Portland Metro Arts Summer Camps and Workshops

Portland Metro Arts Summer Camps and Workshops offers activities in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, including drawing, painting, sculpture, weaving, woodworking, mask making, and designing and creating masks and other art projects. Campers can work with plot, character development, voice, staging, and movement to bring a story to life, play drums, ukuleles, recorders, and violins, and read, write, invent, design, and create their own adventure stories. Specific camps include 4 Arts Grade School Camp, 4 Arts Preschool Camp, All About Art camps, The Play’s the Thing Camp, Joyful Jams, Heroes, Dragons & Masks Camp, Makers Workshop Camp, Summer Dance Intensive, and Brush Up Your Shakespeare.

• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Full-day grade school camps for Grades 1–6 run 9 am–4 pm with pick up no later than 5 pm; half-day and preschool camps run 9 am–noon; sessions are offered on specific weeks in June, July, and August

Founded in 1983, Portland Metro Arts is a nonprofit arts organization that has been providing the community with arts education and performance programs for over 50 years. Its mission is to ensure that everyone, especially children, have the opportunity to learn, perform, and experience the arts by providing meaningful access to arts education and performance programs and serving as a cultural resource to the community. PMA operates throughout the Portland Metro Area, honors the diversity of the city, and seeks to contribute to the quality of life in the community.

Staff is trained in CPR and First Aid procedures, and instructors have mastery of the technical aspects of their art and are highly trained in teaching methods. Each teaching artist has years of training, is certified in their area of expertise, and has considerable professional experience, and Guest Artists who are working professionals are on staff for Summer Workshops. The organization follows a philosophy of nondiscrimination and honoring the diversity of the city.

Full-day camps for Grades 1–6 run from 9 am to 4 pm with a supervised lunch break, and half-day preschool camps include all four arts plus basic preschool curriculum. The 4 Arts Grade School Camp offers dance, music, theatre, and visual arts in five days, and the 4 Arts Preschool Camp is a comprehensive arts and academic program for children entering PK–1st grade. All About Art camps explore drawing, painting, and sculpture with a different medium, style, or artistic process each day. The Play’s the Thing Camp includes a performance for family and friends at the end of the camp. Joyful Jams introduces campers to a full spectrum of musical instruments and experiences. Heroes, Dragons & Masks Camp includes learning about legends and tall tales from the Titans of Greece to Viking dragons. Makers Workshop Camp includes teacher-led projects such as weaving and woodworking. Summer Workshops are available for middle school, high school, and adults with Guest Artists who are working professionals.

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis with a waitlist option when camps or workshops are full. There are no extra fees for expensive costumes, additional private lessons, or competition fees. PMA students receive free and discount tickets to a variety of performances each season. Dance, music, theatre, and visual arts classes are available concurrently in the same building, providing one-stop arts programming for the family. The TriMet No. 15 bus stops at the front corner of the building.

Last updated June 28, 2026.