Usdan Center to Host Adult Summer Camp USDAN UNIVERSITY, 6/12

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), Long Island's premier arts camp, will present the 10th Anniversary edition of its unique and fun one-day arts camp experience for adults, Usdan University. The program takes place on Friday July 12, from 9 AM to 3 PM. on Usdan's 200-acre woodland campus at 185 Colonial Springs Road in Wheatley Heights (Huntington), New York 11798.

Usdan University is offered year after year by popular demand, and it was created to respond to friends of the Center, Usdan alumni and parents of students saying "What about something for me, too?" or "I want to relive the Usdan experience," or "Be 13 again." Participants often come from distant states as well as the Tri-State Area.

For more information and reservations, contact Usdan Center at (631) 643-7900, or visit EventBrite online, or www.usdan/com and click the Alumni Section.

The day begins with a wide variety of arts classes, including Digital Photography (composition and presentation of Macintosh computers); Painting (acrylics and/or pastels); 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); Musical Theater (acting, speech, movement, voice, theatrical expression and improvisation. (No prerequisite.); and, for the first time, Organic Gardening and Simple Food (Create your own miniature herb garden and learn recipes that incorporate the harvest). This popular course is sold out for the 2013 season in the regular student curriculum. A feature of this program will be a workshop with Chef Richard LaMarita, who has taught at the Natural Gourmet Institute for past 18 years. In addition to studying at the Institute of Culinary Art, he has worked with Chef Floyd Cardoz at Tabla Restaurant.

The morning classes are followed by a gourmet lunch, catered by Long Island's Suburban Eats, and a concert in the on-site, 1,000-seat McKinley Ampitheater, followed by afternoon recreation, which can include Chorus, Nature Walk, Archery or a campus tour. There will also be an optional swim in Usdan's Olympic-sized pools, from 3:15 to 4:15 PM.

The "students" in performance classes sometimes (without pressure or requirement!) take the stage in the Center's Ampitheate to demonstrate their morning's work. And at the end of the day, everyone gets ice cream (a Usdan tradition) and even a diploma!

Fees: Regular admission is $65.00. The price goes down to $50.00 per person for more than 2 adults registering as a couple.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), is now entering its 46th season. Alumni include actors Natalie Portman, Olivia Thirlby and Jackie Hoffman, and singers Jane Monheit and Mariah Carey, has introduced the arts to more than 60,000 Tri-State Area children since its founding in 1968. The Center is open to all young people from age 6 to 18. No audition is needed for most programs - rather, admission is based on an expression of interest in the arts. Each summer, 1,600 students are transported to the Center in air-conditioned buses each day. One-third of Usdan's students attend on scholarship. Although the mission of the Center is for every child to establish a relationship with the arts, the unique stimulation of the Center has caused many to go on to arts careers. Alumni include members of Broadway shows and major music, theater, and dance ensembles such as the Boston Pops and the New York City Ballet. In addition to its regular programs, Usdan offers special opportunities for advanced high school- age performing artists in music and dance. Usdan Center is an agency of the UJA-Federation of New York. For more information, write to info@usdan.com. Call (212) 772-6060 or (631) 643-7900, or visit www.usdan.com.