Manatee Great!
A MAEC Masterpiece
This summer, MAEC launched an arts
enrichment initiative that stole the show
- the smARTen Up Summer Camp. Held
June 3-7 at Lee Middle School, the
camp offered district rising first through
seventh graders a rotating schedule of
dance, theater, visual art, media arts,
general music, and choir (plus band for
third graders and up). Florida certified
teachers and school district employees
taught all classes.
“More than half of the campers qualified
for the camp’s full scholarships,” said
camp director and MAEC member Dr.
Christy Isaacs, also a music teacher at
Miller Elementary School. Isaacs hopes
to hold the camp every summer, and for
more than one week. She’d also like to
provide more scholarships as well as
transportation in the future.
While smARTen Up provided affordable
and convenient arts enrichment to
students, it also provided teachers
supplemental income, and it raised
money that went directly into new grants
for arts teachers who are MAEC members.
“MAEC has opened a network for arts
teachers to get together and bounce
ideas off each other,” Isaacs said, adding
that the organization has accomplished
so much in such a short period of time.
“It’s one thing to have a grand idea,”
Isaacs said. “But they actually are
following through on those grand ideas.”
In all, MAEC established five new
programs during the 2018-2019 school
year: the smARTen Up Summer Camp;
the All-County High School Orchestra;
the Manasota Honor Choirs; the Play
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