Newspaper Page Text
ANNA KADYKOVA
CAMPS AND CINEMA
MY ATHENS CELEBRATES LOCAL BEAUTY
Once your children are old enough to real
ize that being in a large, dark room with flick
ering lights and noises all around isn't scary,
going to see a movie can be downright fun.
But then it's a race to see how many classics
you can get them to watch before they inevi
tably stumble onto the latest Disney fad.
I'm always a fan of the discount prices at
the Georgia Square Value Cinemas on an overly
hot or rainy day. But another nice break from
the multiplexes (and
the overpriced pop
corn) is the kid-friendly
shows at Cine. A couple
of weeks ago, the
EcoFocus Film Festival
included a special
showing of kid-friendly
movies that screened
for a packed house.
This weekend, kids have an even bigger treat:
The annual Fresh Look Athens International
Children's Film Festival.
The event kicked off Sunday, Apr. 6 and
continues with a 2 p.m. screening Sunday,
Apr. 13. This is a great chance to get your kids
to see a collection of fun international films
that aren't widely distributed otherwise. They
are mainly animated, but the styles and sto
ries are so varied that each stands on its own.
Oh, Right. Camps.
Call me crazy, but I'm seriously starting
to dread spring simply because of the annual
summer camp sign-up ritual.
If you're new to the area or have a child
who is just now old enough to get camping,
here's the quick-and-dirty lowdown: Athens-
Clarke County's Leisure Services Department
offers camps that have staggered sign-up
dates. (For example,
sign-ups for Lyndon
House art camps are
Saturday, Apr. 12; get
in line early.) There
are also dozens of
camps offered through
businesses and orga
nizations that started
enrolling kids as early
as mid-March. Direct your browser to ath-
ensclarkecounty.com/1597/Camps for more
information.
As a side note, let me just say (as I prob
ably do every year) that back in my day, "sum
mer camp" was when your parents shipped you
off to someplace out in the woods, where you
slept in your sleeping bag and did activities
like swimming and horseback riding. At the
end of the week, you came home. But that's
This is a great chance to get
your kids to see a collection
of fun international
films that aren???t widely
distributed otherwise.
The Russian animated movie The Mole and the Sea is one of several short, kid-friendly films shown this weekend
as part of the Fresh Look Athens International Children???s Film Festival.
Leo Cottar, who, along with a couple of
other volunteers, selects the films each year,
says he scouts the films by attending several
children's film festivals a year. "In the last
few years we are also receiving DVDs and links
from directors/producers who learn about our
festival and want to submit
their shorts," he says.
Some of the highlights
this year include The Mole
and the Sea and Hedgehogs
and the City for the younger
kids. For older kids, Cottar
says they'll see themselves represented in Big
Mouth and Shame and Glasses.
Cottar says there's a chance the festival
could travel to other cities, and he's been
contacted by officials in Savannah, Miami and
Burlington, VT, about bringing the festival
there, too.
But for right now, it's all ours. Tickets are
$7.50 each and can be purchased from the
Cine box office the day of the show. For more
on the festival, visit athenschildrenfilmfesti-
val.org.
not the case anymore. Today's camps mainly
fill the void left when school gets out, both in
an educational and in a child-care sense.
That said, I entered this spring feeling
less pressure to fill up my daughter's schedule
because of a shift in our own family work
schedules???and because I
thought she would be old
enough to take part in all
the "7-and-older" camp
options. (Canoeing! Tennis!
Hiking! Zoo animals!)
Alas, I was mistaken.
Apparently her July 1 birthday is early enough
to let her finish first grade by this summer,
but not early enough to qualify her as a
7-year-old for county-run camps. My husband
stood in line at Bishop Park only to find that
we'll have to wait another year. That meant
all my careful plotting and planning is out
the window, and at this point, if you haven't
signed up for the camps you like, you'd better
hope you're high up on the waiting list.
Kristen Morales
Today???s camps mainly
HU the void left when
school gets out.
Capturing Community: Created as a way to
showcase the beauty of Athens and engage
locals within the community, My Athens (@
My_Athens) is a photography project in which
Instagram users tag photos of the people,
places and events that make the Classic City
special, using the hashtag #my_athens.
Social media is a simple and efficient way to
get quick and easy participation, but in order
to offer a chance for face-to-face connected
ness My Athens takes the photography off the
phone app and onto the walls.
For the physical exhibition at the Georgia
Theatre, currently on display through May,
the team curated top photos from over 12,000
user-submitted images, focusing on shots that
best capture distinct, hidden or overlooked
details of the city.
beginning is that as people learn more about
the breadth of Athens, as the layers of the city
are uncovered, their love for Athens will only
go deeper... We're absolutely sharing on the
journey of finding hidden treasures that are in
the city."
During the My Athens Family & Kids Day
at the Georgia Theatre on Sunday, Apr. 13 at
2 p.m., Avid Bookshop and Treehouse Kid and
Craft will host an afternoon of crafts, snacks
and a walk-through of the gallery. My Athens
Gallery Party, the exhibit's main event set for
Tuesday, Apr. 15 at 7 p.m., will be a collab
orative fashion show between 15 local busi
nesses. Kicking off at 8 p.m., the Classic City
Rollergirls will model the latest spring ensem
bles and accessories from boutiques, includ
ing Agora, Agora Vintage, American Threads,
"Everyone has that place around town
that others should know about and see. That
doesn't necessarily mean a restaurant or store,
but even a stairwell, a light post or a detail
that catches their eye from time to time," says
My Athens founder Greg Gilbert. "That's the
depth of the city perspective we want to stay
at, and we want to do it creatively. There is
beauty all around, and the definition doesn't
need to be limited."
Though celebrating the city of Athens
through photography is the foremost goal,
My Athens uses its platform to build commu
nity through collaborative events with local
businesses that support Athens Area Habitat
for Humanity. The proceeds of all photos,
which are available to purchase at the show,
directly benefit Habitat. Last year's inaugural
exhibition at The Bottleworks raised $2,500,
assisting the nonprofit in building affordable
housing for families in need.
Over the past year, My Athens has
expanded into highlighting the creative people
who work behind the scenes through an inter
views feature on its website. "We're evolving
and learning what we do well and how can we
do more of that to impact the city," Gilbert
says. "That is absolutely where the blog comes
in: the ability to go more in-depth but still do
it in our own way, which involves more photos
and always a focus on why people are choos
ing Athens." Ultimately, My Athens hopes that
locals will take a larger initiative in exploring
their surroundings. "What we've seen from the
Community, Cheeky Peach, Dynamite Clothing,
Encore, Flirt Fashions and Private Gallery
Athens. The runway show will be followed by
live music from Family and Friends around
9:45 p.m. and a late-night rooftop dance party
with DJ Immuzication at 11 p.m. Tickets are
$12 in advance and $15 at the door.
Leaving the Nest: The Georgia Museum of Art
will showcase 16 emerging artists graduat
ing from the Lamar Dodd School of Art in
its Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates
Exhibition," on display from Saturday, Apr.
12 through Sunday, May 4. This year's can
didates are painters Caitlin Bieleta, Manty
Dey, Kaelynn Hong and Elizabeth Bradford
Kleene; fabric designers Natalia Arellano
Blarney and Lauren Mary Bullock; sculp
tors Jacob Brault, Jourdan Joly and Jenna
Katherine Kriegel; printmakers Lyndey
Clayborn, Mike Levine and Tzvi Izaksonas;
jewelers and metal workers Yu-hsien Shen
and Patrick Walter; photographer Brittainy
Lauback; and interior designer Yuan Quan. A
public preview of the exhibition will be held
on Friday, Apr. 11 from 6-9 p.m. in conjunc
tion with the popular 90 Carlton: Spring, the
museum's quarterly open house. On Thursday,
Apr. 17 at 5:30 p.m., the museum will host
MFA Speaks, a panel discussion in which
the current MFA candidates will explain their
works.
Jessica Smith
14 FLAGPOLE.COM ??? APRIL 9, 2014
