Young people entering grades 2–9 are invited to Camp MASS MoCA. We are hosting both middle school age camps (grades 6–9) and camps for grades 2–5. Participants explore the expansive campus and world-class art exhibitions, meet exhibiting artists, and create original works of their own.

Signups will open late Winter 2026.

Week 1: August 3–7, 2026

Cardboard Everything!
August 3-7, 2026
Grades 2–5
Camp Teaching Artist: David Waxman

Cardboard is a versatile and abundant material. It can be used to easily make large-scale works of art to fill space and make an environmental impact through recycling. Repurposing is an essential element of MASS MoCA’s philosophy, operations, and architecture. This camp will explore the merits and fun of creating collaborative and sustainable art.

The week will kick off with instruction in cardboard crafting techniques and tours of the MASS MoCA campus and workshops. Campers may create wearables, vehicles, everyday objects, instruments, creatures, sculptures, and sets out of cardboard. Project design will be camper-driven with instructor support. There will be room for individual exploration as well as a culminating group installation.

Let’s push the limits of your imagination and build an immersive installation together!

Skateparks, Arts, and Advocacy
August 3-7, 2026
Grades 6–9
Camp Teaching Artists: Skate Haven

Skateparks, Arts, and Advocacy is a 5-day summer program in partnership with Skate Haven. The program explores skateboarding as an art practice that considers how that art can be used to make positive change in our communities. 

Students will examine skateboarding as both a physical and visual medium, and think critically about how the medium functions. Students will engage with themes of balance, perseverance, self-development, community, competition, and commerce.

Finally, students will learn about civic engagement by learning how to advocate for skate spaces in their community.

Week 2: August 10–14 

From Roots to Rallies: Celebrating home, identity, and connection through collaborative art, movement, and play
August 10-14, 2026
Grades 2–6
Camp Teaching Artists: Helen Tocci and Donna Costello

At Camp MASS MoCA, we will engage with the joy and spirit of the natural world that surrounds us and lives within us. Inspired by Amanda Lovelee’s immersive environmental art project  Homecoming we will use movement, partner acrobatics, spoken word, and visual art design to explore ideas of home, identity, and migration,  creating messages of connection and hope. We ask: what are our roots? What do we leave behind and what do we return to? Campers will collaborate to devise a public sharing that may look like an immersive performance, a pep rally, a party, a social action… or maybe all of the above?!

Associated Exhibition: Amanda Lovelee, Homecoming

From the Air: Animation and projection
August 10-14, 2026
Grades 6–9
Camp Teaching Artists: Shayna Strype with Nick Diamant

In this weeklong workshop, participants will explore animation, projection, and performance. Using an animation technique called pixelation, students will animate each other frame by frame in real space, turning themselves into animated characters and the architecture of MASS MoCA into living animation sets. Inspired by Laurie Anderson’s current exhibition, participants will project their animation and film experiments onto unexpected surfaces, including sculptures they create themselves. The workshop will culminate in an installation for families and museum visitors, where students will present a collaborative piece blending film, sculpture, and animation.

Associated Exhibiting Artist: Laurie Anderson

Week 3: August 17–21

Weaving Utopia: A rhapsody of theater, stories, and collective action
August 17-21, 2026
Grades 2–5
Camp Teaching Artists: Helen Tocci and Donna Costello

Let’s create a world built on connection, repair, and care! Inspired by Jimena Sarno’s Rhapsody, campers will explore the creative tools of words, sound, movement, and craft traditions. Through assembling stories, social dances, sound design, and visual artifacts, campers will weave ideas into action and bring their collective vision to life. The week culminates in an interactive installation where these creative sparks ignite! Pop-up performances, community collaborations, and improvisatory happenings will find a home amongst the art and architecture of MASS MoCA.

Associated Exhibition: Jimena Sarno, Rhapsody

Camp: Connected – Stories, tools, and the ways we belong
August 17-21, 2026
Grades 6–9
Camp Teaching Artists: Shannon and Abby Rebelo from BIC Works

Camp: Connected — Stories, tools, and the ways we belong is a one-week creative summer camp for middle school students who are curious about people, ideas, and how we connect. Through art, conversation, hands-on making, and an inspiring exhibition experience, campers explore how humans have used tools and stories to build community — from the earliest inventions to the world they live in today. This is not a tech camp focused on screens or coding, but a people-centered experience that invites reflection, creativity, and imagination. Campers share ideas, ask big questions, create original work, and envision kinder, more caring ways to connect with others — building confidence, empathy, and a deeper sense of belonging along the way.

Associated Exhibition: Technologies of Relation

Hours
9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday

Meals
MASS MoCA provides a daily healthy snack for campers (included in registration fee). Campers should bring their own lunch or purchase boxed lunches from Lickety Split for an additional fee. Information on boxed lunches is sent the week before camp.

Cancellation policy
Through June 30 – 50% refund
After June 30 – no refund

Contact
413.664.4481 or campmm@massmoca.org

Cost
$450 non-members
10% discount for MASS MoCA members
Not yet a member? Become one here.

Scholarships
One full scholarship per camp is available for students from North Adams Public Schools, North Berkshire School Union, Hoosac Valley Public Schools, and Pittsfield Public Schools. We will also consider requests from homeschool students. To apply for a scholarship, please email campmm@massmoca.org with your child’s name, age, school, camp week(s) preference, and contact information by April 30 to enter the scholarship lottery. We will follow up to request simple documentation on your family’s annual income and family size to determine eligibility. To ensure your spot in camp regardless of receiving a scholarship, register and you will receive a refund if selected.

Waitlist
If the week your camper wants to join is full, please email campmm@massmoca.org with the subject line “Waitlist Request.” Please identify the number of spots you would like to hold, names of your campers, your email and phone number, and we will notify you in the case that a spot opens up. Camp MASS MoCA cannot guarantee admission to campers on the waitlist.

Support for Camp MASS MoCA is provided by the Ruth E. Proud Charitable Trust and the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Arts Build Community Initiative.