Academy Archives - Page 4 of 11

2024 Summer Arts Camps in Bloor West Village

Registration Now Open for Arts Programs & Camps This Summer! Centauri Arts offers intensive, week-long arts enrichment programs for ages 11-17 throughout July and August, virtually and in our Toronto arts studio in Bloor West Village. Programs run for four hours each day, and all courses are led by qualified and experienced arts professionals. Immerse yourself in the arts this summer! While we call these ‘day camps’, they focus only on the arts – and they are designed for middle and high school students. You choose your activity! Our summer programs run for 4 hours a day, in 2 blocks: 11am to 3.30pm and 4pm to 8.30pm. We’re offering Creative Writing Camps, Fine Art Camps, Digital Art Camps, Film Camps, Acting Camps and more. [...]

February 7th, 2024|Academy, Bloor West Village|

Acting Classes for Teens in Toronto, starting January 2024

Acting Classes in Bloor West Village with Centauri Arts! Acting Classes for ages 9-14: Exploring Drama Tuesdays 5.30pm-7pm Explore improvisation, comedy and mime. Develop characters, rehearse scenes and create your own performance! Our acting classes for ages 9-14 are a great way to develop self-confidence. There are other reasons to take an acting class, too – acting develops communication skills, helps with public speaking and encourages the growth of social skills. Click here to read more about the exploring drama classes in Bloor West Village Acting Classes for ages 13-17: An Actor’s Workshop Tuesdays 7.30pm-9pm Our acting workshops for teenagers include devised theatre, scene study, and performance skills such as stage presence, monologue creation and the rehearsal of contemporary and classical scenes. Our acting [...]

January 4th, 2024|Academy, Bloor West Village|

Tips for Young Film-Makers

Are you the parent of a child or teenager who loves film-making? Here are some suggestions to help you encourage their interest in film: Look for after-school film-making programs in your community. There are many kinds of film-making courses available for young people in Toronto. Some are based more for film acting, others are for young people more interested in the film-making process such as story-boarding, lighting, sound, editing, use of camera, directing and so on. Some focus on editing, and others on critiquing film. Centauri Arts offers a film-making program that includes story-boarding, screenwriting, directing, DOP, audio, lighting, design, producing and acting in front of the camera. We also use clips from movies to introduce students to different film-making and directorial styles. Watch Movies! [...]

December 18th, 2023|Academy, Film Maker Resources|

Registration now open for winter classes starting January 2024!

Weekly after-school and weekend classes for kids and teens in Creative Writing, Acting, Film-Making and Fine Art. Registration now open for Smemester 2 starting January 2024! Film Classes in Bloor West Village, Toronto Ages 12-17, In our Bloor West Village Studio: Thursdays, 5pm – 6.30pm AND 7.30pm-9.00pm and Saturdays 2.30pm-4.00pm Discover the art of film-making – and act in front of the camera, too, if you wish! Learn – or review – the basics of film making: story-boarding, directing, camera operation, audio, lighting and production design. Each hands-on film course begins with a sequence of short film projects; by rising to challenges set by the instructor and critiquing the results, students further the skills they need to create their own short film. Discover how [...]

December 14th, 2023|Academy, Bloor West Village|

Tips for Young Writers

Are you the parent of a child or teenager who loves to write? Here are some tips to help young writers keep the words flowing… Read, read and then read some more! Read widely. Fiction and nonfiction. Poetry and prose. The more they read, the more fodder they will have to help them develop a voice of their own. Encourage your writer to write for at least a 15 minute block of time each day. To find a prompt, they can simply open a novel randomly, allow their eyes to skim over the page until they settle on an interesting phrase, and write from there. The aim isn’t to produce good literature; first drafts are never ‘good’. The aim is to get creative, once per [...]

December 14th, 2023|Academy, Writing Advice, Writing Resources|

Tips for Young Actors

Are you the parent of a child or teenager who loves to act? Here are some suggestions to help you encourage their interest of acting: Look for after-school acting programs in your community. There are two kinds of drama programs available for young people under the age of 12. One type is skills-based, performance-based, and geared towards the development of acting ability. The other is more experiential, and enhances personal skills through the use of fun and engaging drama activities: imagination, collaboration, problem solving, story creation and more. You’ll need to decide which is more appropriate for your child. Drama programs for teenagers tend to focus on the development of key performance skills. If possible, take your child or teen to the theatre! As an [...]

December 14th, 2023|Academy|

Tips for Young Artists

Are you the parent of a child or teenager who loves to paint or draw? Here are some suggestions to help you encourage their interest in visual arts: Look for after-school art programs in your community. You may wish to begin with general art classes, moving to a more specific focus, such as illustration, cartoon, printmaking, design, digital art and photography. Art undertaken solely as a creative outlet is important, but as your child gets older, look for courses that include elements of technique that will help them further their craft. Take your child to the art gallery whenever possible. Buy them books on art, and talk about art together. Art is a way to enrich a life – both creating art and enjoying the [...]

December 14th, 2023|Academy, Bloor West Village, Digital Art, Fine Art|

News From Arts Academy Classes

There’s so much going on at the Centauri Arts Academy right now that we thought we’d share whats happening in our classes! Creative Writing Class (Toronto and On-Line): This semester, both our virtual and Saturday in-person writing groups are asking the question: Why Do We Write? Each week, we take a different reason, and we explore it in prompts as we learn more about ourselves and our writing. We write to escape reality, for example – and this might be why we love fantasy! We write to tell stories about our lives, to explore a love of words, to make sense of difficult things, to entertain ourselves, and so on. As the semester progresses, we are starting to shape our writing into finished pieces… and [...]

November 17th, 2023|Academy|

Join us for a NEW hybrid Arts Course in Semester 2: Digital Art & Animation!

Beginning at the end of January 2024, Centauri Arts will be offering its first ever hybrid program – and what better choice for this than Digital Art & Animation? Students aged 11-17 can work on their digital art and animation skills using open source software, either from the comfort of their own home, or in person, together, in our West Toronto studio. Spaces are limited in this 15-week new program, offered on Monday evenings and taught by Aaron Alviano. To hold your spot, go to our application page Digital Art & Animation Develop your digital art skills as you work on fabulous original art! We’ll help you become proficient with open-source sketching and painting programs which offer invaluable tools for digital artists. Explore digital painting, [...]

November 1st, 2023|Academy, Bloor West Village, Digital Art|

Ten Reasons to Take an Acting Class

Children and teenagers benefit from drama classes in numerous ways. Here’s just ten reasons why your child or teen should take drama classes and explore acting with Centauri Arts this year: 1. Acting classes promote self-confidence! Drama skills such as improvisation present young people with the unexpected, encouraging them to think on their feet and showing them just what they can do. 2. Acting classes encourage creativity. This is a vital life and career skill in today’s ever-changing world. 3. Acting classes help young people to develop communication skills. In drama classes, young actors interact with one another, learning to become more proficient as communicators. 4. In a drama class, teenagers develops social skills. As they play characters, young people discover how to interact [...]

September 4th, 2023|Academy, Bloor West Village|