Opportunity Guide I Summer, Enrichment & Activities Guide

If your child loves singing, dancing, acting, playing an instrument, composing music or painting and designing, she will find a plethora of outstanding fun and instructional programs where she can develop her talents and meet people who love what she does. Check out extracurricular arts activities, including performance opportunities, at your child’s school or at local community centers. Specialized private weekend classes and summer programs for students of all levels are sponsored by various art institutes, music festivals, universities and professional music and dance companies.

To perform at the highest levels, many arts, especially music and dance, require private lessons and enrichment. If your child likes to perform, look for audition opportunities at local fairs, festivals, community orchestras and theaters. Many professional theaters and ballet companies sponsor summer intensive programs from talented youth. A child who enjoys competing may be interested in participating in arts contests where her work can earn recognition and win awards. The best students compete, at national arts contests that offer scholarship prizes.



  1. CIM offers lessons, classes and ensembles and music (both instrumental and voice) summer programs. In addition, for more serious young musicians: Young Artist Program: The Young Artist Program… Read more
  2. It’s our mission to foster a learning community of diversity and excellence through memorable and innovative educational experiences led by the highest-quality instructors; building skills and… Read more
  3. The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) is a nonprofit organization that has served over 2.8 million academically talented students in grades four through twelve since 1980. Each… Read more
  4. ICS maintains a listing of hundreds of academic competitions in order for students to get ranked in their ICS Global Academic Champions Ranking. Since 2012, ICS has been defining best-practices in… Read more
  5. JMU hosts a wide variety of youth programs including day-long coding programs, dual enrollment programs, courses in physics, robotics, and may more. See the website for the full array of youth camps… Read more
  6. Talent Search Assessment - A research-validated program, Northwestern University’s Midwest Academic Talent Search (NUMATS) utilizes above-grade-level testing to identify academic ability, measure… Read more
  7. With 33 years of experience, SIG designs a multi-week program that combines challenging academics with social, cultural, and recreational opportunities to nurture students’ social skills, as well as… Read more