- About
- Administrative Staff
- Board of Trustees
- History
- 100 Years of Vision in Arts Education
- Events
- Summer Arts Festival Calendar
- Falcone Euphonium & Tuba Festival
- Alumni
- Festival Chorus
- Visit Blue Lake
- Give to Blue Lake
Follow Us!
How did Blue Lake begin?
Camp Hardy
Camp Hardy, a Chicago camp for orphaned boys, operates on the site later to become the home of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
1910 - 1963
The Arens Art Colony
The Arens Art Colony begins serving young artists in Door County, Wisconsin. Fritz Stansell, Blue Lake’s President Emeritus, spends his summers there in his youth, with his grandfather, professor of music and composer Ludolph Arens, until the Art Colony closes in 1948.
1922
First Steps
Blue Lake’s founder, Fritz Stansell, with the help of family and friends, takes the first steps to form Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, a non-profit summer school of the arts, modeled after his grandfather’s Art Colony.
1963
Blue Lake Opens
Blue Lake opens on July 5 when 56 campers arrive. A total of 280 campers attend this first season to study music, art, and dance.
1966
International Program Begins
Blue Lake’s International Exchange Program, founded by Gretchen Stansell, begins by sending 90 young arts ambassadors to tour Western Europe on its first goodwill cultural exchange.
1970
The First European Group
The first European guest group, Koor Vagantes Morborum from Brugges, Belgium, tours Michigan as part of Blue Lake’s International Exchange Program.
1972
Blue Lake Public Radio
Blue Lake Public Radio goes on the air and camper enrollment for the summer passes 4,000.
1982
25th Anniversary
Students from 72 of Michigan’s 83 counties, twenty-two states and eleven foreign countries attend Blue Lake’s 25th Anniversary Season.
1991
175+ Performances
In its 30th season, Blue Lake offers more than 175 performances to public and camper audiences in the William Stewart Memorial Music Shell.
1995
Marek Hall North
Blue Lake completes Marek Hall North, the largest facility on campus, to include a dining area for 1,500, a severe weather shelter, the Blodgett Recital Hall, exhibit space, and more than 40 rehearsal rooms.
2000
5,000+ Students Enrolled
Blue Lake’s enrollment tops 5,000 students for the first time in its history.
2004
New Theater
Blue Lake constructs a 750 seat, air-conditioned proscenium theater located in Camp Gershwin. To celebrate the opening, the camp commissions and performs a new opera, The Last Leaf, by then Blue Lake Vice President and well-known Michigan Composer Dr. James Niblock.
2006
"The Rose" Replica
Blue Lake constructs a 750 seat replica of an Elizabethan Theater, “The Rose,” making possible a new program for the study of the works of William Shakespeare in an inspiring one-of-a-kind setting.
2010
50th Anniversary
Blue Lake celebrates its 50th summer of operation! Since the first summer, more than 400,000 students have taken part in our varied arts programs.
2016
Worldwide Pandemic
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Blue Lake International Exchange Program suffer a full year of cancelation as the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic impacts the world.
2020
Blue Lake Today
From humble beginnings of the Arens Art Colony to Blue Lake’s present operation, we celebrate 100 years of vision in Arts Education within the Arens/Stansell family, bridging generations of young artists throughout the world.
1922-2024
Long before Blue Lake’s first campers arrived in the summer of 1966, Fritz Stansell had a dream to create a haven where artistic youth could build upon their talent and grow personally in an isolated, enriching, motivating environment. Together with his family, he imagined this place that is Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. He relentlessly believed in its mission. Then he achieved it.
In 1963, Fritz Stansell, along with family and friends, began the search for a suitable location for their summer school of the arts, eventually settling on the site of an abandoned camp owned by an orphanage for boys run by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. Purchasing the property, securing financial backing, designing the programs, staffing the operation, and preparing the dilapidated, old facilities for renewed operation was a massive endeavor to say the least. Undeterred, Stansell’s personal sacrifices included cashing in his entire teacher pension, selling the family home, moving his young family to the remote campus, and spending every waking moment working to fulfill his vision.
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp opened on the Fourth of July weekend in 1966 and welcomed 326 campers attending that first season, with programs in orchestra, band, jazz, choir, piano, art, and ballet, as well as clinics in clarinet and flute technique. Since then, nearly 300,000 participants have attended Blue Lake, which has grown to include expanded Summer Camp programs, Suzuki Family Camp (in its 45th season), Summer Camp for Adults (in its 30th season), Blue Lake Public Radio (celebrating its 40th year), and the widely acclaimed International Exchange Program (founded by Fritz’s wife, Gretchen, in 1972). Students and families, faculty and staff travel to attend from nearly every Michigan county, most US states, and many foreign countries, representing a diverse collective of students, educators, and lifelong learners who come together annually to celebrate the arts.
Under Fritz Stansell’s unwavering leadership, Blue Lake has remained remarkably adaptable yet focused, resilient, and true to its mission. Aiming to establish a philosophy that would separate Blue Lake from similar institutions, Stansell focused on creating an atmosphere where students who wanted to learn could do so, regardless of proficiency level, in an environment that encourages creativity and recognizes the importance of the individual. His goal was to provide a positive growth experience in the arts for deserving children of all abilities. He knew that for the arts to survive in the future, not only must we cultivate the next generation of artists, we must also encourage the next generation of appreciative and knowledgeable audiences.
As a part of his philosophy of arts for all, Fritz Stansell endeavored to serve students from diverse backgrounds and underserved communities by creating opportunities to attend through a generous scholarship program. One of the first organizations with a non-profit status within the state of Michigan, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp has awarded millions in scholarships throughout its fifty-six year history, through generous partnerships with corporate and community foundations, private donors, and an established endowment, reaching thousands of students each season — unparalleled outreach by any summer arts program.
It was not easy. There were moments of doubt and difficulty, as there are in any worthwhile endeavor. But over the years, those challenges and obstacles have been reduced to mere static in an enduring beacon of idealism, courage, hard work, determination, and meaningful results. Fritz Stansell is a true visionary who has dedicated more than 60 years of his life to the growth and development of one of the largest summer schools of the arts and established cultural treasures in the nation.
Those who know Fritz Stansell personally also know of his sense of humor and wit, immense knowledge of a variety of subjects in the arts, music, history, language and literature, and his generous heart. He also carries an innate ability to kindly critique even the most accomplished musicians as only a master teacher can do. His impact as musician, conductor, teacher, and leader reaches far and wide.
Fritz Stansell’s life’s work of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp serves as a beautiful self-portrait, achieving the highest standards in the field through unwavering pursuit of a personal dream. His lifetime of accomplishments represent a collective example of selfless leadership for the betterment of the whole.
