Arts Center in Jamestown opens registration for robotics summer camps

The Arts Center is putting STEM on the summer schedule in downtown Jamestown, with Robotics and Robotics II Summer Camps open for students entering grades 2 through 8. The camps run June 15-18 at 115 2nd St. SW and are designed to blend creativity with hands-on engineering work, giving children a chance to build, test and problem-solve in a setting that feels more like play than class.

The two-camp format points to both beginners and returning participants. Robotics offers an entry point for younger students and first-timers, while Robotics II gives children who already have some experience a step up in challenge, a useful setup for families looking for more than a one-size-fits-all summer activity.

The program fits squarely within the mission of The Arts Center, which is operated by the Jamestown Fine Arts Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that says it has promoted the arts in the Jamestown area since 1964. The organization says its mission is to enrich the Jamestown area community through the arts, and its downtown campus reflects that broad reach with an exhibition gallery, performance stage, classroom, office, artist-in-residence apartment and studio.

That campus also includes the Art Park, added in 2008, and the adjacent Hansen Arts Studio, which houses a ceramics studio and adult classroom space. Alongside the robotics camps, The Arts Center offers children’s programming such as Arts After School, 2nd Saturday, family pottery and summer camps, showing how the institution has grown well beyond traditional gallery programming.

The timing matters for Stutsman County families searching for structured summer options. The Arts Center has said demand for its Arts After School program has been strong enough to create a waitlist for students in grades 3-5, a sign that local parents are looking for dependable enrichment as well as childcare-friendly schedules. Robotics camps add a technical option to that mix, one that can help students build confidence with coding, mechanics and experimentation.

James Valley Robotics Association says it works with local organizations to bring LEGO robotics camps to participants, and says its camp programming is designed for ages 6-14. Together with The Arts Center’s summer lineup, that suggests Jamestown’s youth programming network is broadening what counts as creative learning. For students in a rural community, the payoff is straightforward: a local place to try robotics, and a local institution that treats STEM as part of the arts.