What I Saw at Shanti Bhavan 8 Years Later
by Marjie Shrimpton
Unity. Collaboration. Expression. Creativity. And a touch of sparkle and shine. ✨
These words were the backdrop of this year’s BAE Arts Camp at Shanti Bhavan. We said — no, sang! — them every morning with the students during the camp song. We highlighted them in classes, and sprinkled them into every activity. By the end of the week, every kid at camp knew what it meant to exhibit unity with their teammates, to collaborate to merge their ideas and bring them to life together, to think outside the box, and to try to express themselves more freely or in different ways than they usually would. Best of all, they perfected the art of giving their friends sparkle and shine for a little extra encouragement or celebration for a job well done.
I want to add one more word to this list: growth.
That’s actually what comes to mind first when I think of camp this year. The reason is, in part, intuitive. Over the two weeks of Arts Camp, we teachers get to see the kids grow creatively, watching the young artists in them explore new forms, and seeing them give themselves permission to be bigger and bolder each day. There’s so much discovery, and it’s magical to be a part of it.
But there’s another reason I think of growth, too. I first went to Shanti Bhavan for Arts Camp in 2018, teaching musical theater to sixth and eleventh graders. Returning to teach middle school dance this year, it was my first time back, and I couldn’t help but notice what had changed. There were, inevitably, kids whom I’d first met as sixth graders who were now eighteen, about to embark on college in the United States—that’s literal growth for you. But I also witnessed the growth of arts at the school on the whole as well as growth in myself.
When I came in 2018, it was the start of the first year BAE had a music teacher at the school year-round. Prior to that, the students’ primary arts education happened during the two weeks of camp. Now, eight years into year-round music education, the program has grown tremendously, and its influence on campus was palpable. Not only were the students technically more skillful, but they also had more ease and confidence expressing themselves. They simply knew more about who they could be in artistic spaces, and how to bring more of themselves to the table when creating and playing and building something together.
Funnily enough, so did I. Feeling myself on campus again after so many years, I realized how much I, too, had changed and grown in those years. I was much more confident than my first year—much more able to dive into the silly, more flexible when plans changed, and more aware of how I could show up best for the kids, the other teachers, and myself.
And, truly, that’s the gift that teaching with BAE at Shanti Bhavan gives everyone who’s lucky enough to go. No matter who you are, or where you are in life, you will see incredible children grow and expand right before your eyes; you will leave having grown and expanded yourself.
