“During the past 77 years, four generations of the Wiggin family have been running the New England Music Camp to help people—mainly the well-to-do—explore their love of fine music,” writes Matt Hongoltz-Hetling in Sunday’s (8/18) Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine). “Now Co-Director John Wiggin wants to expand the traditional summer camp’s role, bringing performing arts education to more central Maine children” through a $12 million fundraising campaign. “When it comes to access to the fine arts, [Wiggin] said, there is a void in central Maine. ‘If you look at the kids in the Boston area, the New York area, the Connecticut area, those kids get a very, very high-end arts education.’… In five years, he said, the camp will be open year-round, offering classes to college students, adults and local high school students. Bette Bussel, executive director of the American Camp Association, New England, said that during the past five years, she has seen more and more camps diversify their offerings [as they see] their traditional summer schedules being squeezed by shifting school schedules…. The wealth levels of families that send their children to camp is highly varied, according to [consultant] Mary Ellen Deschenes…. ‘Some are for affluent families, but many are middle-of-the-road and low-income families,’ she said.”

Posted August 22, 2013