About
Camp Denman is a year-round camp for creatives where youth and adults come to learn new skills, sharpen existing ones, and be part of a community of makers. We continue a long legacy of gathering on this land.
Our Philosophy
Camp Denman exists to create the conditions for meaningful creative work. We believe great work rarely happens in isolation — it grows out of conversation, collaboration, and the unexpected exchanges between people working side by side.
We welcome contemporary tools as part of the modern creative landscape, used with intention and a light hand. Technology is a guest here. People are the host, and human connection is the heart of every program.
Our Mission
We bring established and aspiring creators of all ages together for shared camp experiences where they learn, collaborate, and create together. Through hands-on experiences, shared discovery, and exposure to both timeless creative disciplines and emerging technologies, we provide the resources and guidance for people to develop real skills, positive relationships, and creative momentum.
Our Vision
We bring together creators and artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, believing that the most transformative ideas emerge through diversity of experience. Surrounded by nature and a community of peers, participants sharpen their skills, expand their perspectives, and turn ideas into art, experiences, ventures, and movements.
We support educational, recreational, cultural, and community-focused programming, with facilities offered at significantly reduced rates to schools, youth organizations, and not-for-profit groups. By bringing both visiting groups and Denman Islanders into our programs, we keep this a place of learning, connection, and community benefit for generations to come.
What We Value
Camp Denman is a shared space where people feel safe, seen, and free to take risks. We strengthen connections between visiting creators and our home community, building belonging that lasts well beyond any single camp.
We embrace lifelong learning and encourage exploration across disciplines, perspectives, tools, and technologies — finding growth, at any age, in discovering what lies beyond what we already know.
We value experimentation, making, building, performing, and sharing over perfection, and provide the spaces and tools to be creative in a nurturing environment.
Diversity is our strength. We design diverse cohorts to spark unexpected collaborations and cross-disciplinary learning, and from creating side by side come the relationships, conversations, and lasting personal connections at the heart of camp.
Inspired by the natural beauty of Denman Island, we strive to be thoughtful stewards of the land, our environment, and the community that shares it, caring for the place we call home for generations to come.
Emerging technologies have expanded what a single person can accomplish. We encourage creators to harness them responsibly — grounded in originality, ethics, craft, and human connection.
The Land
The property sits on a remarkable stretch of Denman Island: thirty-seven acres of forest, a thousand feet of oceanfront along Baynes Sound, and a heritage orchard that still bears fruit each year.
Denman Island is not a backdrop — it shapes everything made here. The weather, the tide, the slowness of the place all shape the work made here.
A Place With History
1944
Once part of the Ormiston farm, the land passes on after Leila Ormiston dies — and is later farmed and subdivided by Jack Boulton.
1959
The property is sold to the Elks for use as a camp, beginning more than half a century of welcoming children to this shore.
1970s
Denman Preschool runs in the lodge; Girl Guides, Scouts, and clay and art workshops fill the summers.
2025
The Elks entrust the whole property — buildings and all — to the founders of Camp Denman, on one promise: keep it a camp.
The Living Archive
An oral history of the land that became Camp Denman — gathered in the voices of the islanders who were there.
Read the archive →Under New Stewardship
For more than sixty years, the property at 2325 Northwest Road has served as a residential camp — first as the BC Elks’ Camp Elkhaven, and now as Camp Denman. The Elks sold the property in 2025 to Samia Harris, a lifelong educator who retired last year after more than forty years founding and running a not-for-profit school. She recently moved to Denman to join her family — Tony and Becky, who have lived on the island since 2004, and their two daughters.
The Camp Denman Society was founded in August 2025 to operate the camp — a local, not-for-profit educational and recreational organization dedicated to continuing Elkhaven’s long history. Together with a growing team of Denman Islanders, the family is working to preserve the property’s historic use while creating new opportunities for education, employment, creativity, and community.
Care & Restoration
We’ve worked with local authorities, environmental professionals, and a Qualified Environmental Professional on water systems, occupancy, and operational planning, and we operate within the property’s sustainable water capacity. Before renovations began, we commissioned an archaeological assessment through the K’ómoks First Nation to identify areas of cultural significance, and we’ve followed their guidance throughout.
Our first year has focused on restoring the existing facility. The main building — originally a 1908 farmhouse — had fallen into disrepair; we’ve brought it back to safe, functional condition, upgrading plumbing, electrical, and heating and replacing the failing deck. Overnight lodging is in movable canvas tents, freeing the main building for instruction and communal use. Much of the work has been carried out by Denman Island tradespeople.
Tuition from off-island campers helps create local employment, support Denman-based instructors and providers, and purchase from island businesses. Every camp reserves low-cost spaces for Denman residents, and we’re building a cohort of local artists, educators, musicians, craftspeople, and wellness practitioners to teach, mentor, and collaborate.
Our Community
Denman Island has a rich tradition as a haven for artists, artisans, musicians, writers, and makers of all stripes. Our faculty and staff are local residents who bring professional experience and a deep connection to the land and community into everything they do here.
Our vision is for Camp Denman to give back to the island in return: local jobs, spaces for learning and gathering, and lasting partnerships across the region.
