Alumnus Creates Media Arts Summer Camp for Children
By: Christina Pugliese | February 6, 2024
In high school, Jacky Chao BA’22 and his friends in Katy, Texas, would come up with elaborate projects so they could have an outlet to creatively express themselves. Given a common love for media arts, such projects included creating movies, hosting small music festivals and even opening a pop-up restaurant.
“We always liked to try new things,” Chao said. “But when we got to college, everyone was in a different place. We stopped doing the big projects we used to do.”
During his junior year at The University of Texas at Dallas, Chao and his friends were determined to do something big. They decided to create a summer camp for children, one that would offer courses in the media arts similar to those they were taking in college. They named it Creator Camp.
Chao, who was deeply invested in his motion graphics coursework, had never taught before but understood the value of giving children resources that he himself never had in school.
“We didn’t really get the resources or support for film and media classes when we were in school, so we wanted to bring that resource to Katy,” Chao said. “Our first year we had one location, and our only teachers were my three friends and me. We designed two curricula on what we know best – animation and filmmaking. To our surprise, we had around 200 students enroll.”
As he entered his senior year, Chao was required to complete a capstone project prior to graduation. With input from Eric Farrar, associate professor in Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, Chao decided to create a one-minute motion graphic video. The piece, “Circumstance Meet Circumstance,” told a story about how misunderstandings between people did not always need to be interpreted as an obstacle, but rather as invitations to get to know each other better.
The relationship between Farrar and Chao continued to develop throughout the project’s progression. Today, Chao considers his former instructor a mentor.
“Professor Farrar would sit with me every week to discuss my progress and direction,” Chao said. “I got philosophical lessons and unique insight into my project and what it meant to call myself an artist. When I lost motivation towards the middle, he sat down and encouraged me. I really thought he was going to say something like, ‘You got to push through, it’s your responsibility,’ but instead he validated me and my feelings. That was what motivated me to keep going.”
After graduating in December 2022, Chao was excited to use his degree to plan for the third summer of Creator Camp. That summer, the camp enrollment doubled. Hoping that they would increase their enrollment numbers again in 2023, the camp team opened more locations across Texas. They finished their third summer with around 1,000 participants.
This year, Creator Camp is projected to have around 5,000 students at several locations across Texas, including some in the Dallas area. The camp will also partner with out-of-state children’s museums to host courses there.
Creator Camp offers two- or three-day courses in Lego and clay animation, filmmaking, YouTube video filming and editing, Roblox and Minecraft modding and coding, music production and even advanced filmmaking and animation classes for students who re-enroll and want something more challenging.
“Some kids have been at Creator Camp since it first started,” Chao said. “We have OGs.” In addition to teaching, Chao also handles a lot of the employee management. Last year, they had 28 paid employees. He estimates they will employ 70 this upcoming summer.
“Not to be cliche, but there is a light in the kid’s eyes when they learn,” Chao said. “I love teaching hard skills like the actual animation techniques themselves. However, I also love teaching them soft skills like patience. We never know if the students will continue creative pursuits but even if they don’t, they take all these soft skills we teach them into adulthood.”