The arts flourish at the Charles River School

“Creating art spontaneously was life changing,” he said. “I realized we can communicate through music.”

That was years ago at the Charles River Creative Arts Program in Dover. Among other transformative moments for him, Gelb realized the power of art and the power of the program he was involved in. That’s why he is now the director of the creative arts camp he enjoyed so much as a child.

Through the multitude of classes, Gelb said, participants aged 8-15 have the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of art.

“This is the first program of it’s kind,” he said. “We have mixed-age classes and that multi-generational dynamic is very important because there’s collaboration on all different levels.”

For younger students, Gelb also oversees a program called Creative Starts, in its third year. After having been so successful for it’s first two years, Gelb said, it will be expanded to 5-year-olds this year.

Gelb explained the Creative Arts program is unique because even if someone has a crazy idea for a project, there will always be someone, either a classmate or a teacher, to foster it.

The program also lets its students shop for classes, and their freedom of choice is expansive—classes range from writing, sculpture, animation, music, theater, dance, music (several different genres), make-up, handbag making, wire-jewelry making, cooking, filmmaking, painting, animation, soapstone carving and even fencing, gymnastics and martial arts. There are 235 total classes.

Gelb said the programs “still allows kids to be kids,” but it’s also academically rigorous by fostering each student as an artist. “We want this program to be about their development,” he said. “Every student is engaging in the class.”

In addition to Dover, the Charles River Creative Arts Program (CRCAP) brings in students from the Elizabeth Stone House, a program for battered women in Boston, the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry in Roxbury, the NAACP, and two Romanian students from the Educational Enrichment for Romanian Children program out of Boston. The students are bussed in from Boston on a daily basis.

The CRCAP also offers financial aid.

“Everyone is welcome,” Gelb said. “We can work with and help families who need it with our financial aid.” To participate, one just needs to register since there is no admission process. Everyone, Gelb said, should have access to an enriching arts program because it teaches a vast array of important skills.

“The arts offer the unique opportunity to learn through play. You learn though collaboration and you learn cooperative problem solving,” he said. Gelb said learning the arts teaches several different skills, including math in the animation class and computer skills in the Photoshop class.

A lot of the employees, Gelb notes, are former campers like himself. “It just demonstrates our love for teaching. We like to think we have a unique kind of magic here.”

Gelb said in addition to skills, the children form lifelong bonds with each other, just like he made when he was a camper at CRCAP.

“Friendship through art is very powerful. Even if we’re not in school, we’ll talk about the love in the community here, about the kids, their progress and their art,” he said.