Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, Arts education camp in Wheatley Heights, Long Island, US.
Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts is a summer arts education center for young people in Wheatley Heights, on Long Island, New York. The grounds are set in woodland and include dozens of studios, rehearsal spaces, theaters, and an outdoor amphitheater.
The center was founded in 1968 by Dr. Maurice Hexter, Andrew McKinley, and Samuel Lemberg, opening with around a thousand students in its first summer. It was created to give young people in the region access to arts training that was rarely offered at the time.
The center draws young people who want to try music, theater, dance, visual arts, or creative writing over the summer. In the studios and open spaces, visitors can watch students working on their own projects in a focused and hands-on way.
The center is open only in summer and runs sessions of three, four, or seven weeks. The grounds are easy to walk through, with different areas clearly set apart for each art form, making it simple to find your way around.
Three of the main buildings on the grounds, the McKinley Amphitheater, the Lemberg Drama Center, and the Hexter Center, are each named after one of the three founders. Walking through the site, visitors can trace the story of the center's origin simply by reading the names above the doors.
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