people, and adults are housed on the first floor in single rooms. Dorm wings are divided by gender, and wing is supervised by an experienced dorm counselor.

Clock hours: 30
Tuition $60.00 (Out of state: $325)
Room & Board:  $280.00

FACULTY
You’ll work with the renowned staff of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, as well as the following faculty:

Libby Palmer is co-founder of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Libby was Director of Operation SMART, a national program designed to encourage girls in math, science and technology. She has written science curricula for the US Forest Service, American Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of the Moving Image. Libby specializes in outdoor field experiences, helping young people and adults truly see the world around them and raising questions based on their observations. As a dancer, musician, videographer and writer, she merges art and science in her teaching and encourages students to do the same.

Christian Swenson is known for his pioneering work in “Human Jazz,” a global fusion of dance, drama, and music for body and voice. The Seattle Times has called him a “One-man Animal Kingdom.” He has performed and taught throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Nepal. He was “The Monster” in The Minnesota Opera's production of Frankenstein, appeared at New York’s Serious Fun at Lincoln Center, and The New York Improvisation Festival with The Flying Karamazov Brother's New Old Time Chautauqua. His work has also been featured on NPR.

Gina Sala’s love of the human voice has taken her to stages throughout the world. She has performed at the U.S. Capital, the United Nations, and most recently finished a contract as principal singer for Cirque du Soleil’s O. With her ensemble of 2-6 musicians, Gina Sala offers an evocative set, spiced with humor, which leaves people humming songs from places they may not have expected to travel!

Martha Worthley is a painter whose figurative and botanical images in watercolor draw inspiration from arts and cultures outside the mainstream of modern art. She is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, and for years combined working in schools with a position as arts editor for a weekly newspaper. She has recently returned from a year in Mexico teaching art to 530 elementary students in Guadalajara.