Creative participants on a recent trip.
(Photo: Camp Creative)
On Friday, Portland Parks & Recreation announced their selection of non-profit Ethos, Inc. to occupy and manage the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) building at 5340 N. Interstate Avenue.
As I reported back in April, Ethos founder Charles Lewis has partnered up with local author Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie to include bike-related programs into their new offerings at the IFCC.
Kurmaskie’s “Camp Creative” is now an official project of Ethos and will operate under the rubric of their 501c3 status. The camp combines arts education with “bike-centric, active expeditions.”
Kurmaskie says he’s excited to be part of Ethos and feels his project-based learning programs will, “help bring not only other forms of art to the mix, but help get folks of all stripes outside and moving – exploring and discovering their creativity and health.”
This is not a done deal, but given the solid finances of Ethos and their track record in the community, I imagine City Council will push this through. The two-year contract between Portland Parks and Ethos will be up for a vote this Wednesday (7/14).
Awesome! Way to go Joe!
The next session of Camp Bike Fun at the North Portland Bike Works has a few slots still open for the next session (that starts next Monday).
http://www.CampBikeFun.com
or
http://www.northportlandbikeworks.org
Scholarships available.
Really excited to be part of the Ethos program and a project of, The City makes final decision on Wednesday. And Greg and Alex over at CampBike Fun thanks and I think you guys are doing awesome work as well. Anywhere and way we can team up/help publicize and work together to help expand the number of folks exploring active lifestyles, bikes and camp… all the better.
Also, bikes are a primary tool for our adventures, but we also get moving via canoe, hiking, kayaking, mountain bikes, sailing. Ex: For the day camp we’ll be exploring the columbia Slough with canoes after we bike out to it from the IFCC We’re planning a demo day camp this summer and ramping up Day and overnight programs for spring and summer of 2011. Website will be live soon at ethos.org/campcreative for sign ups and more info.
Just to give you a sense of the range of those expeditions, the photo above is at a skating rink just a tiny bit north of Corvallis.
Awesome! Congratulations Joe!
Good eye Buglas – and that trip combined paddling up the Willamette from darn near its source, then pedaling up the valley and out to the coast with a stop in Corvallis for the kids that had a rap group – the whole group came to camp – to perform at a venue with me doing my one man show (I did not rap – which is for the best) the kids learned trip journal writing, nature photography, wild edibles, etc. and we camped 75 percent of the time. Teaming up with Ethos and having the IFCC for day camp programs will allow us to reach more folks with localized day versions of programming and launch longer trips from a homebase in Portland.
Right on! i’ve been waiting for this to hit the news. Way to go, Joe.
Passed City Council this morning on the consent agenda.
Congrats Joe and Charles. Good luck