The International Music Camp will be welcoming about 1400 campers this summer at their location in the International Peace Garden.  As well, close to 180 instructors and an additional 60 support staff are hired from across North America for June and July.

Camp Directors, Tim and Christin Baumann are settling into their summer home at the Peace Garden to start their first session this weekend.

"We are in the process right now of dusting everything off and opening our facilities back up from their 9-month sleep over the winter," shares Tim, "and at the end of this week we'll be hosting our first summer event which is the Indigenous Cultural Aesthetics Events Program. 

International Music Camp is a summer school of the Fine Arts, where students participate in programs focused on choir and band, orchestra and jazz band, dance and piano, and more. "And we really have something for young people between 10 to 19 who are involved in any sort of Arts activity in their normal, everyday life," explains Tim Baumann.

"So, throughout the course of the next 6.5 weeks we'll be welcoming these young people to participate in all of those programs, and they're going to be spending a week surrounded by young people just like them who are interested in that particular course of study.  And then they'll also be working together with some of the great teacher faculty mentors to kind of help inspire and help them grow in their art studies," he adds.

Fine Arts programs include seven different visual arts programs, three dance programs, a drama and musical theatre program, as well as piano, handbells and guitar instruction, this in addition to their regular orchestra instrument instruction.

All programs are designed to be one week in length, this to help facilitate family summer vacations and summer employment for the students. However, several campers from across Canada and the U.S.do attend for multiple weeks, making their summer home at the Music Camp. 

"And we have one program for students who are looking at going as a field of study, called their University Preparatory Program, and they can actually get a little bit of jumpstart on their music degree courses for university," notes Baumann.

Recent facility upgrades included replacement of the lighting in the Howard Hall building, this with the $13,000 grant money received from the Brandon and Area Community Foundation.  "It's our oldest building on camp," shares Tim, "It was our first rehearsal space back in the day and was used for pretty much everything. But the lighting in there was pretty tired and we're excited to have better lighting, but also more efficient lighting in that space."

As reading sheet music is crucial in running a music camp, and that building is used pretty much from sun-up to sun-down, Baumann says the grant from the BACF was greatly appreciated!

Registration is still open for the various programs, notes Banman, and more information can be found on their website HERE!

Please listen to more with Tim Baumann below!

International Music Camp | Summer School of Fine Arts