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2019 Summer Arts Camps

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Are you looking for a summer camp for your creative kids? You’re in luck…Brooklyn has an abundance of camps specializing in performing arts, visual arts, music, and other creative activities. In fact, the options can be overwhelming and it can be really hard to choose. In case you need help narrowing it down, we’ve put together this list of our favorite summer arts camps. They should all have some spots available, but make sure to sign up soon before they fill up!

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Brooklyn Children’s Theatre

Theatrical kids (ages 7-13) will love these week-long summer camps in playwriting, devised theatre, physical comedy, and more. The “Show in a Week” program allows kids to create and develop a cohesive one-act play with the help of a director. This summer they are collaborating with Disney Theatrical Productions, so campers will get to explore content from Disney on Broadway shows (FROZEN, THE LION KING, and NEWSIES) and use it to create their own theatre piece that they will perform for friends and family at the end of the week. Ages: 7-13 / Dates: June 17 – August 23 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM -3 PM (extended hours available) / Cost: $500 per week / Location: Gowanus

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Brooklyn Museum Summer Camp

What could be more inspiring than art camp at the Brooklyn Museum? You can sign up for one or more weeks of their week-long art program, where kids get to immerse themselves in a museum exhibition and learn/develop two different visual arts skills every day. The week ends with the young artists sharing their work in Friday’s Open Studio. The 2019 weekly themes include American Portraits, Art and Liberation, People and Places, Mythical Creatures, The Earth and the Stars, and World of Color. Ages: 8-13 / Dates: July 1 to August 9 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 4 PM (extended hours available) / Cost: $620 (Members $560) per week / Location: Prospect Heights

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Brooklyn Music Factory

This multi-tasking camp allows musical kids to live out their dreams of becoming rock stars while also burning energy at Brooklyn Boulders, the rock-climbing facility across the street. I know lots of kids who would love both! The campers join bands and spend days songwriting and playing music in the BMF studios. The kids take breaks from songwriting for rock climbing, outdoor time at the neighborhood playground, and more fun activities during free time. The week ends with a celebratory “gig” where all bands play their original music on stage for friends and family. Ages: 4-12 / Dates: July 8 – August 30 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 3:30 PM (extended hours available) / Cost: $695 per week / Location: Gowanus

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Brooklyn Music School

This popular (and affordable) local music school has availability in their Summer Music & Dance Intensives. These intensive music and dance courses allow older students (ages 9-12) to focus on a specific instrument or subject matter more deeply than they do in the Summer Institute’s broad overview of music and dance for younger kids. The intensive courses include Dance Intensive, Hip Hop Intensive, Orchestra Intensive, Jazz Intensive, and Rock Band Intensive. Ages: 9-12 / Dates: July 1 – August 16 (dates vary for each intensive) / Days & Hours: Monday – Friday, 8 AM – 3:30 PM (extended hours available) / Cost: $400 per week / Location: Fort Greene

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Camp Broadway Shining Stars

Aspiring performers (ages 7-9) can develop their theatrical talents through creative group play in the week-long Shining Stars program (July 8-12, 2019). Camp Broadway will help creative kids build confidence and discover their artistic voice while collaborating on a musical production. With the guidance of theater professionals, campers learn songs, design and build stage sets, create original choreography, and construct costumes based on Roald Dahl’s book James and the Giant Peach. The program will end with a Family Finale performance at the end of the week. Ages: 7-9 / Dates: July 8-12, 2019 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM / Cost: $795 per week / Location: Manhattan

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CHILD’S PLAY NY

This fun camp encourages creativity, collaboration, and empathy as creative kids pretend to be everything from superheroes to animals to magical creatures. It’s a great way for them to exercise their imagination, make friends, and develop self-esteem. The Adventure Series Camp gets little ones (ages 3-5) moving, singing, and acting while exploring children’s literature, and the Mini Musical series gives kids (ages 4-6) the chance to explore popular musicals through improvisation, dance and music. The Players Series allows older kids (ages 7-11) to learn more sophisticated theater techniques while working from scripts, developing characters, and collaborating with actors and directors on a theatrical production. Every week ends with a show. Ages: 3-11 / Dates:July 8 – August 29, 2019 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9-12 PM (Adventure Series & Mini Musicals) and Monday-Friday, 12:30-4 PM (Players Series) / Cost: $365-$465 per week / Locations: Carroll Gardens, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and Chelsea

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CinemaKidzCinemaKidz

Do your kids love movies? They can become directors, filmmakers, movie stars, art directors, animators and more in this exciting summer camp. They learn the fundamentals of creative expression as well as the technical process of making a movie from industry professionals in a fun and encouraging setting. Themes include basic through advanced filmmaking, computer and stop-motion animation, YouTube series production, and filmmaking classes with a twist like skateboard films and NYC Movie Adventurers. Kids are encouraged to take the lead in developing and executing their creative visions while also collaborating with others. Ages: 5-15 / Dates: June 24 – August 23 (weekly sign ups) / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 4 PM / Cost: $550-650 per week / Location: Pine Street School, Financial District (transportation provided from Brooklyn Heights)

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Gasworks NYC

For kids that likes to make things and get a little messy, this seems like the perfect camp. Gasworks NYC offers week-long ceramics camps where kids learn wheel throwing and handbuilding techniques via a structured and sensory exploration of clay. Projects will include: ice cream bowls/spoons, bird houses, fruit/berry bowls, baskets, emoji plates, and more. Camps are for kids 7+ and teens, but they have classes and BYOB “Try Nights” for adults too! Ages: 7-17 / Dates: July 9 – August 10 / Hours: Monday-Friday from 1:30-6 PM / Cost: $425 per week / Location: South Slope

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International Ballet Institute

This is a great summer camp for kids who want classical ballet training and other fun activities like French language immersion, costume making, set design, and musical theater. Kids (ages 4-16) will learn classical ballet technique in “Swan Lake Ballet, French and Costume Making,” but they will also learn the story of Swan Lake in French and English and make the costumes and sets for the final performance of Swan Lake. In “Ballet, Tap/Musical Theater, Mary Poppins & Costume Making,” kids will study ballet and tap technique while learning songs and dances from the original Broadway show of Mary Poppins. They also offer the “Choreography, Composition & Classical Ballet” program for more advanced kids who want to develop their ballet technique (ages 8+ with audition/placement only). Ages: 4-16 / Dates: July 8 – August 16 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 3 PM (extended hours available) / Cost: $1,285 per 2 week program / Location: Greenpoint

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Lively Village at Classeteria

This self-directed camp promises “art- and yoga-based self-directed fun” for kids (ages 6-10) who choose their own path every day within a loosely organized schedule. Each day includes a planned creative project, but kids are welcome to opt out and work on their own projects or choose other activities if they like. Their facility offers opportunities to read, write, craft, draw, paint, knit, sew, play collaborative board games and card games, talk, snack, work on homework, play outside in their yard or the park across the street, sing, dance, stretch, build, and play. The monthly themes are “Trees and Weaving” (June), “Gardening, Earth, and Simple Building Projects” (July), and “Water, Watercolor, and Simple Building Projects” (August). Ages: 6-10 / Dates: June 4 – September 4 (and all DOE non-attendance days) / Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30-3 PM (extended hours and “Duo Days” Mon/Tues or Thurs/Fri  sign up options) / Cost: $90 per day / Location: Bushwick

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Textile Arts Center

The Textile Arts Center Summer Camp allows kids (5-13) to explore the world of textiles and learn incredibly useful and creative skills in their interactive week-long programs. During every camp session, kids will create an in depth project in Weaving Class or Textile Surface Design Class as well as daily craft projects using fiber and textile processes and concepts inspired by textile-related exhibitions they visit on weekly field trips. They also get plenty of free play and outside time in local parks and playgrounds, and end each week by sharing and reflecting on their work at the Friday Open Studio. Ages: 5-13 / Dates: July 8 – August 16 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 3 PM/ Cost: $450-525 per week / Location: Gowanus and Manhattan

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The Barrow Group Acting School

Dramatic kids can spend their summer developing acting skills in an atmosphere of trust, collaboration, play and support at The Barrow Group. Younger kids (ages 5-9) can sign up for one-week “Explorations in Acting Camp” while older kids (ages 10-17) can choose from 1-3 week camps in Musical Theater, Film/TV Acting, Improv and Sketch Comedy, Theater Production and Performance, Acting Intensive and more. All teachers have gone through their intensive teacher training program and their classes teach a specific approach to storytelling. They also introduce students to the tools used by adult professional actors, playwrights, and filmmakers. Ages: 5-17 / Dates: July 24 – August 23 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM / Cost: $650 per week / Location: Brooklyn Heights

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The Painted Cloud

This art studio offers fun camps that get kids experimenting with self-expression and creating art. In Studio Takeover (PreK-3rd Grade), younger kids get to take over The Painted Cloud studio and work on art projects in addition to getting time for drawing, snack, lunch, and outdoor play in a nearby playground. In Art Trek (3rd grade-6th grade), older kids take daily field trips all over the city under the guidance of teaching artists and then return to the studio to discuss their observations and create something inspired by what they saw. Their weekly summer camp themes include Pop Art & Pattern (Simple & Bold!), ”The Blue Rider” & Bright Colors (Animals & Motion), Social Practice & Symmetry (Saying what you want to say), Dada & Chance ((Not) making sense), Cave Painting & Stories (Going back in time), and more.  Ages: 4-12 / Dates: July 1 to August 30 / Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 3 PM (extended hours available) / Cost: $500 per week / Location: Williamsburg

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Disclaimer: While we try to find the best camps for our readers, we don’t have the resources to visit them all. For this round-up, we gave preference to camps who are participating in our virtual camp expo.

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