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blog || headlines || search ||Mission Statement
The mission of Ocean Pines Arts Institute is to provide cultural and educational experiences that inspire and further the development and expression of creative and artistic potential.
History
In November 1998, the Board of Directors of Camp Ocean Pines created the Ocean Pines Arts Institute (OPAI) as a division of itself to manage the daily operations of the Camp and to develop the Arts Programs which the Board had decided to implement as a direction for the camp.
The reasons for the division were to give the Arts programs an identity and to enable the Board of Directors to focus more fully on the much needed rebuilding of the facility.
Jim Conroy was hired as CEO and Julia Babb as Administrative Director. Recently, Steve crouch was added to the staff as Maintenance Supervisor.
The goals of OPAI are to:
Develop and implement Arts camps and programs for youth and adult
Continue to provide a facility for other non-profit groups to use for camping and retreats
Maintain and improve upon the existing facility
Find ways to integrate with and enhance the community of Cambria
So far we have made inroads into all our goals. Our philosophy has been a little bit at a time but a little bit every day.
What Else?
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Slated for the Summer of 2000, will be the start of our Choral Camps directed by Gary Lamprecht. |
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Are there any disc golfers in the house? Watch for the grand opening of the Ocean View Frisbee Golf Course. |
OPAI Fundraising
Do you want to be a part of creating an Arts Camp on the Central Coast? As a non-profit, we rely in large part on your public support. Your gift can help us buy art materials and design arts programming for our youth.
Founder's Circle: Gifts of $1000 or more
Leader's Circle: Gifts of $250 - $999
Friend's Circle: Gifts of $100 - $249
Community Circle: Gifts up to $99
Send your donation to:
Camp Ocean Pines / Ocean Pines Arts Institute
1473 Randall Drive
Cambria, CA 93428
Did You Know?
Every aspect of your life is touched by an artist. What you wear, your home and business furnishings, your entertainment, your entire life is filled with the arts. How important are they to you and your children? CRITICAL. Listen to the evidence.
"A recent study indicates students who have four years of art and music education score 59 points higher on the verbal SAT and 44 points higher in math." Paul W. Chellgren, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ashland, Inc. Taken from an article in Business Week, October 28, 1996 issue.
According to a UC Irvine study of 237 second grade students in Los Angeles and Orange County, it was concluded that students given 4 months of piano keyboard training in conjunction with newly designed computer math software, scored 27 percent higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children doing the same computer program in conjunction with English language instruction and superior to those who had neither.
Principal Russ Chapman of Shady Brook Elementary School in Bedford, Texas states that through the institution of comprehensive arts education, "We have seen aggregate student achievement in reading as measured by the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills increase by 12.3 percent. Our writing scores have risen and maintained a 16.7 percent increase, and our math scores have risen by over 61 percent on the same test."
WE SUPPORT ARTS IN EDUCATION
Pinedorado history is closely interwoven with the history of the Cambria Lions Club for it was instigated but a few years after the charter Lions Club meeting was held in December, 1945.
Thirty men signed up for the formation of the local club
with the Atascadero Lions sponsoring the opening ceremonies.
The club’s first project concerned the lack of a full time doctor or ambulance for the area.
The club solicited subscriptions to the amount of $600 and purchase an old ambulance from Jone Ambulance service of San Luis Obispo. It was donated to the Cambria Chamber of Commerce and later to the Cambria Hospital District after it was formed, a result of the enthusiasm created by the purchase of the ambulance and obvious need of a doctor.
Lion C.H. Wixom was one of the spark plugs in forming the hospital district. The need for a large community recreation building and recreation program came to the attention of the Lions who decided to do something about it. The Fiscalini brothers and Cambria Development company generously donated land.
Small work parties cleared out oak, shrub and briars and after incorporation of the club in 1949, they borrowed $6,000 from Corinne Koontz of Cambria for the purchase, moving and reconditioning of a surplus building from Camp San Luis Obispo.
To pay off the mortgage an annual fair-like celebration beginning with Labor day 1949 was started. The name Pinedorado was suggested by Mrs. Becker, wife of Dr. Becker of Los Angeles.
Because the building roof was not ready by the last of August, the first Pinedorado was delayed until November 11. The celebration was a success with a profit of $1,000. After several more Pinedorados the building was cleared of its mortgage. January 30, 1953, the building was given to the county as a Veteran’s Memorial, the Lions further contributing a fireplace, brick chimney, end wall and paneling to a new lounge room, and an outdoor barbecue pit near the kitchen.
In 1950 the compressed air calliope was added to the Pinedorado celebration and has appeared annually ever since. Funds from the Pinedorado have continued to benefit Cambria and the county, for each year the budget includes funds for college scholarship, county recreation program, clinic equipment, and many other enterprises.
Unlike Miami Florida or Las Vegas Nevada, Cambria doesn't fill up with hordes of hormonally charged college refugees looking to express themselves. It's more like Mom and Dad have sprung brother and sister from the drudgery of times tables, history and sentence structure drills common to the dilapidated learning structures in the state of California. To these kids Oxy 5 is a fashion statement. Our street (Main Street of course) is teeming with them. From shop to shop they go with wistful looks and wondering if they are going to run into anybody they know; heaven forbid! Shop keepers keep a sharp eye out for gum chewers and soda slurpers, don't want that on the carpet. Wouldn't have been an issue before the flood but hey, this stuff is new.
Hamburger sales are soaring at area restaurants and the warm smell of French fry cooking oils intermingles with the scent of the Monterey pine. At least there is no rotting kelp as of yet. It has been kept at bay from overly aggressive El Niņo produced surf.
It is no wonder Miami and Las Vegas sees kids going crazy on their first spring break away from Mom and Dad. It is pent up energy from a boring weeks visit to Cambria with the frogs (parents). A questions us locals get over and over from visitors is who lives in Cambria. A snappy and all too common response has been: "The newly wed and the nearly dead". Yuk Yuk.
Cindy Bitto by her close association with Cambria's emergency services (her husband Steve Bitto is Cambria's fire captain) has become well acquainted with trauma, tragedy & and their effects both upon the victim and the victims family and friends. Cindy cares, simple. She is willing to stay connected by telephone, radio or beeper and respond when called upon whether it is in the middle of lunch with the girls or the middle of the night. She is not alone in that caring as she has organized a close support group of other caring individuals to respond whenever or where ever they are needed. This just scratches the surface of why the 40-year old mother of two was nominated and voted Cambria Person of the Year.Cindy is an emergency medical technician and member of Cambria's ambulance crew as well as the financial director of the Cambria Healthcare District. In a typical scenario a call will go out to the ambulance crew. In the eventuality that they have to transport a victim to emergency care facilities Cindy and her team would be called in to do whatever necessary; for example she and her team were there to care for children who suddenly find themselves without a mom or dad. As surrogate parents they have dressed, fed and gotten those children off to their normal routines while staying in contact with the ambulance crew and reporting progress.
Taking care of the family and assisting with Emergency Services apparently is not enough for this woman. She also teaches classes for the American Red Cross and is on the board of directors for YMCA Camp Ocean Pines.
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Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar", 1991