Camp MASS MoCA

Young people entering grades 2–9 are invited to Camp MASS MoCA. (For the first time, MASS MoCA is hosting a camp for middle schoolers in grades 6–9 during week 1 of camp!) Participants explore the expansive campus and world-class art exhibitions and create original works of their own. Sign up early as space is limited to 20 campers each week!

Click here to learn more and sign up your camper: https://massmoca.org/event/camp-mass-moca/

Creative Lab in Multimedia and Performance with Shayna Strype

Week 1: August 4-8, 2025

Young people entering grades 6–9

Join us for a weeklong camp-style workshop during which students will create multimedia art and performance in a creative laboratory setting. Inspired by the art and architecture of MASS MoCA, participants will work together to utilize various materials, video, projections, light, and sound. Together, they’ll bring their ideas to life in a culminating, one-of-a-kind ‘happening’ within the galleries and share their artistic visions with family, friends, and museum-goers.

WHOOP DEE DOO Presents: The Most Beautiful Mess in the World

(Installation, Worldbuilding)

Week 1: August 4-8, 2025

Young people entering grades 2–6

Have you ever built a fort at home using couch cushions and blankets? Then YOU are an installation artist! Installation artists reimagine what’s possible and create new worlds using a variety of materials to transform familiar spaces into something entirely new.

Campers will explore the explosive possibilities of hands-on installation art design through sculpting with everyday materials such as cardboard and newspaper, lighting tricks and techniques, and space activation through live performance. Taking inspiration from innovative artists on view at MASS MoCA including Laurie Anderson and James Turrell, campers will use installation art methods learned over the course of a week to transform a mystery space at the museum, so the space itself becomes the artwork! Join WHOOP DEE DOO for an amazing week of collaborative art making and performance-filled fun, with guided walk-throughs of our installation for friends and family to experience.

Pulse and Flow: a site-based art journey with Helen Tocci and Donna Costello

(Sound, Rhythm, Music and Movement)

Week 2, August 11–15, 2025

Young people entering grades 2–6

Immerse yourself in the sounds, rhythms and spaces of MASS MoCA! Exhibitions by Gunnar Schonbeck, Raven Chacon (Like Magic) and Stephen Vitiello are the fuel that ignites the campers’ senses during this week fusing music, movement, and visual design. Spaces come alive with student-devised movement and improvised soundscapes. By resonating sounds in found objects, enlivening rhythms in the body, making music collectively, and composing artistic scores, campers will have the rare opportunity to interact intimately with both the artwork and the space to create a multidisciplinary immersive performance on the grounds and in the buildings of MASS MoCA.

The Alchemy of Connection with Helen Tocci and Donna Costello

(Storytelling, Sculpture and Social Action)

Week 3, August 18–22, 2025

Young people entering grades 2–6

Connection, curiosity, and transformation are the drivers of this camp week, all inspired by Alison’s Pebworth’s Cultural Apothecary. Storytelling is central to the question Pebworth poses “What do we carry in our own hearts?” Campers bring their own experiences to the table using dramatic play, movement, and art-making as they explore ways to connect in community with each other and connect to the greater community of MASS MoCA. An installation that is active, participatory, and brings community together will form, transform, and leave us changed for the better.