Usdan Center's USDAN UNIVERSITY Set for 7/15

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, (www.usdan.com), will present the 9th annual Usdan University, the popular one-day summer arts camp experience for grownups, on Sunday July 15, 2012 from 9 AM to 2:30 PM. The unique and popular yearly event, created in response to parents and Usdan alumni who wanted “something for me, too” and “to be a 13-year-old again,” is attended by parents, alumni and new guests from New York City, the Tri-State Area and nearby states. It will be on the magnificent 200-acre woodland campus of Usdan Center, 185 Colonial Springs Road, Wheatley Heights (Huntington), New York 11798

For 2012, Usdan University has added courses in Organic Gardening and Simple Food (on its on-site hilltop farm for its regular student program), Folk Dance and Digital Photography. Other courses are in Hand-building and Potter’s wheel Ceramics, Painting, Broadway Jazz Dance and Musical Theater. All are taught by distinguished teachers, and participants can enjoy a concert by Usdan students at the 1,000-seat Andrew McKinley Ampitheater and will be served a gourmet picnic lunch provided by Long Island’s Suburban Eats. In addition, recreational activities such as swimming in Usdan’s Olympic-sized pools, archery and nature walks are available. The day goes from 9 AM to 2:30 PM, and at the end, everyone receives ice cream and a diploma! The fee for the day is $65, or $100 for two participants. To register for the program, which goes on rain or shine, call Usdan Center at 631-643-7900, email usdanuniversity@usdan.com, or visit www.usdan.com.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), is the nation’s premier not-for-profit summer arts day camp. Usdan, now entering its 45th season, has been declared a “Best Of” camp TimeOutNY/Kids, and by NY Metro Parents, and Long Island Press. Usdan is open to all young people from age 6 to 18, and no audition is needed for most programs. Admission to Usdan is based on an expression of interest in the arts. The Center is situated on a 200-acre woodland campus in Huntington, Long Island, to which 1,600 students travel each day on buses that depart from neighborhoods throughout the New York metropolitan area. Although Usdan’s mission is for every child to establish a skill-based relationship with the arts, the unique inspiration of the Center has caused many to go on to professional careers. Usdan’s 60,000 alumni include actors Natalie Portman, Olivia Thirlby and Lisa Gay Hamilton, singers Jane Monheit and Mariah Carey, Tony-Award winning playwright Michele Lowe, Grammy-Award winning producer Adam Abeshouse, Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra conductor Adam Glaser, and members of major American orchestras, dance, and theater companies. A special feature of each student’s program is the Center's series of Festival Concerts, daily educational performances by distinguished artists. Some of those who have appeared at Usdan include James Galway, Yo-Yo Ma, Canadian Brass, jazz artists Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, Cark Terry, and Jane Monheit, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Limon Dance Company, and stars of numerous Broadway shows.

Usdan’s Long Island campus includes 70 award-winning studios and theaters, each providing an inspiring collaboration with the Center’s magnificent woodland. Usdan is a beneficiary agency of UJA-Federation of New York, and the Center is chartered by the Regents of the State of New York.

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