Jam Camp brings families together in campgrounds across B.C. to explore music in a playful, collaborative environment. Photo provided by Colin Hamilton and Wendi Lopatecki

Jam Camp, a musical summer camp for families across B.C., is coming to Vancouver Island for the first time this August and will be taking place at Camp Gilwell just outside Courtenay.

The camp itself is a five day gathering of participating families, organizers, volunteers, and facilitators. Many of the staff are full time musicians, bringing their knowledge and experience to guide participants of all backgrounds through a week of making music.

**Photo:** Many of the staff are full time musicians, bringing their knowledge and experience to guide participants of all backgrounds through a week of making music. Photo provided by Colin Hamilton and Wendi Lopatecki.

“I think what it does is it brings all the different ages to experience something together, and music is just one of those art forms that can be experienced at many different experiential levels. So if you have an adult who's a really great musician, they can jam with a child who's just learning. Or sometimes you get the opposite, you get a child who is [an] exceptional singer, or maybe they've played the piano already, and then you have an adult who's never played anything in their life and they can still get together and share an experience of music together. And there's nothing to really separate out if they're talented or not, it's really just about being joyful,” Wendi Lopatecki said.

Wendi Lopatecki and her husband Colin Hamilton are co-managers of Jam Camp on the Island. They first attended Jam Camp as volunteers with their two children Taeven and Cedar in 2010, and were quickly invited back as facilitators, working at various Jam Camp locations around B.C. in the following years.

“Which is kind of a crazy thing since we are not professional musicians, as most of their facilitators are very professional musicians. But because we were a family unit, that worked out really well,” Hamilton said.

Jam Camp first started in 2003 at a provincial campground on Mabel Lake after Thomas Tumbach, a classically trained violinist, was asked by parents of his violin students if he would start a music camp with the values he nurtured. Values like creativity, collaboration, and multicultural exploration. Thomas and his wife Celina Tumbach incorporated the non-profit Jam Camp Society with Celina’s sister and brother-in-law in 2005. In the twenty years since, the society has hosted camps through the Interior of B.C., across the province, and even internationally in Japan.

One nearby location was Jam Camp by the Sea on Salt Spring Island; Wendi Lopatecki and Colin Hamilton co-managed the camp from 2016 to 2019.

“We found that we could run it at Ruckle Park on Salt Spring Island because they have three group sites that we could rent all the group sites and do this outdoor camp, no power, just all acoustic. And so we did that for five years before COVID,” Hamilton said.

Returning to Ruckle Park since COVID has not been an option, so last year when Hamilton learned of Camp Gilwell near Courtenay, and paid a visit, they decided it would be a good fit for the new coastal camp, Jam Camp on the Island.

“It seems like a perfect place, very central on the island, and lots of nature, all the camping [is] in the trees. There's a little creek laying through with a swimming hole, and it's only [a] 15 or 20 minute drive from the ocean or the mountain if families wanna go continue their adventures before or after camp. So, yeah, we're really looking forward to it,” Hamilton said.

“Just from seeing the site up there and knowing what we kind of need, what kind of infrastructure we need, it looks perfect. It's got this beautiful open field. It's got this lovely little like amphitheater, like benches in a circle, it's got a staff kitchen,” Lopatecki said.

Family campers bring their own camping setup, including tents, their own camping kitchens, and all their own food, but the organization hires a cook to feed the facilitators. There are also toilet facilities, and Lopatecki emphasizes the importance of the little river that allows a space for campers to relax and play safely.

Lopatecki said one challenge coming to a new location is finding enough participants to create the big community feeling that the more established locations have grown to support. This also impacts how many facilitators the program can fund because, as Lopatecki said, “we would love it to just be free for everyone. Of course, we also really wanna make sure we pay our facilitators well because they're, they do a lot of work as well.”

**Photo:** Lopatecki said that Jam Camp is about inclusivity, equality, and empathy. Photo provided by Colin Hamilton and Wendi Lopatecki.

Lopatecki also spoke to some of the successes of the program.

“I think a lot of the successes tend to be personal for the campers. Either they're overcoming challenges of either previous negative musical experiences, either just about, you know, the pressures of being a ‘good musician’ versus the freedom of just playing music because you love it and enjoy it. So I've really seen that in a lot of campers, also just with children, successes with children being given the freedom to really explore however they want to express themselves through music and also songs, singing, through dance and movement, and being just in a beautiful natural setting,” Lopatecki said.

As the co-managers prepared to welcome families to the Comox Valley, where they will gather together outdoors to camp, play, and jam out, Lopatecki reflected on the meaning of music and community.

“Community and music for me and our family is almost, I feel kind of, like one thing. There’s so– music is so cultural, and in so many cultures, in the past especially, music is what has brought people together in common themes of what their culture is or what they believe, in their culture, their values are,” Lopatecki said.

Lopatecki said that Jam Camp is about inclusivity, equality, and empathy. Listening and giving equal space to everyone who is there. Collaborating together to create something that represents everyone’s experiences or culture, and learning from one another.

“We hear a lot of feedback from families that when they go home, they're more comfortable as a family to explore music together during the year, because they just had that environment in which they could explore playing music together in a variety of instrumentations. Or, you know, everyone finds something that they love to do,” Lopatecki said.

Jam Camp will be coming to the Comox Valley August 10th to 15th, and the organizers are hopeful to return again next year. To learn more about the program, or follow along for future camps, visit their website and social media (Facebook, Instagram).

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada. Reporting done in the Comox Valley is done in partnership with CVOX.