This summer, The WasteShed is launching its first summer day camp, Camp WasteShed !
Camp Wasteshed will be a hands-on, exploratory experience for youth ages 8–13. The themes of Camp WasteShed are “City Garden Futures” and “Camp Imaginary Worlds”.
The camp will run Monday through Friday, 9:00am–3:00pm from July 28th, 2025 to Aug 8, 2025, and is designed to foster creativity, confidence, and environmental awareness through the lens of creative reuse. Camp WasteShed will be hosted at The WasteShed’s headquarters located in Humboldt Park (1754 N. Kimball Ave, Chicago, IL 60647).
Campers will explore unconventional and reclaimed materials, learning to prototype, build, and imagine new possibilities for everyday objects. Through this process, campers develop (1) problem-solving skills, (2) materials literacy, and (3) an understanding of sustainability, all while having fun in a safe and supportive environment.
The camp is facilitated by Emily Prescott (The WasteShed - Evanston General Manager) and Grace Diepenbrock (The WasteShed Board Secretary), who bring years of experience in art- and craft-making, youth engagement, and community-based arts education programming. With additional support from two junior camp counselors, Emily and Grace will guide up to 12 campers per week through project-based activities, tool and materials exploration, and collaborative design prompts.
Campers will also participate in short neighborhood field trips to local parks, and community spaces, connecting their creative practice with the broader Humboldt Park neighborhood.
For more information and to sign up, please see our interest form below.
This is a limited pilot program and we are unfortunately unable to offer scholarships for this season, but the signup form includes a link to be notified about next year’s scholarship opportunities!
Session 1: City Garden Futures
Instructor: Grace Diepenbrock
Start: Monday, July 28, 2025
End: Friday, August 1, 2025
Campers will create artwork inspired by and designed to enrich the environment around them. Be prepared to get your hands a bit dirty, spend time together outdoors on the nearby Bloomingdale trail (the 606), and leave camp with some colorful projects to treasure for years to come!
Session2:Imaginary Worlds
Instructor: Emily Prescott
Start: Monday, August 4, 2025
End: Friday, August 8, 2025
Let your imagination run wild for this 5 day creative journey through imaginary worlds of your own invention! Campers will spend the week world-building with modular, miniature dioramas. They will get to use lots of different tools, materials, and techniques to create miniature art pieces that are seriously out of this world!
WasteShed Camp Councilors
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Grace Diepenbrock is a seasoned art educator with experience in art museums and diverse school settings nationwide.
Her teaching experience includes:
Leading tours and workshops for kids and families at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta
Developing tours and workshops for special needs individuals at the Dallas Museum of Art
Lead instructor at Roots and Wings School of Art and Design in Asheville, NC
Art teacher at Asheville Primary School
Her teaching style focuses on exploring new materials, and celebrating individuality.
She is so excited to teach Camp City Futures because it combines her passions for the outdoors, STEAM curriculum, and bringing joy to your own environment through outdoor artworks.
Grace is currently on the Community Support Team at Khan Academy and serves as secretary for the Wateshed’s Board of Directors.
In her free time, Grace enjoys biking around the city, watching women’s basketball, building with Legos, and spending time with her dog, Margot.
You can learn more about her and her artwork at tallgrace.com and on her LinkedIn profile.
See you at camp!!
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Emily Prescott is the current General Manager of The WasteShed Evanston in addition to being a long time arts educator with a love of community arts education. She brings several years of experience in non-formal arts education, having taught previously in a wide range of settings, including:
As a nature educator with the Park District of Oak Park
Designing and leading youth programs at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation where she served as a museum education fellow
Teaching arts camps and classes at FAME Center, a community arts nonprofit in Chicago
Working with elders as the program director of a local memory care and assisted living community
Emily holds an MA in Arts Education from SAIC. Her personal art practice centers on craft traditions and their connections to environment and community. She works in ceramics, sewing, quilting, fiber arts, printmaking, collage, and mixed media. Formerly, Emily was the founder and owner of a small quilted goods business based in NY.She’s excited to lead the Imaginary Worlds session of Camp WasteShed, where she can bring together her love of project-based learning and her belief in the power of imaginative pedagogy to help kids envision new futures and build them by hand.
In her free time, Emily enjoys nature walks, hiking and backpacking, gardening, writing (she’s currently working on a novel!), and spending time with her partner and their three badly behaved cats!