Happy New Year
Happy New Year from all of us here at Beam Center! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. After taking a brief break to celebrate with family and friends, we’re back for another year of project -making, collaboration with youth, and lots of fun. Thank you again to all who made a year-end gift to Beam Center; your continued investment in our work sustains our mission to provide NYC youth from all walks of life with deep and joyful learning all year long.
As we kick off the new year, we’d like to share some of the exciting things that we have coming up for 2023!
Big Projects
We’ve selected two of our three Big Projects for our 2023-2024 programming cycle. Our summer 2023 Beam Project New Hampshire, Welcome Beacon, will be built at Beam Camp. Designed by Michael Runge and Mayowa Tomori of AMPL, Welcome Beacon is a twelve feet tall structure that will be covered in colorful translucent modular tiles and internally divided into eight zones using proximity sensors. The piece will react differently to the sun than when it is night time, giving those interacting with it different experiences. Read more about the piece in our announcement post.
In addition, we’re just a few days away from announcing this year’s Beam Project Governors Island! Stay tuned for the announcement in our January 10th newsletter. If you are not subscribed to our newsletter, subscribe today - you don’t want to miss this!
Beam Camp
For the first time in four years, we’re bringing back a two session summer at Beam Camp. As a new offering, though, this year’s second session offers a shorter stay for younger campers. Our standard four week session for youth ages 11-17 will run from Saturday, July 1 - Saturday, July 29, and our shorter, 11-day session for youth ages 9-15 will run from Wednesday, August 2 - Saturday, August 12.
As we continue accepting applications for both sessions, we’ve planned a series of info sessions starting this month. Camp Co-Directors, Dondo and Pearl, will be present to share a brief history of our camp, share some sneak peeks at this summer’s project, and answer questions from parents and prospective campers. An info session for campers ages 15+ is scheduled for Sunday, January 15 and a session for elementary and middle school-aged campers is scheduled for Sunday, January 22. Register for an info session and learn more about the Beam Camp experience!
Beam Camp City
Heading into our third summer running a camp on Governors Island, we’re counting down the days until Beam Camp City summer 2023! Bringing together a variety of community-based organizations, artists, and young people, Beam Camp City will provide 6-weeks of outdoor project-building experiences to youth from across NYC.
Project Leaders
We are also thrilled to announce that Project Leaders have been hard at work for the last two months planning and prototyping projects for youth in elementary after-school programs. Project Leaders are high school-aged or recently graduated youth who facilitate hands-on projects at CAMBA sites. Starting on January 10, Project Leaders will begin going to CAMBA sites where they will lead the hands-on projects they designed; as well as facilitate icebreakers, play games, and spend one-on-one time with youth, offering support based on individual needs. Beginning February 6, we will resume our after-school program at Dock Street Middle School as well.
Save the Date for our Beam Benefit Brunch!
Beam Center’s second annual Benefit Brunch will take place on Sunday, May 21, 2023 at the Rule of Thirds in Brooklyn. Stay tuned for more information and to purchase tickets!
Thank you all for being part of the Beam Community, we hope you have wonderful year!
