Recently The Entertainment Consortium Inc. wrapped up an extensive four-week education and training program for youth in performing and media arts at the TEC Performing & Media Arts Camp.
Every weekday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., at The Christian Church of Wilkinsburg, children ages 7-15 came together in a multi-faceted program with a shotgun approach to exposing kids to culture. In four weeks they packed theater dance music, choir, instrument lessons, music business/studio production, video production, and fun & fitness into one comprehensive camp.
The theme of the camp was “We Are Victorious.”
“We wanted to teach the kids that nothing is greater than them, they have the ability to become and do anything that they set their minds to,” said LaChele Banks, CEO of The Entertainment Consortium Inc. “So we set that as the theme for the camp so they could strive for excellence and we wanted to teach them not just as artists but how they lived their lives.
The children performed for an audience of 65 parents and local residents in the church gym, showing basic competency in all of the aforementioned skills. The presentation involved a myriad of skits of the 20 children playing the Djembe, the Kalimba and Atenteben, which are essentially floor drums hand xylophones and wooden flutes; over African dance routines, a short play of the book of Job, scriptural readings from memory, a fully choreographed performance of the Temptations hit, “Just My Imagination,” and finally a video presentation of the camp told through pictures to video edited by the kids over music they produced themselves. Their little faces lit up with smiles with each applause.
“They learned about tracks and how the mixing board works and how you layer one track on top of another and each of them had to layer a track on top of another in groups of two. So the first person would lay down the drum beat and the next until they got the whole song,” said Banks.
With a bachelor’s degree in music and a PhD in anthropology, Banks was a natural choice to be their primary teacher. “So we were attempting to expose the youth to a variety of art genres which is important particularly at their age as they might not have specific interest but we are trying to develop an appreciation of art. I’m very concerned about Black art and the future of Black art and we want our youth to carry that on,” he said.
Robert (Bobby) Johnson, a key facilitator for the camp and MC for the wrap ceremony, was astonished they could teach kids so young so many degrees of the arts in such a compact period of time
“Four weeks ago most of these kids couldn’t even read notes let alone seen an African instrument. So in two to three weeks, thanks to Dr. Banks, these kids learned to read music, the notes, the timing and everything, how to play the instruments,” he said.
All things considered, Johnson admitted they still have a ways to go as far as their musical acumen. “They aren’t ready for Heinz Hall yet, but the last week we spent just getting the show together. So you are looking at a really compressed amount of time that these guys were able to do what they did. We had recreation time, arts and crafts because you know we didn’t want to bore them the whole time (by) teaching them. We fed them breakfast and lunch, a couple Fridays we did a movie in the afternoon because it is a camp; you want to make it at least halfway fun. The bottom line is they all learned something,” Johnson said.
The day completed with Aniya Anderson, Malik Jackson, and Trayvon and Dajaun Gowder, all of who were children that participated in the camp, saying they think they want to pursue their interests in the arts of dance and acting.
Johnson said he’s most proud of how they made it work for everyone. “We only charged $25 a child per week. A lot of people had more than one child and the price got reduced and some paid nothing at all…we didn’t turn anyone away.”
