We crack open a real-deal journal (deep-cuts, doodles and all) from writer Molly Korroch and find out what it’s really like to come of age at one of the most renowned arts camps in the world, Interlochen Arts Camp. Hint: drama, heartache and blue knickers required.
Interlochen is in the family. My mom, aunt, sister and cousin each attended Interlochen as campers, counselors, academy students, or—in my sister’s case—an assistant set painter for the high school musical. I visited Interlochen for the first time when I was nine years old. My family and I were Up North for our annual vacation and we decided to attend that year’s production of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta: The Mikado.
I remember standing outside the Melody Freeze—the little café on the main campus where campers and visitors can gorge on ice cream, pizza, and the signature Melody Freeze—a slushie stuffed with vanilla soft-serve. A woman glanced my way as I ate my ice cream and asked if I planned on attending camp. No way. I didn’t want to be away from home for eight weeks. The adults all laughed.
My first summer at camp was two years later. In total, I spent four summers at Interlochen Arts Camp, making friends, auditioning, singing funny camp songs and silly musical theater songs, making phones calls with a phone card, and loving those navy blue corduroy knickers. While at camp, I got to see performers like Norah Jones, Ben Folds, Van Cliburn, Capitol Steps and Bernadette Peters alongside camp ensembles, performances, and galleries. Of course, I always brought my journal. And my mom always equipped me with a disposable camera—or four. These are my memories…
Featured in the August 2019 issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine. Get your copy.
July 10 / 11:30-ish a.m. / Harvey movement room
Interlochen Arts Camp holds extremely vivid moments for me—hearing Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’ and seeing the legendary American pianist Van Cliburn play. I have this theory that we all come into the world as the most potent versions of ourselves. When we’re kids, we are zealots to our causes, and when I was a kid my cause was musical theater.
2:40 p.m. / Elementary school gym
So many Interlochen students will tell you that the magic of the place is in not being alone. There’s solidarity in caring too much about the same thing as your peers. To kids back home, that might be sports or video games. For us, it was art.
A couple of days ago…
It took me a few years to realize that performance people are generally nuts. (I don’t feel too bad saying that, because they’re the first to admit it and I was one for so long. My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.) Post musical theater frenzy, I went the classical route. Over time, I realized that my true love is a good story told well. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d chosen writing for my major at Interlochen instead of musical theater. I remember talking with my parents about it after I’d had the following conversation with my director:
July 7, 2006 / 9:01 a.m. / Classroom in elementary school
However, a hallmark of my personality is my determination. I was determined that I would do this and do it well. Better than anybody else. I tried so hard and fell flat on my face. Camp is hard. For the performers and musicians, the first couple of days are auditions. Even then, your scene can get cut. You can be replaced. I decided that it would be better to fail privately than in front of everyone.
(To any naysayers: I promise you, I’ve failed dramatically and publicly many times since.)
July 11, 2006 / 3:35 p.m. / Elementary school gym
Hard truths and realizations aside, I discovered much about myself at Interlochen Arts Camp. To be good at performance art, you must care more about it than all other things. As is the nature of the beast and of teenagers, I couldn’t bring myself to fit that mold, as much as I wanted to.
There’s a sweet nostalgia that comes over us all on the final days of camp. Hustling through performances and spending the nights staying up later than we’re supposed to—whispering in our bunks and scratching our names on the walls of our cabins. I learned the words to Simon & Garfunkel’s 59th Street Bridge because it was written on the back of a toilet stall door: I’ve got no deeds to do, no promises to keep. I’m dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep. Let the morning-time drop all its petals on me. Life, I love you, all is groovy. And among my favorite memories of camp are the campier ones. Trips to Sleeping Bear, mixers with other cabins or—gasp!—the boys’ side…
I remember once sitting on the beach at night along with all the other girls in my group. I can’t quite remember if it was Juniors or Intermediates or High School, but there was a bonfire and we all sang our silly songs together. I remember looking up and I could see the moon and ragged clouds. I have no idea why I remember this so clearly, but I thought, “That’s a witch’s moon.” Something about the tangledness of the clouds made it look so mysterious and inspiring to me and to the rest of us girls sitting cross-legged on the beach in oversized Interlochen sweatshirts.
A few years later, when I made the difficult decision to officially give up performing, my voice teacher asked me if I would regret all of the seemingly lost time. I said no. Pursuit of the arts is always worth it. It is the simultaneous pursuit and practice of so many things: cooperation, constructive criticism, creativity, patience, and perhaps the most important, the practice of practice. These skills helped me realize that I wanted to write my own stories. And I must believe that knowing the harmonies to a choral arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody serves me well in life. At the very least, I’ll have a killer memoir.
Right now, 1,300 young artists—from 51 states and 33 countries—are at Interlochen Center for the Arts’ campus for a summer of artistic collaboration, friendship and fun. Campers dive into studies of creative writing, dance, motion picture arts, music, theater and visual arts, guided by an amazing faculty and gust artists, while immersed in the scenic beauty of Northern Michigan. But in between their time creating, rehearsing and performing, campers squeeze in summer adventure in the northwoods of Michigan. No classes on Monday afternoons…so bring on the field trips to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Peterson Beach on Lake Michigan—both camper favorites.
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Here are some common questions students and families have about applying to and attending Interlochen Arts Camp. In addition, many questions can be answered by reviewing the Student and Family Handbooks.
Art and S’mores at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp
The Interlochen Summer Arts Camp is an arts camp with various art options for students from grades two to twelve. Interlochen Summer Arts Camp is located in Michigan and offers students a camp program mixed with learning. Students participate in their courses along with camp staples like cabin time.
The Interlochen Summer Arts Camp has programs for every type of artist, from acting courses to film to animation to drawing to fashion, the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp is a great opportunity to work with other artist peers and create art that you are proud of. There aren’t many programs that combine the excitement of summer camp with the excitement of art and your craft.
There are a lot of summer programs out there if you want more of a studying approach, programs such as the Stanford Summer Program or the Brown Summer Program focus on the study of art and writing with specific courses. Every student is different, but no matter which summer program or camp you choose, it’s important to research as many as you can to find the perfect fit.
Use this Summer Program list to explore the never-ending options. It’s important you find a way to spend your summer that not only excites you but prepares you for when it comes time to apply to school. The Interlochen Summer Arts Camp has various courses, electives, and even a college fair, proving they are dedicated to helping students prepare for college and get into the college of their choice.
Continue reading to find out more about the many options Interlochen Summer Arts Camp offers, as well as all of the other great opportunities Interlochen has.
Interlochen was founded in 1928 because there weren’t a lot of schools with music programs. It all started when the National Association for Music Education founder asked the founder of Interlochen, Joseph E. Maddy to gather 200 high school music students to make a national high school honor orchestra, The National High School Orchestra Camp began its first summer in 1928.
It became more and more successful over the years, in 1930 concerts were broadcast on CBS and NBC radios, in 1939 they performed at the New York World’s Fair, and in 1962 the Interlochen Arts Academy opened, and a year later the WIAA, a public radio station opened as well. In 1964 the Interlochen Arts Festival was created and in 2004 the Interlochen College of Creative Arts.
Go in-depth into the Interlochen timeline here.
The Interlochen Summer Arts Camp resides in Michigan. Thousands of students, musicians, and artists visit Interlochen each year to study, perform, connect, and more. The campus itself is 15 miles southwest of Traverse City, its 1,200 acres in between two lakes. Learn more about nearby Traverse City here, as well as view a campus map here.
The Core Purpose of Interlochen Summer Arts Camp is “to ignite a lifelong passion for the arts.”
Interlochen’s Core Values are
Interlochen’s mission is to engage and inspire people worldwide through excellence in educational, artistic, and cultural programs, enhancing the quality of life through the universal language of the arts.
Summer Arts Camps
The Interlochen Summer Arts Camp aims to encourage students from second to twelfth grade to explore various types of arts, there are different goals depending on the grade level of the student, from junior to intermediate to high school, but there are courses for all different interests and genres.
No matter the level, some programs can be more competitive to get into than others due to portfolio or audition requirements, it’s important you’re prepared when applying to the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp.
That’s where we come in, at AdmissionSight we offer various services that help you prepare, like the Pre-High School Consultation, for the Intermediate programs. We can help you take the preliminary steps early so that when you get to the application time for Intermediate programs, you’re ready.
We can also help provide an Academic and Extracurricular Profile Evaluation to create a roadmap for your academic and extracurricular time, which can put you on the right path for summer programs. All in all, if you have any questions or need assistance, contact us.
PART 1: Classical Performance & Composition Summer Programs
I have selected the next 6 programs on this list based on the following:
– Faculty are either professionals in major music organizations, such as opera houses or symphonic orchestras, and/or faculty at major music colleges.
– Alumni of the programs consistently place into top conservatories and university music schools.
– The musical offerings at the institute are superb.
– Reputation is exceptionally favorable.
– Students are consistently happy with their experiences at the programs.
What’s it Like at Interlochen Arts Camp? Crack Open This Diary and Find Out
I remember standing outside the Melody Freeze—the little café on the main campus where campers and visitors can gorge on ice cream, pizza, and the signature Melody Freeze—a slushie stuffed with vanilla soft-serve. A woman glanced my way as I ate my ice cream and asked if I planned on attending camp. No way. I didn’t want to be away from home for eight weeks. The adults all laughed.
July 11, 2006 / 3:35 p.m. / Elementary school gym
My first summer at camp was two years later. In total, I spent four summers at Interlochen Arts Camp, making friends, auditioning, singing funny camp songs and silly musical theater songs, making phones calls with a phone card, and loving those navy blue corduroy knickers. While at camp, I got to see performers like Norah Jones, Ben Folds, Van Cliburn, Capitol Steps and Bernadette Peters alongside camp ensembles, performances, and galleries. Of course, I always brought my journal. And my mom always equipped me with a disposable camera—or four. These are my memories…
My first summer at camp was two years later. In total, I spent four summers at Interlochen Arts Camp, making friends, auditioning, singing funny camp songs and silly musical theater songs, making phones calls with a phone card, and loving those navy blue corduroy knickers. While at camp, I got to see performers like Norah Jones, Ben Folds, Van Cliburn, Capitol Steps and Bernadette Peters alongside camp ensembles, performances, and galleries. Of course, I always brought my journal. And my mom always equipped me with a disposable camera—or four. These are my memories…
I remember standing outside the Melody Freeze—the little café on the main campus where campers and visitors can gorge on ice cream, pizza, and the signature Melody Freeze—a slushie stuffed with vanilla soft-serve. A woman glanced my way as I ate my ice cream and asked if I planned on attending camp. No way. I didn’t want to be away from home for eight weeks. The adults all laughed.