Interlochen Center for the Arts

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Interlochen Center for the Arts
Image:Interlochen_center_for_the_arts.gif
Location
Interlochen, MI, USA
Information
Enrollment

Camp: 2000
Academy: 475
Type Arts education institution, privately owned
Established 1928
Homepage http://www.interlochen.org/

Interlochen Center for the Arts is a privately owned, 1,200 acre (5 km²) arts education institution in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly 15 miles southwest of Traverse City.

Contents

[edit] Early History

From a Michigan Historical marker: Ottawa Indians once lived in the pine forest between lakes Wahbekaness and Wahbekanetta. In the late 1800s white men came and cut the pines, leaving only a small forest between the lakes. This virgin pine was purchased in 1917 by the state and became part of one of the first state parks. When the lumber era ended, the Wylie Cooperage mill occupied the Indian village site, making barrels until the hardwood ran out. Willis Pennington's summer hotel, opened in 1909, was popular with fishermen until automobiles and better roads drew them elsewhere. Then in 1918, Camp Interlochen, one of Michigan's first girls' recreation camps, was opened, followed in 1922 by Camp Penn Loch for boys. In 1928, by arrangement with Willis Pennington, Joseph E. Maddy and Thaddeus P. Giddings established the National High School Orchestra Camp. It grew rapidly in scope, size, and reputation, becoming the National Music Camp in 1931, and affiliating with the University of Michigan in 1942. Interlochen Arts Academy was chartered in 1960 to provide year-round training in the creative arts.

From the book "Interlochen, The First 25 Years": In 1926, Joe Maddy was asked to organize and conduct the First National High School Orchestra for the Music Supervisors' National Conference (now known as the Music Educators National Conference) in Detroit. Its resounding success led to an invitation to duplicate the experience at the Dallas, Texas convention of the National Education Association's Department of Superintendence in 1927. The exuberant young musicians pled for the chance to work and play together longer than the few days the convention appearance afforded. Joe Maddy promised them a music camp! In June, 1928, at Interlochen, Michigan, in the midst of a magnificent stand of virgin pine trees between two lovely lakes, The National High School Orchestra Camp opened its doors. On leased land, with the old Hotel Pennington, several cottages, 29 new camper cabins, a hospital, water and sewer system, the new Interlochen Bowl, and $40,000 debt, this brave experiment was launched.

[edit] Interlochen Arts Camp

Interlochen Arts Camp (formerly the National Music Camp) is an annual summer camp for approximately 2,000 students aged 8 to 18. It was founded in 1928 by the late Dr. Joseph E. Maddy as the National High School Orchestra Camp. Today, students participate in music, theatre, dance, visual arts, creative writing, or motion picture arts. Camp admission is competitive, and auditions are required in most cases. Programs range in length from one to six weeks, and participants are divided into three divisions: Junior (grades 3-6), Intermediate (grades 6-9), and High School (grades 9-12). Interlochen is also home to the Interlochen All-State program, which consists of two-week band, orchestra, and choir programs for Michigan high school students. There are adult programs as well as part of the Interlochen College of Creative Arts.

[edit] Camp traditions and hallmarks
  • Camp Uniform: One of the Camp's most distinguishing features is its distinctive performance uniform which traces its origins to the Camp's earliest years, and which is worn by all campers, faculty, and staff; its main components are a light blue shirt (white shirt on Sunday and a choice of a white or blue shirt on Monday), red sweater, corduroy pants with color-coded belt (male; dark blue for Juniors, red for Intermediates, and light blue for Highschool), and corduroy knickers with color-coded knee socks (female; again, dark blue for Juniors, red for Intermediates, and light blue for High school). Interlochen's founder, Joe Maddy, initially proposed Interlochen's uniform to blur class distinctions, free members of the Camp community from the distraction of picking out clothes each day, and to foster an environment where individuals could express and distinguish themselves primarily through their art form.
  • Interlochen Theme: The Interlochen Theme, an excerpt from Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, is played at the conclusion of every Interlochen Arts Camp concert. It is conducted by the concertmaster for orchestra performances and by the first chair oboe player for band concerts. At the end of the Interlochen Theme, audience members are requested not to applaud and to depart in quiet reflection. However, what most often happens is that some audience members applaud, while the others loudly "shhhh!" them. This has led to some attendees both clapping and "shhhing" as they see that to be the more accurate tradition.
  • "Do More In Less Time": From its beginning, Interlochen has been a place where talented young people have been able to focus on their craft in a community of like-minded peers without the distractions that they might encounter at home or during the school year that might burden them or impede their progress. As a result, there is an electric level of intensity that permeates Interlochen and allows for an incredible level of accomplishment in a very short amount of time. Many people refer to this as the "Magic of Interlochen." A spirit of friendly competition has always been an integral part of the Interlochen experience, allowing those who work hard and perform best to receive recognition for their efforts. Before the Jessie V. Stone building was refurbished into the Camp and Academy music and academic library in 2005, there were signs on either side of its stage proscenium which read, "Curriculum Geared to Ability" and "Promotion Geared to Attainment." These values are still central to Interlochen's success today.
  • Camp Life: In addition to participating in artistic endeavors, campers also are able to take part in traditional summer camp activities such as swimming, canoeing, sailing, camping, crafts, ping pong, billiards, cook-outs, mixers, trips to Lake Michigan, and playing sports such as soccer and softball in organized leagues, as well as tennis and basketball. Campers live in rustic cabins with up to 16 campers and one or two counselors. Campers begin their day at 6:30 in the morning to listen to announcements for that day, and end their day with slumber tunes. Slumber tunes rotate, and each night a different cabin is responsible to put something together for their cabin mates to fall asleep to.
  • International Community: Interlochen campers come from all 50 of the United States, Canada, and other countries in North America, there are typically also more than a few campers who come from South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. In a typical summer, over 40 countries are represented within the Camp community. This geographic diversity within the Camp population reinforces the motto painted over the stage in Kresge Auditorium which states simply, "Dedicated to the Promotion of World Friendship Through the Universal Language of the Arts".
  • Les Preludes: The final Camp performance each summer in which almost all Interlochen music campers participate features Les Preludes, by Franz Liszt. The concert is always a standing-room-only event.

[edit] Interlochen Arts Academy

The Interlochen Arts Academy is an independent boarding high school dedicated to the arts. As of 2007, it has 300 faculty and staff, and roughly 475 students. While more than half the students major in music performance, IAA also offers majors in creative writing, dance, theatre arts, and visual arts. Beginning with the 2005 school year, IAA (along with Interlochen Arts Camp) established a major in motion picture arts. The vast majority of students at Interlochen Arts Academy are boarding students; some day students who live in the vicinity also attend. Interlochen Arts Academy is also noted for its academic rigor and IAA expects students to excel in the classroom as well as artistically. Upon graduation, most IAA graduates continue to universities or conservatories for further study in the arts or academics. Conservatories that often admit Interlochen students include Juilliard, Eastman, Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), Curtis, New England Conservatory, Oberlin, Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and Peabody. Interlochen Arts Academy graduates also matriculate at many other colleges and universities that do not have a primary focus on the arts.

[edit] Academy Traditions and Hallmarks
  • Coffee House:
  • Morp:
  • The Deck:
  • The MoFro (Melody Freeze):

[edit] Alumni

The Interlochen Alumni Organization Board serves as the liaison between Interlochen's global alumni community and Interlochen Center for the Arts. Members are elected from the Camp and Academy alumni population and serve two year terms. More information about the IAO Board is at http://www.interlochen.org/alumni/.

There are nearly 70,000 alumni of Interlochen Arts Camp and Interlochen Arts Academy living all over the world. Many of them have gained fame for their artistic abilities or because of other achievements; some of their names are listed below.


See more at http://www.interlochen.org/alumni/highperforming_alumni

[edit] Interlochen Public Radio

Interlochen Center for the Arts is home to Interlochen Public Radio, an National Public Radio member station with studios on the Interlochen campus and multiple broadcast locations that allow the station's signal to reach a substantial part of Michigan as well as parts of eastern Wisconsin. When it was founded in 1963 by Hew Kenn Chew, WIAA (note the similarity between the station call letters and the "IAA" abbreviation for Interlochen Arts Academy) was envisioned as a logical extension of the long-running "Music From Interlochen" program that had been heard for many years on the NBC radio network, and which helped to spread word about the activities at the then-named National Music Camp and the then-fledgling Interlochen Arts Academy. The station performed so poorly in its early years that there was talk of shutting down the operation. Today, however, Interlochen Public Radio thrives and includes both a music service and a news service. IPR boasts one of the highest rates of per capita contributions of any public radio station in the United States. The station's classical service is broadcast from 88.7 FM in Interlochen, 88.5 FM in Mackinaw City, and 100.9 FM in East Jordan/Charlevoix, and its news service is broadcast from 91.5 FM in Traverse City. Interlochen is currently investigating acquisition of additional licenses so that IPR can reach additional audiences.

[edit] Interlochen Arts Festival

The Interlochen Arts Festival has a summer series (schedule announced in April) and winter series (schedule announced in September). It features concerts, plays, art exhibits, readings, and dance productions presented by students, faculty, and staff, as well as both well-known and obscure guest artists. Interlochen Arts Festival events are held in numerous venues around the Interlochen campus. The list of recent guest artists includes Willie Nelson, B.B. King, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Guster, Norah Jones, Bob Dylan, Jewel, Josh Groban, and Bela Fleck. While the Arts Festival has reportedly brought revenue to Interlochen, it has also drawn criticism as a distraction from camper performances, as a source of upheaval on campus as shows are loaded in and out, and for drawing large crowds and traffic jams to the campus and to the village of Interlochen and Green Lake Township.

[edit] Campus Features

[edit] Performance Venues

  • The Interlochen Bowl - capacity 5000 on benches and lawn seating, summer only, open air
  • Grunow Theatre - capacity 200, year-round
  • Kresge Auditorium - capacity 3500, year-round, open air covered
  • Corson Auditorium (Grand Traverse Performing Arts Center) - capacity 1000, year-round
  • Dendrinos Chapel - capacity 350, year-round
  • McWhorter Hall - summer only
  • Harvey Theatre
  • Phoenix Theatre
  • The Writing House
  • The Shed (doing temporary duty as a recreation center since the library was relocated to the former JVS gym space)
  • DeRoy Center for Film Studies
  • Visual Arts Building/C7 (to be replaced in 2008)
  • Dance Building
  • Fine Arts Building

[edit] Guest Accommodations

  • Stone Student Center offers hotel-style lodging as well as cabins for visitors to campus.

[edit] Future plans

  • In 2007, ground was broken on a new visual arts facility to be completed in late 2008. A campus recreation and fitness center is also in the works.

[edit] Awards and accolades

  • National Medal of Arts. In 2006, Interlochen Center for the Arts was named recipient of the National Medal of Arts, one of the highest honors bestowed by the President of the United States and National Endowment for the Arts on individuals or institutions that have contributed substantially to the growth and advancement of the arts. Interlochen president Jeff Kimpton received the award on behalf of Interlochen Center for the Arts from President George W. Bush in an Oval Office ceremony.
  • Presidential Scholars in the Arts: Interlochen Arts Academy is a perennial front-runner among American high schools in its production of Presidential Scholars in the Arts, having produced more recipients of the award than any other school in the nation.

[edit] Controversies

  • Trademark Issues: http://archives.record-eagle.com/2003/oct/14interl.htm
  • 2006 Summer Faculty Realignment:
  • Abolition of summer music challenges:
  • Thanksgiving Massacre: In late November 2004, form letters went out to several of the summer faculty informing them that their services would not be needed the following summer. While there is some discrepancy as to how many were not invited back (one former faculty member says 52 while President Kimpton says only 29), most of those faculty members had served for several years, a majority of them being alums of either the camp, academy, or both.

[edit] Trivia

  • Interlochen was the inspiration for the "Band Camp" in American Pie (film), which is set in Michigan.

[edit] Related publications

[edit] References

  1. ^ IGN: Helms Deep
  2. ^ Linda Hunt
  3. ^ [1]

[edit] External links