Summer Sessions at The Loft
"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." - Jane Goodall
It seems like a lifetime ago when we introduced everyone to The Loft at Cece DuPraz: our new space to create, connect and collaborate, a space to hold events that bring us all together creative events and workshops. And in a way, it was - our past life. Pre-Covid, our idea was to use The Loft to bring women together and learn from each other, not only as teachers or doers, but as friends and comrades whether we initially knew one another or not. But as we well know, everything changed in March 2020 and that past life we once cherished will cease to exist no matter how much we strive to go “back to normal”. This pandemic has changed the way we live as well as the way we do business; and it’s those that adapt to change instead of fight it, that will see the fruits of their labor. And with that, we have exciting news to share with you all.
The Loft at Cece DuPraz is back! You could even call it The Loft 2.0 (even though we never really got off the ground, but man we were close). These last few months we took this time to reflect on how we can continue to do business moving forward and how we want to present our new selves to the world and therefore, what we, Cece DuPraz, want to represent beyond our products. Before Covid, The Loft at Cece DuPraz was focused on creating connection and collaboration on a surface level; we wanted to bring women together to learn, teach, grow and have fun. But now, in the midst of the pandemic and the state of our nation, it seems trivial to keep it two-dimensional. All of us here have done a tremendous amount of growing up in the past few months and we have all made a conscious commitment to create positive change for communities outside of ourselves and fostering that to our children. It is our responsibility to take the things we have learned, and will continue to learn, to show our kids to live a life to create positive change and influence outside of our little bubbles. Our mission at Cece DuPraz is to be in the business of creativity and uplifting women and women entrepreneurs; and our initial mission with The Loft at Cece DuPraz was about going further and facilitating a space for women to come together through workshops and events to create, connect and collaborate. But in today’s world, it didn’t seem right to keep our efforts so streamlined and we realized we needed to think outside of the proverbial box even further, and thus: The Loft at Cece DuPraz is a philanthropic place to house creation, connection and collaboration amongst women, partnered with the focus to actively participate in helping communities outside of our own. Our goal is to safely host events and workshops that are geared towards bettering our whole self.
As you can see, we are doing a lot of growing here at Cece DuPraz, literally and figuratively, and in doing so we are hoping to foster these ideals towards our children. To kickoff The Loft at Cece DuPraz, we are hosting two summer sessions for children aimed at these very principles. Here, your child will spend the week learning about Craft, Entrepreneurship, Connection and Equality. We have partnered with My Brother’s Table, the largest soup kitchen north of Boston, as well as Boston’s Children Hospital, and our campers will work all week to create beautiful creations to “give one, get one”: our philanthropic mission to teach children to give back to communities through art. Our camp will be running the 1st and 3rd week of August, spaces are limited to comply with all Covid safety regulations but do not fret if you can’t attend or it is full: we are creating a virtual option where we will send you all of the program materials and educational tools to join from afar!
Daily themed camp for your littles in downtown Marblehead where we teach Entrepreneurship, Equality, Craft and the value of Connection.
Due to COVID-19, the camp will be held in The Loft from 9-12pm in our AC, ventilated loft space with masks on and four teachers. Max capacity of kids: 10 per session.
THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE LOFT AT CECE DUPRAZ, CAMP EDITION
C raft [In partnership with Boston’s Children Hospital, campers will create a custom canvas bag for children with cancer. In partnership with My Brother’s Table in Lynn, campers will make a mask to donate to those in need.]
E ntrepreneurship [Take a peek behind the scenes of Cece DuPraz – the machine, the process, and learning that your customer is always right, while living with the value of spreading joy]
C onnect [Write notes and draw pictures to send along with the custom tote bags to give to the children at Boston Children’s Hospital as well as the patrons and families at My Brother’s Table.]
E quality [ with selected inspirational quotes from Black leaders, children’s books about them, and circle time for conversation]
Location:
Cece DuPraz LOFT Space, 89 Front St 3rd floor Suite 305, Marblehead, MA 01945
When:
AUGUST 3-6, 2020 (Mon-Thurs), children entering 4th grade through entering 6th grade
AUGUST 17-20, 2020 (Mon-Thurs), children entering 1st grade through entering 3rd grade
PROGRAM
Day 1: ENTREPRENEURSHIP - “Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” - Shel Silverstein
- 930-10AM Circle Time: Poem by Shel Silverstein, who he was and conversation on theme of believing in yourself
- 10AM-12PM Activity: Intro of CeceDuPraz and how it started, make a drawing for a bag which will be a gift*, walk through the process of how a bag is made from drawing to machine, and how we at Cece DuPraz spread joy.
- *In partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital, we’ll be making a bag for a child with cancer.
Day 2: CRAFT & CONNECT - “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud” - Maya Angelou
- 930-10AM Circle Time: Poem by Maya Angelou, Children’s book on who she was and conversation on theme of friendship
- 10AM-12PM Activity: Friendship bracelets! Make a bracelet, Give a bracelet! Our own Nutty and Kate will lead a friendship bracelet making session, take home one, and donate one to children at Boston Children's Hospital.
- Campers will write notes and draw pictures to go along with the bracelets for children at the hospital to brighten their day.
Day 3: CRAFT & CONNECT - “In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.” - Unknown and “Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?” - Martin Luther King Jr
- 930-10AM Circle Time: Martin Luther King – Children’s book on who he was and conversation on theme of leaders and love
- 10-12PM Activity: Make a Mask, Give a Mask! Our own Nutty will lead a mask making session where kids can customize their own mask and a mask to donate to patrons and families at My Brother’s Table, with add-on shape and string color.
- Children will also draw pictures with notes to send along with the masks they are donating to My Brother’s Table.
Day 4: LOVING & GIVING “Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.” - Mary McLeod Bethune
Wrap it Up!
- 930-10AM Circle Time: Mary McLeod Bethune – Children’s book on who she was and conversation on theme of equality and friendship
- 10-11PM Activity: Friendship Gift Package! Campers will package up their bracelet, handwritten note/drawing, their separate custom bag for a child with cancer and family in need at My Brother’s Table.
- 11-12PM *SURPRISE* We will end the camp with a special gift and surprise, complete with quotes we shared for continued inspiration. Oh, and a dance party :)
Payment Options
- Payment can be made by credit card or by secure bank withdrawal and will cost $275
- We require full payment at the time of registration
- Registration and payment deadline is July 26 for Session 1 and August 9 for Session 2
Staff
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The staff at Cece DuPraz, all mothers and all artists and equality activists of varying degrees, have created this program based on their enthusiasm in working with children, giving parents a break, and helping to foster community, the arts, and equality in this new world we are shaping together.
Lunch & Snacks
- Please drop your child off with a labeled water bottle ONLY. If your child must have a mid-morning snack, please include a note in the sign up, we will plan to take your child outside separately for a 1:1 snack break with a staff member. Note: This is a peanut- and tree nut-free program.
COVID-19 Safety
- Every camper will be checked with a forehead thermometer every morning before the parent leaves, and given a squirt of hand sanitizer.
- Every camper must have a face mask or they can not attend.
- All supplies given to that child on Monday will only be touched by that child through the course of the week.
- Every camper must bring the following: water bottle (with name), baby wipes, own facemask
CAN’T ATTEND IN PERSON BUT WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS?
Purchase our VIRTUAL CAMP BOX and we’ll ship you all of our activities and our quotes for conversation starters. With this box that contains all you need to participate and keep your camper busy for 3-4 days, which includes:
- Welcome to camp letter
- 4 days worth of self directed activities for creative kids who want to express themselves through the visual art while fostering entrepreneurial and philanthropic thinking
- Box of colored pencils for designing custom tote bag for a child with cancer with a special note
- Materials to make friendship bracelets and instructions
- Choice of lighting bolt or heart mask (give one, get one!) to donate to My Brother's Table
- Inspire your at-home camper with quotes and coloring pages to teach them about Black leaders.
- Cece DuPraz stickers
- Exclusive Cece DuPraz 20 oz aluminum water bottle
- Price for our Virtual Camp in a Box is $125
We are so thrilled to get our squeaky wheels moving again and could not be more excited about the direction of The Loft. We will keep you all posted on more events as we slowly add them to the calendar, but for now, to sign your child up for our Summer Sessions or to purchase our Virtual Camp in a Box:
