Live and Learn at Camp

With a blend of education and entertainment this summer, Star Learning Programs in Canyon Country is offering full-day sessions filled with academics, arts and crafts and field trips. The cost is $165 per week for the camps, offered to youth in grades first through eighth. It includes math and language arts workshops, two full-day field trips per week, and afternoons of physical fitness, music and crafts. The program is limited to 30 students, and hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended care available.

Star Learning Programs has moved. It is now across the street from Home Depot, at 20655 Soledad Canyon Road, Unit 31 in Santa Clarita. Email info@starlearningprograms.com or visit www.starlearningprograms.com for more information.

SCV Film Fest Summer Day Camps

No 21st century kid’s summer is complete without making a movie. And SCV Film Festival is prepared to help them with the following classes:

Script 2 Screen

Students work together to make their own movies. They will make their own live

action, animation and green screen films. And for returning students, they will

delve deeper into the filmmaking process.

Concept 2 Design

Students learn graphic and web design. They will create CD covers, movie

posters, T-shirts, websites and more.

Final projects are screened and displayed in August at the Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall.

The camps are held at the SCV Film Center, 24623 Walnut Street in Newhall. Youth ages 9-16 are invited to attend. Camps run from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. The first three-week session begins June 21 and the second three-week session begins July 19. Call Ramon Hamilton at (661) 600-6320 for information, or visit www.generationarts.com or www.scvfilmfestival.com.

Hubbadaddy’s

School of Rock is more than just a movie title from 2003. Santa Clarita has its own after school rock program, which offers summer camps, and now even goes onto campuses.

Hubbadaddy’s performed its first assembly last month at Rio Vista Elementary School in Canyon Country. Owner Kevin Cloud played drums and teamed up with Courtney Love’s former bassist/songwriter, Jerry Best, and Christy Calabro, a guitarist and vocalist who has recorded with Bret Michaels. The group did not shy away from real rock and roll, offering songs from Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravitz and The Beatles, among others.

Rio Vista fifth-grader Conor Bloom played drums for the last song the group played, which was “I Love Rock and Roll,” made known by artist Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. The elementary school crowd cheered for the talented Bloom, who has taken part in the Hubbadaddy’s program for two years.

“Music has played a major role in my life,” explained Cloud, who is a professional percussionist, having played for such artists as BB King. “It’s what I’ve done to make a living and it’s made my world happier. Because of this, I have a deep desire to pass it on to others, especially the youth. The arts have been hit hard by the budget cuts and, to some extent, music is non-existent in schools. The goal with ‘Hubbadaddy’s Rocks’ is to E & E (educate and entertain). We aim to show them that a band and the instruments in the band are part of a family not unlike their own. Each has a role and responsibilities. We trust and count on each other to do our part…not to let each other down.”

Cloud hopes to visit every school in the SCV. PTA representatives and school officials can contact Hubbadaddy’s at (661) 287-4480.

Happy Trails Ranch

Kids of all ages head to Agua Dulce for “Miss Nancy’s” horse camp each summer. Riding lessons are at the heart of the weeklong day camps, but teacher Nancy Cochran includes horse crafts, food, games on horseback and a “Spa Day” for the kids and their new four-legged friends.

At the end of the week, students have a fun mini-competition and a trail ride. Campers go home with a horse workbook and picture CD. Call Happy Trails for camp dates. Contact: (661) 618-8778.

E.S.C.A.P.E. Theatre

Canyon Country residents Elizabeth and Kyle Burson are creators of this theatre experience that is just for kids. They produce several shows a year, and feature a few special performances in between shows.

If “Mom” likes Broadway, a best bet Mother’s Day weekend excursion is taking place here in Canyon Country, at Robinson Ranch Golf Club. The Bursons are flying in two professional vocalists for “A Night on Broadway” May 8 from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Entertaining at the dinner theatre are Steve Amerson, a performer with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who is known as “America’s Tenor , and soprano Laurie Gayle Stephenson, who portrayed “Christine” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway. Tickets are available by calling (661) 299-5264.

ESCAPE will be busy this summer, first with performances June 25-27 of “The Sound of Music” at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center in Valencia.

Registration is open for kids in grades 1-6 for a Broadway Review camp beginning July 19. The program includes two weeks of training and a weekend performance. Campers receive a T-shirt and two tickets for the show.

Visit http://escapetheatre.ning.com for more information on E.S.C.A.P.E.