'You laugh, you cry': MSU music camp for those with disabilities to be featured in documentary
EAST LANSING — Years ago, when David St. Amant attended his first Eric "RicStar" Winter Music Therapy Camp at Michigan State University, it helped him feel comfortable among strangers.
St. Amant, 36, has been living with disability for 20 years. Since his first visit, he has become a veteran participant at the annual event, and one of the featured voices in "CAMP RICSTAR," a new documentary about the camp.
After suffering a traumatic brain injury in a car crash when he was 16, the Dansville resident had to regain his vision and relearn how to walk and talk. St. Amant has experienced the "standoffish" way people who are abled often respond to a disability, "mainly because they all or mostly don't understand us so they're afraid."
It makes having a disability even more isolating, he said.
The Eric "RicStar" Winter Music Therapy Camp, known to many as RicStar’s Camp, offers the opposite. It's three days of camaraderie, support and music, St. Amant said
"CAMP RICSTAR" explores the tragic loss that led to the camp's creation and the impact it's had since.
Honoring Eric Winter
Judy Winter's late son Eric would have loved Eric "RicStar" Winter Music Therapy Camp.
Before he died in 2003 at age 12, he was a music enthusiast. Born with cerebral palsy that affected his movement and speech, Eric started participating in regular music therapy in preschool. Before his death, he began writing his own compositions.
"He just blossomed whenever he was taking part in music," Judy said. "He was very gifted in that way and he would want no one excluded."
Judy and her husband Dick, who until 2019 lived in East Lansing, started RicStar’s Camp in Eric's honor. The inclusive day camp for people with disabilities and their siblings, offered through MSU's Community Music School, will celebrate its 22nd year in June.
"Eric benefited so greatly from music therapy, and we wanted to make sure that other people had that opportunity as well, regardless of what age they are," Judy Winter said.
Camp staff work with each participant to assess their needs and integrate them fully into the camp. Campers learn to play instruments, make music together, and present a final showcase performance throughout the event.
Over the years, Winter has watched hundreds of campers make significant gains through the program.
"And the really interesting thing is, the key to this is they're given the opportunity," she said. "Too often, people with disabilities are not given the opportunity or the focus to be able to show what they can do, and then nurtured and supported which is what we do."
Linda St. Amant said she had no idea what to expect the first time she took David to RicStar’s Camp. Describing what she witnessed is difficult to describe, she said.
"It is three days of just pure joy," she said. "It's hard to put into words the joy that fills the room and the appreciation, that everybody, no matter what their age or ability, is just participating and having the best time of their lives."
Film spotlights camp participants
The Winters turned the heartache of losing their son into something positive and impactful, said Sam McConnell, who directed "CAMP RICSTAR."
Filming for the documentary took place over 2 1/2 years, he said, but much of it was done in 2022. Crews filmed during the camp, then visited the homes of several participants and their families, he said.
"We got to witness firsthand seeing just how incredibly powerful a tool music is for these kids and adults to be able to express themselves and communicate in ways that just otherwise it's really difficult for them," McConnell said. "For the better part of the year, we made, maybe, eight separate trips to Michigan and filmed all over the state."
The film crew spent time with eight families, too, including David St. Amant's family at their home and at Jackson Field where David works during Lansing Lugnuts games.
The finished film exceeded Linda St. Amant's expectations.
"It came out so beautifully," she said. "You laugh, you cry and you laugh again. It's just an amazing piece of work."
"CAMP RICSTAR," premieres at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California, on March 8. It will be featured locally at the Capital City Film Festival on April 10, and already has been named the Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award Winner for this year's Cinequest Film Festival.
For Judy and Dick Winter, who served as executive producers on the film, it was important to focus on the camp's participants.
"We wanted our campers to be the stars," Judy Winter said. "So often disabilities are in the background and we wanted them to be the stars. We didn't want people to look away."
To learn more about "CAMP RICSTAR," visit www.judywinter.com/camp-ricstar-film-documentary/
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Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: 'CAMP RICSTAR,' documentary highlights impact of MSU music program
