If your child has a love for the arts, talent, and skills in various artistic endeavors or just wants to explore the world of arts, art summer camps are a perfect place for them. All summer long, they can meet new friends from across the country or the world at these art-focused summer camps.
There are a lot of outstanding arts summer camps in the United States that allow children of all ages to pursue their passions. They also get to create art, learn from artists and educators from around the world. At the camps, they develop all types of new art skills like acrylic painting, dance, theater performance, clay sculpting, using polymer clay and much more. All this while making new friendships and lifelong memories.
Down below we highlight some of the best summer camps for art you’ll want to consider for your child!
Best Arts Summer Camps For Kids
1. Camp Ballibay
Location: Pennsylvania
Website: https://www.campballibay.com/
Camp Baillbay is one of the oldest art-focused summer camps in the United States, having been established back in 1964. It’s one of the most inclusive, diverse, and engaging summer camps you’ll find anywhere for campers that want to do a deep dive in the world of art.
Kids can enjoy all types of fun activities including things like custom design, production setup, radio broadcasting, singing lessons, horseback riding, and much more. Students can choose from different programs that focus on music, art, dance and more.
Campers from around the world attend this summer camp each year. It’s the number one rated art camp in the United States since 2011. Headquartered out of Northeastern Pennsylvania on 174 acres of serene landscape, the artistic curriculum here is ever-changing and evolving but accommodates young artists of all disciplines.
2. Amplify Sleepaway Camp For Girls
Location: California
Website: https://amplifyrocks.org/
Amplify is an arts and music camp with a beautiful campus in the Topa Topa Mountains of Ojai, California. It’s a short 1.5-hour distance from Los Angeles and welcomes children from different states and countries across the world.
Kids in grades 3-12 can enroll in their two-week sessions, which you can extend for up to eight, so they can spend the summer exploring their passions. Creative activities are practiced here, with lessons on filmmaking, theater, music production, dance, photography, and much more!
Kids choose a specialty they want to focus on and work towards improving it until the final show at the end of camp. This camp-favorite event allows campers to showcase what they learned to all who attend and families who can see it live-streamed back home. Other typical activities like swimming, dance parties, surfing, yoga, and treasure hunts are also held here.
Amplify Sleepaway Camp for Girls has a low camper-to-staff ratio of 4:1, so kids are carefully watched and mentored at all times. Use the code hub24 for a 100$ discount code.
3. Camp Integem
Location: California & Virtual
Website: https://camp.integem.com/
At Camp Integem, children and teens 5-18 embark on a fascinating journey into Holographic AR and AI art, crafting interactive AR art, animations, and 3D designs.
They discover the magic of AI and holographic AR art. Students learn how art can transcend digital screens and interact with the real world. They leverage AI to creatively design characters and environments, bringing them to life within an augmented reality setting.
The campers delve into the captivating world of digital animation with Adobe Character Animator, bringing characters to life by mirroring their own movements and expressions.
Students venture into 3D Design using tools like iHuman, Adobe Mixamo, and Blender, students craft and manipulate 3D objects to explore digital creativity. They unleash their creativity in interactive storytelling. They’ll weave art into narratives, engaging in exciting design challenges that integrate their stories into creative projects, bringing drawings to life in immersive ways.
Under expert guidance, campers collaborate, exchange ideas, and join a community of imaginative young digital artists. Students gain the opportunity to earn school credits and develop impressive digital art portfolios. Available online and in-person, campers can save $50 per week using the code HUB50.
4. USDAN Summer Camp for the Arts
Location: New York
Website: https://www.usdan.org/
USDAN Summer Camp for the Arts was established back in 1968. Since then, the camp has always revolved around the idea of bringing together world-class artists and educators from across the planet to teach creative children their knowledge. With directors, actors, playwrights, painters, sculptors, and songwriters, campers from around the world dive headfirst into the world of art.
Situated on 140+ acres of a woodland landscape on Long Island, it has several beautiful open-air studios and dedicated performance spaces set up across the property. Here campers are given an opportunity to both major and minor in various artistic endeavors so that they can unleash their creativity and artistic spirit with the help of top-tier artists and instructors.
The sessions last between 4 to 8 weeks and kids can enjoy courses on art, music, writing, theatre and much more. They also offer a leadership camp for older students ages 15-18 where they take on job roles based on their interests.
5. Art Camp 504
Location: Virtual
Website: https://www.artcamp504.org/
Art Camp 504 offers a wide variety of virtual art classes for kids ages 6 – 15, as well as in-person Summer Camp for students in New Orleans. Classes include theater, dance, visual arts, digital media, Dungeons & Dragons, cooking and more! They offer virtual after school classes year-round, as well as virtual holiday break and summer camps.
Initially founded in 2016, it has since provided children ages 6-15 with fun-filled and educational classes where they learn new skills and inspire their inner artists. Students from all over the world attend their virtual camps, learning and making new friends from the safety of their own home.
All classes are live and capped at six students, offering the perfect amount of attention to each student. Each class culminates with a final presentation for family and friends, live from your living room! Find more theater summer camps by visiting our other page.
6. Interlochen Arts Camp
Location: Michigan
Website: https://www.interlochen.org/summer-arts-camp
Interlochen Arts Camp offers a vast list of premier art programs covering disciplines like theatre, music, film, dance, creative writing, and visual arts. They take place on their beautiful campus in Interlochen, located in Northern Michigan. Interlochen Center for the Arts serves both middle school students and high school students.
Artistic children can improve their craft and learn new skills while enjoying an outdoor adventure. The days are filled with training, instruction, and mentorship from experienced teachers who help the students take their skills to the next level. Apart from rehearsals and classes, campers can also enjoy traditional camp activities like sports, swimming, sailing, canoeing, field trips, and much more.
You can sign your kids up for 1,2,3,4, and six-week camp sessions, depending on their grade levels. Kids stay in cozy cabins with similar-age peers and enjoy delicious, freshly made food with options for diet restrictions.
7. Camp Winnarainbow
Location: California
Website: https://www.campwinnarainbow.org/
It’s hard to imagine a more fun-focused summer camp on the planet than this summer camp that revolves entirely around circus and performing arts all summer long.
Campers learn skills that include walking and stilts, working the trapeze, riding a unicycle, and a whole host of other circus focused skills and abilities right from day one. Combine that with lessons in acting and drama, swimming and singing, dancing, camp cooking, and just plain having fun with their new friends and camp counselors. Kids can spend time at this extraordinary summer camp that’s quite unlike any other on the planet.
Headquartered in Berkeley, California, the actual camp itself is located in Laytonville, California, and accommodates campers of pretty much all ages, with adult options too.
8. CampYATC
Location: California
Website: https://www.campyatc.com/summer-camps
The Young Actors’ Theatre Camp is a multi-award-winning arts camp for kids 8 to 18 years old. It’s located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. If you decide to sign up, use the code firsttimer to get a $100 discount.
At this drama camp, talented children can learn about things like film making, improv comedy, musical theatre dance and much more. They offer different overnight summer sessions that last anywhere from 7, 10 and 20 days. With more than 20 years of experience, they’ve provided an educational summer experience to more than 10,000 students, including some which have gone on to become Broadway stars.
Famous guests faculty includes, Alex Brightman from Beetlejuice, Eden Espinosa from Wicked, Jim O’Heir from Parks and Recreation, Kate Rockwell from Mean Girls, and the Stars of Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, plus a whole bunch of other stars. All of their instructors have industry experience and students are taught in class to excel in all areas of performing arts. Students are separated by cabins and put in classes by their respective age group.
9. Texas Arts Project
Location: Texas
Website: http://texasartsproject.com/
Texas Arts Project is indeed one of the more prestigious summer arts programs/camps you might want to consider for your child. The Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School runs the program in Austin, Texas. There are two different kinds of summer camps specifically designed to accommodate children of varying age groups.
The Junior Camp is intended for children between the ages of nine and thirteen, allowing them to learn more about the world of acting, singing, dancing, and putting on total production. These camp sessions establish a foundational education and each daily session concludes with a rehearsal. The camp session ends with a Broadway-like show put on by the campers themselves.
The Senior Camp is intended for those between the ages of 14 and 18, with five specific disciplines available for campers to focus on. Filmmaking, acting, songwriting, technical theater, and musical theater programs are available for participants in this age bracket. Campers conclude their time away at camp with a production that they put on themselves. Usually, with some sort of work product, they can bring home and add to their art portfolio.
The “alumni” list of talented actors and performance artists that have come out of the TAP program is fantastic. Many of them return to this Texas camp after enjoying professional success as counselors and educators to give back to the program that helped them so much.
10. Maine Arts Camp
Location: Maine
Website: https://maineartscamp.com/
Maine Arts Camp is a small, inclusive camp community, led by a staff of experienced, professional instructors and mature dorm counselors established in 2004. It has a 3:1 camper/staff ratio and is located at The White Mountain School in Bethlehem, NH. They have two or four-week sessions in July for ages 9-17 and extensive programming in film making, visual arts, theater, dance, music, culinary arts, writing, and more.
With a limited enrollment of 90 campers, youth receive a lot of personal attention from staff who go through a selective hiring process. With many teachers and professionals, excellent facilities, dorm living, healthy food, and a nurturing camp community, the creative campers find a place they can be themselves, meet like-minded friends and have a life-changing experience at this Maine summer camp.
11. Long Lake Camp for the Arts
Location: New York
Website: https://www.longlakecamp.com/
Often called the “best performing and fine arts summer camp on the planet,” it’s easy to see why so many parents get excited about sending their children to this camp in the Adirondacks of New York.
It accommodates boys and girls between the ages of eight and sixteen, separated by age-appropriate groups. Kids are allowed to have a lot more control and a lot more discretion over their day-to-day schedule here than just about anywhere else.
Each summer, 250 children and 160+ staff members come together to learn how to create and to experience the arts in a fun, friendly, and open kind of community. Children have an opportunity to learn a variety of different artistic disciplines from world-class educators and instructors. Still, they also have a chance to soak up a more traditional summer camp experience with their new friends while here.