Arts, Crafts & Performance: camps for adults

Sewing, knitting, circus, theatre, improv, and book camps. The craft is serious; the mess-hall meals and cabin gossip are pure summer camp. We track 7 camps here, 6 of them running. The one that isn't stays listed with a label, because half the internet still recommends it.

Not sure which camp?

Five questions, 60 seconds, one honest recommendation from the 68 camps still running.

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Active camps

  • Broadway Fantasy Camp

    A Manhattan fantasy camp for adults who never shook the theatre bug: rehearse numbers from big musicals with Broadway pros, tour backstage at a Broadway house, do headshots and mock auditions where everyone gets cast, and toast at an opening-night party.

    New York Format varies $500 to $999

  • Bummer Camp

    Bestselling author Ann Garvin spun her camp-set novel Bummer Camp into a real women-only readers' retreat in the Wisconsin woods.

    Wisconsin Weekend Varies / not published Creator-run

  • Camp Improv Utopia

    A nonprofit-run network of 18+ improv sleepaway camps where campers split their days between workshops with top improv instructors (Craig Cackowski among 2026 East faculty) and genuine camp fare like archery, axe throwing, and arts and crafts.

    California / New York / Colorado Weekend Varies / not published

  • Camp Workroom Social

    Jennifer Wiese of Brooklyn's Workroom Social runs a full sleepaway camp for adult sewists at a Catskills YMCA camp, pairing intensive apparel classes taught by internet-famous sewing instructors with hiking, ziplining, and cabin life.

    New York Weekend $1,000 to $1,999 Creator-run

  • Knit Camp (Dappled Fern Fibers)

    Yarn shop Dappled Fern Fibers runs 'Knit Camp' out of rustic cabins on Devil Track Lake near Minnesota's Gunflint Trail, now in its fourth year and facilitated by owner and life coach Dorothy Broomall.

    Minnesota Format varies Varies / not published

  • NECCA Circus Intensives & Skills Weeks

    The New England Center for Circus Arts runs week-long adult 'traincations' in its purpose-built Trapezium: pick a main focus like trapeze, aerial fabric, lyra, hand balancing, or wheel arts, then fill the rest of each day with other disciplines.

    Vermont Week-long $1,000 to $1,999

On hiatus, unverified, or no longer running

  • Camp Winnarainbow Adult Camp

    Woodstock icon Wavy Gravy's circus and performing-arts camp in Mendocino County has run a legendary grown-ups' session for decades, teaching trapeze, stilt-walking, juggling, and clowning to adults sleeping in tipis on Black Oak Ranch.

    California Weekend On hiatus

Missing a arts, crafts & performance camp? Suggest it.