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Camp Magic's a six month process That begins way before June Sometimes it starts like a babe in womb And keeps on growin' and all too soon The babe is a walkin' around the room! This years process started by Katherine sewing a camp quilt in JanuaryCamp is inspired by children who come to drumming classes throughout the yearNathalie is preparing the art program in TorontoJowey the Web WomanFriendly Starbucks Staff who always remember it's a grande latte EXTRA hot!Katherine cutting and creating new designs IDEAOur annual theme begins with an idea. This years' idea was inspired by Ira Joseph, a quilt designer living in Singapore. She introduced Katherine to a beautiful piece she had created, inspired by imagined journeys along The Silk Road. Ira learned that travelers had tied bits and pieces of silk fabric to shrines along the way to bring them luck on their travels.   This quilt led to many thoughts and ideas... the camel packed down with goods led by a merchant seemed to be at the very "heart" of everything. CONCEPTThis idea became a Concept.A concept takes root like a seed planted in a garden. Once a seed is planted, it needs certain things to grow... Sunshine... these are the bright thoughts and imagination following the idea.   Rain... is part of the food that helps a seed to grow. All the incredible information about The Silk Road, the stories and colourful history. These fed the concept, allowing it to breathe and take shape.   Weeding... this is when we edit out all the information and try and finalize what we will be working with.   And a whole lot of Love... this is the passion in the work that a concept needs to grow! ACTION PLANWith all of these ingredients, a concept becomes an Action Plan. The action plan is all the hard work, the sticking your nose to the grind, getting your head out of those beautiful clouds of concepts, and digging your heels in. The Action plan is when your web designer says to you... "Please, I need all your artwork and text by next Friday at the very latest!"   The Action plan is when your printer says to you... "If you want to have your brochures and advertisements out by next Friday, please make sure all the content is in by this Friday." (Friday seems to be a popular day for Action Plans!) And while all the printed material and art work is being prepared for Thomas and Jowey, the entire program for the summer is being created. Katherine works with the staff who live both in town and overseas. This year, we have Willy the Clown from Canada, who is bringing lots of fun new ideas for the outdoor program!   The Action Plan is when you have amazing people like MJ who help to sew pillow cases and beautiful flags that add colour to each camp room.   The Action Plan is the team of coffee baristas at Starbucks, who smile when you go to do your work in a noisy corner of their café, just to get a bit of inspiration from all the coffee fumes, and chatty wonderful customers.   The Action Plan is children who volunteer to paint stilts, getting them ready for the Camp Magic season.   The Action Plan is Katherine cutting fabrics, designing new and fun things for the children and staff.   The Action Plan is staff coming to studio inthegroove or chatting on skype, discussing parts of the program they will take care of, and all the wonderful things they would like to contribute. ADMINISTRATINGOnce the program is created, brochures and website is up and running, we then start what is called Administrating. This is when we get to chat with parents through e-mails and the telephone. Often people have questions if they haven't sent their children to the camp before, or perhaps they are returning customers who just want to say "Hello! My son/daughter can't wait to come back to Camp Magic again this year!" We love answering questions and discussing what we do each year, because everyone who works at Camp Magic does it for one very simple reason... WE LOVE IT!   And of course after all of this is done, our plant has now grown into an entire garden, and we are ready to harvest all the fruits of our labour, and have loads and loads of fun with the children. We often spend time walking in nature. This inspires the process of creating too.Teepees are being created this year for the outdoor program.MJ is our Camp Magic seamstressThomas the Patient PrinterChildren at studio inthegroove getting new stilts ready for this yearBillie, our Camp Mascot, prepares a few new songs, too! © Copyright 2010. inthegroove Camp Magic. All Rights Reserved.