Sat 5/30 @ 9AM-9PM
There’s a new school in town — in Akron, that is. Just in time for summer, the Akron Center for Art, Music and Performance aka Akron CAMP will be opening its doors in the space upstairs from Time Traveler Records within easy walking distance of downtown Akron.
The force behind the new center is Tracey Thomas Shepard, who hit the area music scene in the late ’70s fronting the new wave band Unit 5. Later on, she released a series of thoughtful singer/songwriter albums. These days she mostly focuses on jazz, including the music Billie Holiday.
She says she’s long dreamed of a place where Akronites could come together and express their creativity, guided by experienced practitioners of music, visual art and drama.
“I always kind of wanted to do something like this,” she says. “But it’s taken on a life of its own. It was always in the back of my mind to have a place where people could teach and gather. I wanted to really embrace the people that were kind of oddballs, the people that were bullied in high school like me. I just always thought it would be cool to have a community where you combined those things — art, music and drama, and now we’re doing it.”
Opportunity presented itself late last year when her husband Scott moved his record store from its Cuyahoga Falls location to the current location in a corner Cadillac dealership on the outskirts of downtown Akron.
“Above the store was this really perfect space, so I said, seize the time and do it,” she says. “Were getting some really cool people to come in and teach.”
In fact, she has assembled an impressive faculty. Amy Mothersbaugh Roos, who owns the Studio 2019 Gallery in Cuyahoga Falls, will run the visual arts programs.
“She never had room to teach at her gallery,” say Thomas. “We’ve been getting a lot of emails about her classes. We’re going to do wine and canvas nights once a month. She’s teaching beginning art for adults. She’s doing a class called forgeries where she teaches you to paint in the styles of other artists. And that one I’m going to take, it sounds like fun.”
She’s snagged Wendy Duke, retiring drama teacher from Akron’s Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, to teach drama. “She’s kind of a big deal,” says Thomas. She’s also working with members of the nomadic Akron drama troupe, the Wandering Aesthetics. She’s got a list of topnotch Akron musicians who will be giving private lessons.
She’s also planning on having people coming in and teach one-off workshops. And Nancy Lynn Holland of Blue Hen Yoga will be conducting candlelight yoga once a month. So the place should be beehive of activity.
In addition, the space is also roomy enough to have on-site recitals and performances. So she’s planning on having Friday night shows with local acoustic artists and original plays and poetry readings on Saturdays.
One thing Thomas emphasizes is that, unlike many places that offer arts lessons and classes, the Akron Center for Art, Music and Performance is not primary a “kid” thing.
“It’s all ages, but predominantly adults,” she says. “We’re creating this thing for the bucket listers who always wanted to be in a play or paint and never did it.”
To kick things off, the center is hosting an all-day open house, inside its facility and outside in the parking lot.
“Inside it’s going to be very refined, with classical and jazz solo artists,” says Thomas. “We’ll have wine; teachers are going to walk around and meet people. We’re going to have a mime troupe. In parking lot we’re having vendors and craft people and music all day. It’s going to be a big festival type thing.”
And of course, you’ll be able to register for classes. Or you can do so online here.
Akron, OH 44303