New program aims to make summer camps more inclusive

Ayla Lefkowitz, left, and Miriam Selick

TORONTO — Summer camp can be a very gendered place, as well as one rife with sexual pressures, say Ayla Lefkowitz and Miriam Selick, co-founders of Canvas, a youth-led organization that offers arts-based programs on gender, sexuality, consent and body image.

“Camps, like any spaces, are so influenced by ideas of what’s expected of girls and boys,” Lefkowitz said.

She and Selick, both graduates of United Synagogue Day School (now Robbins Hebrew Academy) and veterans of the Jewish summer camp system – Lefkowitz, 24, attended Camp Ramah, Selick, 25, went to Camp Gesher – have educational and professional backgrounds in the arts, sexual health, education and program development.

Seeing a need for educational programming for young people that focuses on issues such as gender-based violence, homophobia, transphobia and negative body image, they launched Canvas in 2014.

“In schools, but also in community centres and camps, there’s still so much homophobia and bullying among youth,” Lefkowitz said. 

In addition to the workshops they’ve delivered in middle and high schools, as well as after-school community programs, this summer Canvas has been facilitating workshops for staff at four overnight camps during their staff training weeks.

Using art forms such as theatre, spoken word poetry and visual art, Lefkowitz and Selick, along with seven youth facilitators they’ve hired, are training counsellors to create spaces that are accepting of all campers, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation or body type.

The camps include Camp George, Camp Northland and Camp Ramah, as well as the non-Jewish Camp Can-Aqua, and Lefkowitz and Selick tailor curricula to each one’s particular needs, as expressed by the camp director.

“I found camp was a place where people wanted to explore sexuality… but not everyone wants those experiences, and there are so many kids at different stages. It’s hard to create a space where every single kid feels comfortable,” Lefkowitz said.

Selick said educational programs they’d seen dealing with these subjects weren’t connecting with youths as well as they could be.

“Ours is so powerful because it’s youth delivering to other youth, and it lets the participants voice their own experiences and knowledge,” she said.

Canvas recognizes that camp counsellors, who are typically aged 16 to 22, have a huge influence on campers, and it’s important for them to have training on a range of issues.

 “We want to get them thinking, ‘How did I feel when I was 12?’” Lefkowitz said.

They believe use of artistic mediums allows young people to address difficult topics in a way that’s fun and engaging, and also fosters empathy.

“Hearing about LGBTQ issues theoretically is a lot less powerful than hearing a story from someone’s own experience,” said Lefkowitz.

For example, a section on gender and sexuality starts with participants reading monologues written by LGBTQ youths, then discussing them and creating posters to hang in their cabins conveying positive messages about gender and sexuality.

Another, on body image, involves facilitators reading out statements for staff to debate, such as, “Camp would be a better place without mirrors.”

In aiming to get staff thinking about ways to make camp as inclusive as possible, programs include discussions on how to respond to a camper who expresses being uncomfortable with their gender or not being attracted to the opposite sex.

The training typically ends with staff performing skits that pose potential strategies for change.

Lefkotwitz recalled: “At Ramah, my group did a skit about kids making fun of one camper for wearing a T-shirt to swim, and a staff member put on a T-shirt too and said, ‘It’s cool to wear a T-shirt, if that’s what you’re comfortable with.’”

Canvas also gives staff resources such as lists of inoffensive terminology, suggestions for age-appropriate activities and agencies they can seek out for extra support.

So far, they say feedback from counsellors has been very positive.

“A lot of staff members have come up to me saying they’re so excited, that they hadn’t had these conversations at camp before and feel they’re really important,” Selick said.