BLUR - A high school writing opportunity

NOTE: I'm all about opportunities for young writers. This one is a bit unique. I just found out about it, and unfortunately it's filled for the upcoming session, but you might put this on your calendar for 2012 if you have a rising high school senior. The following is prepared by Sheila Alexander, Development Grants Officer of Sweet Briar College.   ~Hope

BLUR is a co-ed, residential summer arts program for high school students located on the 3,250-acre campus of Sweet Briar College, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Why “Blur”? Because the program is designed for you to work deeply within your own art form—creative writing, theatre or visual art—and also to collaborate with artists in other fields, blurring the boundaries between the arts to imagine new ways of seeing, thinking and creating.

Quick Facts
When: June 19-July 9, 2011
Deadline: April each year
Where: Sweet Briar College, Virginia
Credit: 2 hours of college credit
Tracks: Creative Writing, Theatre, Visual Arts
Cost: $2,995 (includes iPad)
Sponsors: Endstation Theatre Company, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

BLUR provides selected high school students with an opportunity to grow in their technical skill and conceptual understanding of the arts and explore how making art and thinking creatively improve life.

While in residence on Sweet Briar’s picturesque campus – ranked among the most beautiful in the country – students are inspired by the natural world and aided by technology. Each participant receives an iPad to use whenever and wherever inspiration strikes: in the studio, in the campus art galleries, on a hiking trail, or on the banks of Sweet Briar Lake.

Studies show that creativity is best nurtured through collaboration. Students spend two-thirds of their time working with master teachers in the “home” studio writing, making visual art, or acting. They spend the other third working in an entirely different medium, collaborating with professional artists and with their peers – using iPad applications and traditional materials – to create exhibits and performances inspired by Sweet Briar’s rich natural landscape.

All students work with members of Endstation Theatre Company, Sweet Briar’s professional theatre troupe-in-residence, as they design sets, run rehearsals, and edit scripts for Ednstation’s Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, staged on locations throughout the College campus.

BLUR attendees who later choose to attend Sweet Briar are provided with a $2,000 scholarship.

BLUR is overseen by David Griffith, Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Art. He is author of A Good War Is Hard to Find: The Art of Violence in America. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in the Utne (1-year auto-renewal), among other publications. For ten years he chaired the creative writing department at the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts. His work and teaching focuses on the intersection of the arts, technology and media.

 Sweet Briar College, located just north of Lynchburg, Virginia, was founded in 1901 as the legacy of Indiana Fletcher Williams, who left her entire estate to the creation of an institution in memory of her only daughter, Daisy. Sweet Briar’s excellent academic reputation, spectacular campus and attention to the individual attract smart, confident women who excel in a diverse global society. The Sweet Briar experience intentionally integrates academic rigor and research with a dynamic and close-knit residential community. Students fulfill their promise as scholars and leaders while benefiting from a resource-rich environment and co-curricular opportunities that enhance their possibilities for success.