While there is so much positive progress being made in the global COVID-19 pandemic with vaccines, due to the continued closure of the US/Canadian border, global travel restrictions, the health risks involved with creating congregate living situations made up of people from different regions, and the financial considerations involved in operating in-person overnight camp significantly below capacity, the IMC Joint Board of Directors voted last weekend to not host in-person programming at the International Peace Garden in 2021. This includes the International Old-Time Fiddle Contest and Workshop. However, we have a lot of exciting things that we can and will be doing this summer!
Thanks to the generous gifts of our supporters and several state and federal grants, we have been able to create high quality programming with our IMC Faculty to continue our mission of enriching lives through artistic expression and growth in 2021, while looking ahead to 2022.
We have a wide variety of online IMC @ Home programming in all areas of the Fine Arts to choose from this summer. To date, we have 7 Full Week programs, 31 Master Class opportunities, and 33 IMC Faculty members who are available to teach lessons this summer. Scholarships for all of these programs are available through the IMC Office or in your local communities. See our IMC @ Home website pages for more details and scholarship applications! These pages are being updated almost daily and we will issue a press release and share on social media when registration opens for IMC @ Home.
The newest way we are fulfilling our mission is with our IMC On the Road Day Camps! These small, localized camps will provide high quality instruction and inspiration for young artists across North Dakota (and we are exploring possibilities in Manitoba). Many more announcements are coming in the near future regarding these day camps. The IMC On the Road pages on our website will have finalized information as soon as it is available and we will also issue press releases and share on Social Media.
We are also working on putting together structured and organized volunteer opportunities up at camp. Our facilities have been maintained this past year, but will need some extra attention this summer. Applications and more information for this will be available as soon as IMC @ Home and IMC On the Road programming is finalized. We will issue press releases and social media blasts as soon as we have that information too.
It will be another different summer for the International Music Camp in 2021, but we are oh so hopeful and looking forward to 2022 when we can truly be an international camp once again.
ps – A final note to the Classes of 2020 and 2021, we hope to see you in 2022. 🙂