SAXTONS RIVER — On Friday, April 6, at 7 p.m., Vermont Academy will present the New England premiere of a short film, Off the Street, that was filmed on the school's campus during a summer arts camp 50 years prior.
The event is free and open to the public, according to a news release. The evening will include a question-and-answer session with one of the art students featured in the film, Bernard Stanley Hoyes, now an internationally known artist.
In 1968, Jere Michael filmed the documentary about a summer arts camp at Vermont Academy, a boarding and day school in Saxtons River.
The camp was created by teachers from the Art Students League in New York with the support of Mike Choukas Jr., Vermont Academy's head of school at the time, and was designed to provide opportunities in the arts to talented New York City high school students from diverse backgrounds.
The film remained in Michael's garage and wasn't publicly released until October 2017, when it had its world premiere at the Hanson Film Institute in Arizona.
On April 6, the 26-minute film will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a showing at Vermont Academy. Hoyes will attend the screening and take questions afterward.
After attending the camp, Hoyes went on to enroll as a student at Vermont Academy, graduating in 1970 and pursuing a successful career as a visual artist.
He formed Caribbean Cultural Institute and Caribbean Arts, Inc., and he has worked extensively with the Los Angeles Citywide Murals Programs. Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Cole, Steve Harvey, Keenan Ivory Wayans, and the National Urban League are among his collectors.