DR Art Camp 2016

After you enjoy “Encontrando Un Refugio” above, watch this short video about the impact of Art Camp 2016!

Inverted Arts Dominican Republic Impact and Thank You’s 2016 (1) from Inverted Arts on Vimeo.

Next, read this overview from Artist Mentor and team leader Travis Scharn (Creative Arts Pastor at FCC Santa Maria)

July 23^rd – 31^st I had the opportunity to lead a team to the Dominican Republic for the 6^th annual Art Camp with Inverted Arts. As with each of the previous trips, this one was full of surprises and blessings. Andrew Ryver (FCC Creative Arts Associate), Brian Bond (FCC Tech Director) and myself flew from California’s Central Coast to Santo Domingo to meet up with our hosts Joselo and Kristin and our church partners Pastors James and Brenda at Mundo de Fe.

Our trip began with some unexpected delays, but after 40+ hours of travel, we made it Santo Domingo and hit the ground running. Art Camp actually started without us while we were delayed overnight in Miami. We relayed some info to Kristin who got the students started on writing the story that they wanted to tell in the video project that we’d work with them on over the next week. When we came together with the students on Monday morning, they had the story almost complete and we were able to quickly work with them on finishing the story and organizing it into scenes that we could shoot.

After about an hour on Monday morning, we were ready to start filming and the music team started on compiling, writing and recording the background score for the film. Andrew Ryver from FCC worked alongside Inverted Arts scholarship award student Adriel Santos and a small team of students from Mundo de Fe on all of the music for the film. And they did an incredible job.

Meanwhile, Brain Bond and I went along with a larger group of students from Mundo de Fe all over the neighborhood and community to shoot the scenes for the video. Their story of rejection to redemption and acceptance began at a local school, moved to individual homes and finished in a centrally located park that was close to the church. The students did a great job filming, acting and producing the short film. In the afternoons after Art Camp, a couple of student leaders came together with us and worked on the process of editing the audio and video from the day.

As usual, at the end of the week we had a showcase and it was of epic proportions this year. They did a genuine “red carpet” event, dressed to the nines and invited their friends and family. By the time everyone crammed into the church we filled every chair that they had and it was standing room only lining the walls. We celebrated the students creativity and showed the film that they had made. The night was full of laughter, cheers and love. Many pictures were taken and stories shared. I was proud of the students for what they produced and for how they learned about their value as people who were made in God’s image to be creative. I am proud of the team (Andrew, Brian, Adriel, Kristin, Joselo, James, Brenda and our translator Alex). It was an amazing week and I can’t wait to see what next year brings with our current partners in the DR as well as with potential partners that we met throughout out time there. DR Art Camp 2016 was amazing and I am excited about what 2017 might look like as well.