In Search of Summer Camp
My old boss, Brian Cohen, has lost his mind. He gave up his 6-figure salary earlier this year, during an enlightenment or something, so he could go buy a summer camp. Apparently, he wants to make a difference or some crap like that. (His version of the story is a little different, of course.) Anywho, I still don’t understand why he’d want to do such a thing, but the NYTimes even wrote an article on him and hey, most people don’t understand why I am taking drum lessons. So, out of love and respect for the man, I want to try and help. Here’s his request:
“If you know or own a child who attends a summer camp, if you know or own someone who works at a summer camp, if you know, own or are someone who owns a summer camp, please forward the text below to the person/organization that is involved in the summer camp business and ask them respectfully, yet forcefully to read it. If you don’t know or own anyone that fits these descriptions, just give it all a read and let it sit in the back of your brain marinating until someone says the magic word “camp”.”
Dear Camp Person,
My name is Brian Cohen and I am seeking to purchase an active or recently dormant resident camp facility.
I have planned and prepared for life as a camp owner/director for the last twenty years. While I spent most of that time as an executive in the music business and growing a family with my wife Maggie, I always knew that the final path on my professional journey led to camp. This past summer I reinvigorated my “camp-legs” working as a unit head and music and writing instructor under the generous tutelage of the people of Appel Farm Arts and Music Camp in Elmer, NJ. If you care to read more about me, I’ve attached an article about my adventure that The New York Times kindly ran in August.
Briefly, our program will focus on the fine and manual arts. The central idea is that the entire camp would mount one large project each session. The project could be a large construction/sculptural endeavor or something more conceptual like building an orchestra’s worth of instruments from scratch and then performing a piece or constructing a ship out of unusual materials. The underlying purpose would be to put kids in the position to apply creativity to bigger-than-life problem solving.
It may be ambitious, but I would like to achieve one of three possible scenarios in summer 2005: co-run with an option to buy, purchase a dormant facility or, failing to find something appropriate to purchase, lease a dormant facility on which to run a pilot program. In any case I would like to sell a full summer in 2006.
The camp-property I seek for the program would include the following features:
* Seclusion
* 150 acres minimum, combination of woods and fields, mixed terrain preferred
* Lake preferred, but not critical
* Rustic housing, platform tents would do just fine
* Northeast, but if it’s perfect and somewhere else, my mind is open
* Housing for 150-225 campers and 85 staff
My intention is to add another strong voice to the beautiful polyphony that is the camp world. If you or someone you know is interested in talking about selling a facility that even roughly fits this description, I would be forever grateful to you for simply getting the opportunity to do so. Of course, I will keep any conversation entirely confidential.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Best Regards,
Brian Cohen
6 2nd Place
Brooklyn, NY 11231
beamcamp@earthlink.net
h: 718-625-3183
m: 917-620-0491
