My daughter (13) signed up for a teen art camp with the Armory. She came home after the first day…read morefeeling very disappointed as it did not seem there was enough planned for them. For a jewelry making task, they were given wire, string, and seashells, and were simply told to wrap wire around the shells tie it to the string for a necklace. They were shown an example, but never shown how to do it, and lacked tools. They spent a good bit of time on their phones when they had nothing to do, and at one point, another child in the group had to ask if they could all have some beads to string because they literally weren't doing anything.
Needless to say, I called the director, but was fed a bunch of excuses such as "it won't be the same as last year, because we don't have that same studio to use." Yet, she assured me she would make sure there were more things for them to do the next day. I told my daughter to try it out again on Tuesday, but to call me at lunch if it felt as underwhelming as the previous day. Sure enough, I received the phone call. In their jewelry class, they were learning how to make seed bead flowers... but here is the catch... she told them to look up the method on their phones to learn!!! Geez, I could do that at home for a lot cheaper than I paid for this camp!
I went and picked my daughter up where I was 'greeted' by the camp director (Jeanie, not sure on spelling?) telling me that it was my fault that one of the camp instructors quit because of my concerned phone call, and now she only has one instructor, and it's all because of me. Went on to say that he said he was tired of dealing with armory parents like myself. To me, this is just an omission of guilt, I guess I'm not the only parent with concerns??? She continued on with her blame rampage saying that my daughter brought a bad attitude to camp with her, and was refusing to do things. That's when I demanded to speak with the teacher who confirmed what I already knew, my daughter was not negative, and did participate in the activities (as poorly planned out as they were for a group of 13-17 year olds).
I've given the Armory many chances, but they just can't seem to get it together. The last camp she attended there a few summers ago, she came home upset with how mean she saw the director treating instructors and helpers... interestingly enough that director was fired by week's end. On top of that, the last 2 classes we signed her up for were cancelled due to another instructor quitting and lack of enrollment. It's pretty sad, my daughter loves art and we have heard this place was so wonderful back in its prime.
