Culinary Arts

The plate is our canvas in this culinary arts camp. In our camp, the food is not just for taste, students will explore design techniques with our instructor to create visually appealing edible masterpieces. The chemistry behind cooking will be reviewed in this camp as we sample unique flavor combinations. Projects will include presentation design, tapas, gourmet dining, main course recipe samples, chocolate sculpting, and etiquette application. Students will also have the opportunity to incorporate traditional artistic mediums during the planning process and utilize new technology for their presentations. Photographs of each design will be taken during camp to build a portfolio of the work completed.

For safety reasons, the Culinary Arts Camp can not accommodate students with severe allergies and dietary restrictions. If you are still interested in signing up your student please register and send an email to angelahicks@sbdac.com with your student’s allergy and dietary restrictions for review.

MEET THE INSTRUCTORS

The SBDAC instructors are professional artists, educators and field experts that have been a part of the local community for over 15 years. Their creative combination will ensure a week full of unique learning and fun activities!

Angela Hicks – Culinary Camp Instructor

Angela serves as the Education & Engagement Director at SBDAC, leveraging her expertise in the visual and performing arts to foster creative growth and community engagement. With over a decade of experience teaching culinary arts to students aged 6-17, she developed a unique approach that integrates the science of cooking with the art of presentation. Her passion for culinary aesthetics led to innovative methods for transforming dishes into visually stunning works of art

Luminary Experience Chefs

The 2025 Creative Edge Culinary Program at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is generously sponsored in part by Luminary Hotel & Co.

The Luminary Experience will be an off campus immersive supplement to the 2025 Creative Edge Summer Camp Culinary Program and includes onsite trips to the Luminary location. Students learn from their talented culinary staff who are some of the best local chefs in the field through tours, lectures, demonstrations, and hands on culinary activities. All students that participate in this camp will be required to make off campus field trips to the Luminary location that is only one block away from SBDAC.

Chef Josef Zimmermann

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Chef Josef Zimmermann has been on an incredible culinary adventure for over 40 years! His journey started in 1979 in Germany at the famous Brenners Park-Hotel, where he trained for three years to master the essentials of cooking—everything from making sauces and pastries to preparing meats and vegetables.

After his training, Chef Josef worked in some of the best kitchens in Germany, Switzerland, and France, learning from top chefs. In 1995, he took a big leap and moved to the United States, where he became a chef at the Grand Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, he led a team of over 100 chefs, helping to create amazing dishes for guests. Later, he became the Executive Chef at the Milwaukee Athletic Club, one of the most prestigious private clubs in the world!

But Chef Josef had a dream—he wanted to own his own restaurant. In 2011, he made it happen! He moved to sunny Florida and ran Sasse’s Restaurant, a cozy and delicious Tuscan-style eatery, for 10 years. Then, in 2022, he joined the Luminary Hotel as the Executive Sous Chef, where he now helps lead the kitchen and create fantastic meals for guests. Chef Josef believes that cooking is an exciting journey and that anyone can become a great chef with passion, hard work, and creativity. Who knows? Maybe one day, you’ll be cooking alongside him in a professional kitchen!

Chef Joe Pankrath

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Chef Joe Pankrath is the Executive Chef of Luminary Hotel and Co. Joe has 20+ years of experience within the hotel and restaurant business. His culinary journey includes significant roles such as Sr. Sous Chef at the Renaissance Chicago, Executive Sous Chef at JW Marriott Marco Island, and most recently the Complex Executive Chef at the JW Marriott Tampa and Tampa Water Street.

His curated, yet methodical approach to the business has produced many deliverables such as significant GSS food quality index improvements, best in class food cost and profitability metrics, as well as directly overseeing the creation of several new outlet concepts and programming. This extensive experience supports Chef Joe to be the perfect fit to lead Luminary’s culinary team and establish himself as a major player in the Fort Myers culinary scene.

Chef Zach Geerson

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Chef Zach Geerson started in 2009 as a dishwasher at Cru, once located in Bell Tower Shoppes. From there he climbed the ranks under the tutelage of much-loved chef, Harold Balink (of Harold’s in Fort Myers) to become his Sous Chef. In 2012, Geerson moved on to pursue a culinary education at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. He also worked as an Assistant Chef under Chef Gianni Scappin at the Caterina de Medici restaurant and at Scappin’s restaurant Cucina as a line cook after graduation.

Shortly after graduating, Geerson moved to Southern California and helped open and run four dining concepts in Northern Orange County. Upon meeting a business mentor, Charles Yang, then owner of the Hotel Fullerton, Chef Zach was encouraged and helped open two dining concepts of his own; Casual Citizen Kitchen – focused on small plates with a global focus and the renowned Journeyman’s Food + Drink that went on to be considered in “2018 Best New Restaurant in the U.S.” (Gayot.com) and in 2019 was “Restaurant of the Year” in all of Orange County in Orange Coast Magazine.

At the end of 2019, Geerson made the decision to close his restaurants and move back to his hometown with his wife Olivia and pursue new ventures and be close to family. Hosting numerous pop-up fine dining tasting dinners at partner restaurants in Fort Myers such as at Ember Korean Steakhouse on College Pkwy. Chef Geersen has made a name for himself as he continues to embed his skills in the SWFL dining scene. Joining the Luminary Hotel has been an extremely exciting step for his career. Chef Geersen states, “It’s been years since I’ve been able to cook my food in my hometown in a restaurant setting 5 days a week. I’m happy to be home and the Luminary Hotel leadership has been nothing but generous with the freedom they allow me to have while leading their restaurants. Silver King has made positive steps in the direction of becoming one of the best dining spots in all of Lee County.”

SCHEDULE

July 7-11 (Ages 12-17) $375

July 28- August 1 (Ages 9-12) $375 NEW WEEK! Pending Luminary Experience Confirmation

Daily Schedule 9am – 4pm

Morning Care 8:30-9:00am

After Care 4:00-5:30pm

(optional with fee – $25 per day)

**Students responsable to pack their own lunches

Scholarships

Limited partial scholarships available. Request scholarship through application.

Register Here

***$375 tuition per week is due at registration. After registering here, you will receive an email response within a few days with a payment link included. Your camper’s spot is not confirmed until payment is received. BOTH this registration form and payment must be completed and submitted in order to reserve your spot.