Despite the indubitable challenges of balancing music and family life at the Conference, over the years many parents—and their children—have come to view Bennington as an indispensable family vacation. The College and its surroundings offer a variety of diversions for children of all ages, and the campus itself provides a safe, stimulating, and picturesque staging ground for activities of all sorts. Most important, children at the Conference thrive in the company of their peers, and in those weeks where a critical mass of children attend, the party never stops. Children at Bennington can also participate in the musical life of the community by performing in the Children's Concerts, and as they grow more proficient, by merging gradually into the general Conference programming.



This wiki aims to facilitate, document, and celebrate the experience of children at the Chamber Music Conference. We hope it will be used to remember the last summer and plan for the next, to give prospective CMC attendees the opportunity to learn and inquire about its family life, and to preserve institutional wisdom for future generations of kids at Bennington. Feel free to add whatever you feel is necessary to this wiki to make it fulfill your needs for the Conference and the needs of any prospective families.

Share your perspective to make this site more interesting and complete. Add your own album to the photo archives, and supply captions to existing photos. Give your opinions of the resources available on and off-campus--and add your own. Describe your favorite CMC game. And please use our message forum (if you've registered, you can keep up on updates by clicking on "watch this thread" under "more tools" at the top).

NEW: We've got some new photo albums up for 2008! Check them out here. Feel free to add captions, explanations, and corrections; and to add your own 2008 Bennington photo album.