Intensive Summer Arts Programs: A Big Bang for Your Buck
Your best friend works all summer at a fast-food restaurant to save for spending money in college. Another friend mows lawns, works part-time at Starbucks, and makes a tidy sum. As a visual and performing arts student, why should you abandon the idea of doing a summer job to attend an intensive summer program, camp, or festival?
Glad you asked! Specialized summer arts opportunities immerse you in the life of a visual or performing arts student, prepare you for the complicated application project, and can give you an immeasurable return on your investment.
Develop your skills and technique: through coaching, lessons, and masterclasses, experience greater rigor, and depth of learning to complement and go beyond what high school arts programs are able to offer.
Test drive a school: live the schedule and atmosphere of an art school, conservatory or music school, film, or performing arts school.
Meet professors and teachers that you might want to study with.
Surround yourself with like-minded students: live, perform, dance, and study with students who are equally as passionate about their craft.
Strengthen your portfolio or audition process: prepare for the complex admissions applications of visual and performing arts schools.
Enhance your performance and presentation skills: gain important opportunities to perform or present your work with talented peers.
After such experiences, you might fall in love with this immersive approach and realize your dream of attending a conservatory in your specialization or you might decide that this kind of concentrated, immersive environment is not for you. Perhaps you would prefer a liberal arts college or a large university with a top-notch music, film, theater, dance, or art department.
While these programs can be expensive, most have scholarships and financial aid, and state-run programs tend to be more affordable. Lastly, whether or not you apply to a conservatory, students who invest time and money in these programs often hone their craft enough to receive the reward of valuable scholarships to their college.
In the end, you are much more likely to earn money to reduce the cost of your education through merit scholarships than through money saved from a typical summer job.
Do you need help finding a great summer intensive arts program? Contact us at Best Fit Education for more information.