Usdan Center Announces Open Houses For Summer 2011 Season 3/27

Usdan Center For the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), whose art exhibit Self-Defining Mediums is now running at Manhattan's Lobby Gallery, 430 Park Avenue, will hold its next Open House this Sunday March 27 from 11 AM to 2 PM. The summer arts camp, attended by children from New York City (transported by air-conditioned buses) and throughout the Tri-State Area, whose alumni include Natalie Portman, Seth Rudetsky, Mariah Carey, Jordan Leeds, Lisa Gay Hamilton, jazz singer Jane Monheit and other performers, is now preparing an array of new programs and calendar options for the summer of 2011, Usdan's 44th season. To introduce the new programs, as well as Usdan's many continuing programs, the renowned Center will present Open Houses for the upcoming season, and the dates for these Open Houses are: Sundays: March 27 and May 15, 2011; and Wednesdays: April 20, 2011. The times for each date are 11 AM to 2 PM at Usdan Center's magnificent 200-acre woodland campus, 185 Colonial Springs Road in Wheatley Heights (Huntington), Long Island.

Self-Defining Mediums, freestanding works by teenaged members of the Usdan Honors Art Intensive, runs through April 4, free and open to the public daily. It features a variety of themes in larger-than-life frames. The show then moves to Long Island April 5-May 2 at the Atrium at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Long Island's premier concert hall. The work of the Intensive has been shown in an increasing number of venues over the past few years.

Open houses give prospective students and their families a chance to tour the Center, and to obtain information and answers from the staff about Usdan's more than 40 programs in theater, music, dance, visual arts, creative writing, nature and ecology, and chess. Families who cannot attend an Open House may make an appointment to visit on another date from Monday to Friday. Please call (631) 643-7900, or email info@usdan.com, or visit www.usdan.com.

The Usdan's successful new program, Organic Gardening and Simple Food, for children in grades K-12, will continue in 2011. A new hillside garden was established for the program, and instruction included the planting and harvest of organic and sustainable food, as well as guest lecturer demonstrations of food preparation by prominent chefs. The program culminated in a sold-out Farmer's Market at Usdan's recent Summer In September event, where a variety of fresh vegetables was sold at low prices, with proceeds going to Usdan's scholarship programs.

Usdan Center is always expanding its programs and exploring new areas of arts education, and 2011 will also include: Video Game Art and Design (Grades 4 to 12), an introduction to the creation and development of non-violent video games; Introduction to Studio Art: a 4-week introduction, for grades 7-9, to two-dimensional and three-dimensional media; Portfolio Preparation Track (Grades 9-12), which will include a student-selected Art major, plus Painting, Life Drawing, and portfolio development sessions. In addition, Usdan has expanded its choice of 4-week majors for many grades in music, dance, visual arts, nature and ecology and chess.

Usdan Center has introduced the arts to more than 50,000 Tri-State Area children since its founding in 1968. The Center is open to all young people from age 6 to 18. Usdan's program features more than 40 seven-week programs in music, dance, theater, visual arts, writing, nature & ecology, and chess. No audition is needed for most programs - rather, admission is based on an expression of interest in the arts. Each summer, 1,500 students are transported to the Center, and 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 and visual artists. These include Music Staff Internships, a Summer Ballet Intensive, and a program of immersion in the visual arts and college preparation for selected high school students. It is called the Usdan Center Visual Arts Portfolio Preparation Track. Usdan Center is an agency of the UJA-Federation of New York.