Hunts Point student receives arts camp scholarship
BY JASON COHEN
More than 200 students
throughout Long
Island and the fi ve boroughs
applied for an art
camp scholarship, but
only one of the six recipients
is from the Bronx.
Leah Bueno Bisano,
a sixth grade student at
Bronx Charter School for
the Arts at 950 Longfellow
Ave., was announced
April 29 as a winner of
the “Uniquely U” Scholarship
for Usdan Summer
Camp for the Arts.
The camp has run for 52
years in Long Island, but
this is only the third year
for the scholarship.
Bueno Bisano, a Hunts
Point resident, has never
been to the camp before,
but her friends told her
good things about it. In
her submission video
she showed a clip of her
acting in the show “The
Tempest,” dancing to
contemporary and hiphop
music, playing piano
and singing “All of Me”
by John Legend and presenting
an art slideshow.
She applied in February
and got the good news
this past week.
“I felt really special
because I’ve always liked
the arts,” she said.
The teen told the
Bronx Times she plans
to pursue a career in art.
She would love to be in
theater and a part time
architect.
Bueno Bisano hopes
COVID-19 subsides so
she is able to go to camp
and experience everything
her friends told her
about.
Usdan is an agency
of the UJA-Federation of
New York. About 1,500
kids attend each summer
and they have the option
of coming for three,
four or seven weeks and
choose three classes to
participate in daily.
Artists ages seven
through 18 are asked to
submit a video explaining
what makes them unique
alongside samples of their
sustainability and nature
projects, creative writing
or visual and performing
arts work.
“Seeing the joy, creativity
and enthusiasm
demonstrated by all the
applicants added some
light in an otherwise
challenging time,” said
Lauren Brandt Schloss,
executive director of Usdan
Summer Camp for
the Arts. “It was a true
respite and thrill to tap
into being with young
people who are brilliant,
funny, creative and completely
themselves.”
Additionally, for a second
year in a row, Bronx
Charter School for the
Arts won a school scholarship,
which means one
of Bueno Bisano’s classmates
will be joining her.
According to Brandt
Schloss, she and her colleagues
were impressed
with Bueno Bisano’s artistic
talent, but what really
caught their attention
was her essay. She
wrote about friendship,
determination and being
herself.
“We judge this not just
based purely on skill and
talent, but creativity,”
she said. Lisa Bueno Bisano, of Hunts Point, who received a scholarship for the camp
BRONX TIMES R 20 EPORTER, MAY 8-14, 2020 BTR
Photo courtesy Lisa Bueno Bisano and Ana Bueno