Grace Art Camp
Grace Institute - Grace Art Camps at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, 1535 17th Avenue, Portland, NE 97232
About
Grace Art Camp offers visual arts, performance arts, storytelling, music, dance, theatre, animation, paper arts and illustration, photography, printmaking, podcasting, and songs and games. Campers also take part in fused glass, ceramics, fibre and fiber arts, culinary arts, songwriting, spool-knitting, and making cords and belts. Campers rotate through multiple art studios in color groups, and older campers choose their morning and afternoon studios Wednesday through Friday.
• Ages: 4–12 years old
• Schedule: Summer sessions run as nine one-week camps, with a 5-day routine that includes morning and afternoon studios; Fall, Winter, Spring Break, Gathering & Giving, and Winter Peace Camps run as 3-day camps, and at least some sessions run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm with Extended Hours until 6:00 pm for Spring Break Camp 2023
Summers at Grace Art Camp follow a cultural or regional focus each year, and studio projects are often process-oriented and inspired by a “story of the week” that leads into a weekly celebration. Fall, Winter, and Spring Break Camps honor seasonal themes of community, peace, and renewal, with Gathering & Giving Camp focusing on gratitude and creating gifts, Winter Peace Camp focusing on seeking and making peace through story and art, and Spring Break Camp celebrating new beginnings, creativity, and imagination using up-cycled, recycled, and earth-friendly materials. Grace Art Camp includes specialized studios such as Fibre Arts, Visual Arts, Nature Art, Music & Dance, Culinary Arts, Ceramics, Photography, Glass, and Printmaking Studios, and also offers GAC Radio podcasting episodes, a Bright Spots video series with at-home art activities such as spool-knitting, and the annual Grace Bazaar and Art Faire to buy handmade gifts and support Grace Institute artists.
Art studios are led by professional artists, with high school and college youth leading and supporting campers in all activities through Grace Art Camp’s Counselor Leadership Program, which is designed to offer high school and college students leadership skill-building in working with younger children and the arts. Color Groups are roughly grade-equivalent peer groups of about 22–24 campers with counselors and counselors-in-training, and the camp practices the “Four R’s” of Community: respect, responsibility, resourcefulness, and receptivity. Grace Art Camp is described as a secular project with sacred roots and is part of Grace Institute, which was established in 1995 as a secular organization and has offered Grace Art Camp as its signature program since 1997, with a focus on creating awareness through art, culture, and story; Grace Institute was individually incorporated in 2005.
Grace Institute’s mission is “intercultural appreciation and understanding in an open and inclusive community,” and Grace Art Camp was developed around the premise that inherent within the creative process there are opportunities to create awareness, understanding, and compassion for ourselves and all humans everywhere. Grace Institute is nurtured from a long-term commitment by Grace Memorial Episcopal Church to meet the community’s needs for arts education and urban livability, and it states that it nurtures the human spirit through the arts while fostering intercultural humility and learning. The Art of Recycling Festival is described as an America Recycles Day celebration featuring music played on instruments made from recycled objects and a story, indicating participation in a recycling-focused community event.
Grace Art Camp’s leadership team includes Ashley Klump, Executive Director; Susan Gray, Bookkeeper; Ray Apthorp, Registrar and Operations Manager; and Sandra Bright, founding Director of Grace Art Camp. Grace Art Camp was voted Best Summer Camp in the Arts and Crafts category for 2019, 2020, and 2021 in an award sponsored by NW Kids Magazine as well as Mad Science Portland.
Last updated December 28, 2025.
• Ages: 4–12 years old
• Schedule: Summer sessions run as nine one-week camps, with a 5-day routine that includes morning and afternoon studios; Fall, Winter, Spring Break, Gathering & Giving, and Winter Peace Camps run as 3-day camps, and at least some sessions run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm with Extended Hours until 6:00 pm for Spring Break Camp 2023
Summers at Grace Art Camp follow a cultural or regional focus each year, and studio projects are often process-oriented and inspired by a “story of the week” that leads into a weekly celebration. Fall, Winter, and Spring Break Camps honor seasonal themes of community, peace, and renewal, with Gathering & Giving Camp focusing on gratitude and creating gifts, Winter Peace Camp focusing on seeking and making peace through story and art, and Spring Break Camp celebrating new beginnings, creativity, and imagination using up-cycled, recycled, and earth-friendly materials. Grace Art Camp includes specialized studios such as Fibre Arts, Visual Arts, Nature Art, Music & Dance, Culinary Arts, Ceramics, Photography, Glass, and Printmaking Studios, and also offers GAC Radio podcasting episodes, a Bright Spots video series with at-home art activities such as spool-knitting, and the annual Grace Bazaar and Art Faire to buy handmade gifts and support Grace Institute artists.
Art studios are led by professional artists, with high school and college youth leading and supporting campers in all activities through Grace Art Camp’s Counselor Leadership Program, which is designed to offer high school and college students leadership skill-building in working with younger children and the arts. Color Groups are roughly grade-equivalent peer groups of about 22–24 campers with counselors and counselors-in-training, and the camp practices the “Four R’s” of Community: respect, responsibility, resourcefulness, and receptivity. Grace Art Camp is described as a secular project with sacred roots and is part of Grace Institute, which was established in 1995 as a secular organization and has offered Grace Art Camp as its signature program since 1997, with a focus on creating awareness through art, culture, and story; Grace Institute was individually incorporated in 2005.
Grace Institute’s mission is “intercultural appreciation and understanding in an open and inclusive community,” and Grace Art Camp was developed around the premise that inherent within the creative process there are opportunities to create awareness, understanding, and compassion for ourselves and all humans everywhere. Grace Institute is nurtured from a long-term commitment by Grace Memorial Episcopal Church to meet the community’s needs for arts education and urban livability, and it states that it nurtures the human spirit through the arts while fostering intercultural humility and learning. The Art of Recycling Festival is described as an America Recycles Day celebration featuring music played on instruments made from recycled objects and a story, indicating participation in a recycling-focused community event.
Grace Art Camp’s leadership team includes Ashley Klump, Executive Director; Susan Gray, Bookkeeper; Ray Apthorp, Registrar and Operations Manager; and Sandra Bright, founding Director of Grace Art Camp. Grace Art Camp was voted Best Summer Camp in the Arts and Crafts category for 2019, 2020, and 2021 in an award sponsored by NW Kids Magazine as well as Mad Science Portland.
Last updated December 28, 2025.
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