ACE Camp 2025: A Vibrant Success Story
As the end of summer drifts away and the fall breeze brings autumn colors, pumpkin spice, and the distant ring of holiday cheer, I like to sit back and think of memorable summer moments that helped me grow each year. In 2025, one of those key moments was participating in the Art Creates Excellence (ACE) Camp program at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts teaching teens about art. This is my third time receiving this wonderful opportunity from the RRCA, and this year I decided to learn more about the ACE Camp and one of its newest teachers, local artist Jason Antonelli.
The Millville Development Corporation began the Art Creates Excellence Camp in 2000 under tents in Buck Park. With dedicated leadership and instruction from Jackie Sandro, director of the Clay College, the camp instilled its mission of getting children to grow, learn, and enrich their lives through the power of art. The ACE Camp has evolved through many phases since then, including leadership and funding changes that have improved the way the program runs, providing at least 50% of their students with scholarships to attend the camp and ensuring high quality art supplies are used for the classes. For 26 years, this summer art camp, lovingly created by a strong organization and community leaders seeking to brighten the lives of Millville youth and families, has persisted in its unwavering commitment.
-photo provided by RRCA
ACE Camp accepts enrollment from students ages 7 through teen years, providing scholarships to at least 50% of attendees who cannot afford to enroll. This commitment to accessibility is paramount to the success of the program, and it is something greatly celebrated by the Millville community. The program has remained successful for over two decades because of the safe, encouraging environment it provides for these children to get to know themselves, make new friends, and discover the adventures to be had in the world of art. While attending ACE Camp, students get the opportunity to do art projects that they might not have access to or time to do in their own school setting, such as pottery, ceramics, or oil painting. Classes are structured so that there is at least one week spent at the Clay College, and the remaining weeks are spent at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, where students have access to art exhibits, a vast library of art books, and access to a wide range of quality supplies for all kinds of projects. The camp culminates in an award ceremony and art show for the students.
Instructors for the ACE Camp are local artists and art teachers. Artists with professional, established careers are also chosen to demonstrate to the students that careers in the arts are viable, encouraged, and so that they know they should not feel any shame in wanting to pursue this path in life. As one of the instructors this year for the teens, I focused on paper mache projects, drawing techniques, and portraits. Throughout these lessons, my mission was two-fold: learning through having fun, and learning about all the different pathways for art careers. In the portrait lesson, I used faces created in a videogame character creation menu to highlight all of the different artistry careers within the videogame realm, such as portrait artists, texture artists, costume designers, art historians who focus on authenticity in game media, and more.
-photo by Tania Pomales, paper mache hearts
As previously mentioned, the ACE Camp underwent various leadership and funding changes across its 26 years in operation. Most recently, direction of the camp was transferred entirely to the RRCA when the Millville Development Corporation dissolved a few years ago. Generous support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the RENNOC Foundation, and several local businesses has allowed the program to remain a strong pillar of the Millville community. These donations and grants help fund the ACE scholarship program, purchases of supplies, and payment to instructors. If you’ve ever wondered how tax dollars and contributions help shape the people of today and the generations of tomorrow, the ACE Camp is an excellent example of why this kind of funding is crucial for vibrant, diverse, and strong communities. “It takes a village…” as they say…
One of my favorite experiences of this year’s ACE Camp was getting to speak to one of their newest instructors, Jason Antonelli. Antonelli is a local artist who makes captivating collages and whimsical abstract paintings that really showcase his creativity and zest for life. This year, he took his collage skills to the RRCA classroom, teaching 10-12 year old kids how to have fun making their own collages. But, Antonelli wasn’t always so comfortable stepping foot in this kind of instructional setting. In fact, he was pretty nervous about it! Wanting to learn how he overcame his fear, I decided to ask him, hoping that his experience could serve to help anyone else in similar shoes. When I asked him how he found the courage to take the leap into teaching, he said, “I was nervous of course. But I had one positive belief on my side. I knew how to make simple yet great looking collages, and anyone could do it!” With this strength on his side, Antonelli livestreamed his work through TikTok live nearly every day for four months. “In the beginning there [weren’t] many people watching, but I knew if I kept showing up they would find me, and they did.” he stated. Antonelli went on to highlight that, “It isn’t just the art that they are interested in. It’s your stories and life that make people want to gravitate towards you and your artwork. Plus, people love someone with a can-do attitude that spreads positivity!”
-photo provided by RRCA
As he kept doing the TikTok lives and showing up despite the fear and nervousness, he gained more and more joy out of the experience, ultimately learning better communication skills, teaching skills, and the ability to be comfortable being himself in these kinds of settings. “What is your message to anyone in similar situations, or anyone scared to do something new?” I asked. His response is one of my favorite quotes that I have written on a post-it by my computer to this day:
“Just break that invisible jail cell you put around yourself and go in there and have fun. You can do it!” He’s right.
Often, we paint the bars of our own prisons and struggle to find the courage to get out of them. But with enough belief and persistence, it is possible to break free and paint the world you truly want.
Encapsulated within the stories of ACE Camp and Jason Antonelli’s teaching success is a fundamental truth of the arts: We all become better human beings when we have access to these creative treasures, and in that access lives a world that is more inclusive and more vibrant for everyone. Support the arts… support a better world.
-written by SJCA Arts Administrator Tania Pomales
-photo provided by RRCA
