At Hidden Valley we know the arts are fun, but that's just the beginning…Young artists move beyond skill development, demonstrating these qualities in all aspects of their lives:

Expression: Artists move beyond technical skill, exploring the worlds of feeling and atmosphere and their own personal voice or vision.

Identity: The arts can help young people look inside and discover who they are and what they believe in.

Persistence: Young artists learn to embrace meaningful problems and persevere through frustration.

Connections: The arts allow creative young people to develop bonds with other like-minded children and adolescents.

and there's more: Young artists practice skills of Observation, Reflection, and Innovation.

Our Mission:We support children's artistic impulses and vision all summer long.These campers may become the artistic creators of the future, growing into innovative leaders who improve the world they inherit.

This really truly happens! As described in "Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education," researchers found that the visual arts classes did have broad indirect benefits. Follow this link for details. According to this study, "Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgments and justify such judgments."

Arts help with academics as well: In a study by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States, Learning, Arts, and the Brain,it was determined that children motivated in the arts develop attention skills and strategies for memory retrieval that also apply to other subject areas. "Arts teachers daily ask their students to engage in learning activities which require use of higher-order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis, and evaluation." 

And we make the Arts fun and rewarding as well!!! Here's how...

At the end of each session, all camper art projects are displayed in our Art Show.

Dance recitals are varied and fun for all.

Theater productions are central to the camp community's end-of-session celebrations.

Video classes show their productions to the entire camp at the end