Performing Arts Programs for High School Students
EC Finder currently lists 56 performing arts programs for high school students. Of these, 10 are free to participate in and 7 offer virtual participation. Examples include A.C.T. Young Conservatory (San Francisco), Alvin Ailey School Summer Intensive, and AMDA High School Conservatory.
- 56
- listed
- 10
- free
- 7
- virtual
- 50
- with a listed deadline
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are performing arts programs for high school students?
- Performing Arts Programs for High School Students are curated extracurricular listings for high school students interested in performing arts. Each listing includes eligibility, cost, and deadline details where known, so you can compare options and find the right fit for your college application profile.
- When are the application deadlines?
- 50 of the 56 programs listed here have a specific deadline month noted. Deadlines vary by program, so check each listing for exact dates.
- Are any of these programs free?
- Yes — 10 of the 56 programs listed here are free to participate in.
- Can I participate virtually?
- Yes — 7 of the 56 programs listed here offer virtual or online participation.
- Are performing arts programs good for a college application?
- Yes — performing arts programs are a common way for high schoolers to show sustained interest and initiative in performing arts on college applications.
Related Categories
56 activities found·Browse by category
A.C.T. Young Conservatory (San Francisco)
American Conservatory Theater's Young Conservatory offers year-round and summer acting classes, intensives, and productions for youth, including high-school-level performance ensembles and audition-based programs.
Alvin Ailey School Summer Intensive
Summer dance training at the Ailey School in New York City, with a Junior Division for ages 12-15 and a Professional Division for ages 16-25 covering ballet, Horton, Graham, jazz, and contemporary technique.
AMDA High School Conservatory
AMDA's High School Conservatory offers on-campus and online intensives in acting, musical theatre, and dance, giving students conservatory-style training with industry professionals.
American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive
ABT's flagship summer ballet training program held in New York, California, and Florida, offering advanced dancers instruction in ABT's National Training Curriculum with merit-based scholarships available.
American Dance Festival Pre-Professional Dance Intensive
A two-week summer dance intensive at Duke University for dancers ages 13-17, offering training across multiple contemporary and modern dance forms with master classes from renowned touring companies.
ArtsBridge Summer – Dramatic Acting
ArtsBridge Dramatic Acting is an audition-based summer intensive hosted at partner colleges where serious high-school actors train with college faculty and receive guidance on BFA/BM audition prep.
ArtsBridge Summer – Musical Theater
Similar to the dramatic acting track, this intensive focuses on voice, acting, and dance for students aiming at competitive musical-theatre programs, with college faculty coaching audition materials.
ASTA National Orchestra Festival
National in-person orchestra festival run by the American String Teachers Association, giving high school orchestras adjudicated performances and clinics with professional musicians.
Berkeley Rep School of Theatre – Camps and Intensives
Berkeley Repertory Theatre's School of Theatre runs summer camps and intensives in acting, musical theatre, and production for middle and high-school students, taught by professional artists.
Berklee Summer – Musical Theater Acting Intensive (MTAI)
Berklee's MTAI is a two-week intensive in Boston for high-school students focusing on acting, singing, and movement for musical theatre, culminating in a showcase.
Brevard Music Center High School Programs
Residential summer training at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, with multi-week tracks for high schoolers in orchestral studies, musical theater, and classical voice alongside guest artists from major orchestras.
Broadway Artists Alliance – Summer Intensives
BAA runs audition-only summer intensives in New York City for young performers, with masterclasses led by Broadway professionals and individualized coaching on songs and monologues.
BroadwayEvolved – Summer Intensive
BroadwayEvolved offers a selective NYC-based intensive where students train with Broadway actors, directors, and casting directors in song interpretation, acting, and dance, plus industry panels.
California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) - Theater
A highly selective four-week residential summer conservatory for high school students serious about acting, with training in scene study, voice, movement, and on-camera acting from working industry professionals.
Chapman University Backhausdance Summer Intensive
In-person 1-3 week dance intensive at Chapman University where high schoolers train daily in contemporary, modern, ballet, improvisation, and composition.
Circle in the Square Theatre School Summer Intensive
A rigorous two-week summer acting or musical theater workshop at the only theater school housed inside a Broadway theater, condensing the conservatory's professional training curriculum for students 15 and up.
CMU Pre-College Drama
Carnegie Mellon's Pre-College Drama is a rigorous six-week residential program mirroring the School of Drama's BFA training in acting, musical theatre, or design/production, ideal for students aiming for top-tier theatre programs.
Colorado All-State Choir (CMEA)
Audition-based statewide honor choir organized by the Colorado Music Educators Association. Selected high school singers rehearse and perform with renowned guest conductors. 2026 event held February 5-7 with auditions at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Students must be enrolled in a high school choral program and sponsored by a CMEA-member director.
Colorado All-State Jazz Choir (CMEA)
Statewide jazz vocal honor ensemble for 11th and 12th graders, with three groups (Treble SSAA, Mixed SATB, and Tenor-Bass) of 16 students each selected via a three-step audition. Selected singers rehearse and perform in January at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs during the CMEA Conference, working with nationally and internationally recognized vocal jazz artists.
Colorado Youth Symphony (CYSO)
Audition-based youth symphony in the Denver metro area with three orchestras (Philharmonia, Sinfonia, Symphony Orchestra) and a Wind Ensemble for school-age musicians. Rehearsals are Monday evenings beginning mid-September at Colorado's Finest High School of Choice in Englewood. Auditions are submitted as 2-3 minute videos. Payment plans and financial aid available.
CSSSA Dance (California State Summer School for the Arts)
Four-week residential pre-professional dance intensive for California high schoolers, offering ballet, contemporary, and modern technique training with professional guest artists.
Folger Secondary School Shakespeare Festival
A decades-running festival at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, where middle and high school students edit, direct, and perform a 15-minute scene from a Shakespeare play using the playwright's original language.
Idyllwild Arts Summer Program
A summer arts program on a mountain campus in Southern California offering 120+ workshops and intensives for teens ages 13-18 in visual arts, music, theatre, dance, film, and creative writing.
Interlochen Arts Camp - High School Programs
A renowned residential summer arts camp in Michigan where high schoolers train intensively in music, theatre, dance, visual arts, film, or creative writing alongside a community of thousands of young artists.
International Thespian Festival
A week-long national theatre festival at Indiana University bringing together thousands of high school Thespians for workshops, college auditions, and the Thespy Awards recognizing excellence in school theatre performance and technical design.
Joffrey Ballet School Summer Intensives
Summer ballet intensives at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, including a pre-professional track for ages 14-25 covering classical technique, partnering, pointe, and contemporary styles, admission by audition.
La Jolla Playhouse – Young Performers Programs
La Jolla Playhouse offers summer and school-year acting and theatre-making programs for youth, including high-school intensives tied to its professional productions.
Looking for Shakespeare (NYU Steinhardt)
A four-week online summer intensive from NYU Steinhardt's Program in Educational Theatre in which high school students study Shakespeare's plays through close text analysis, acting, and virtual production.
Music Center Spotlight Awards
Large Southern California performing arts competition and training program with $100,000+ in scholarships across categories, including music.
Music for All National Festival
Prestigious non-competitive national festival in Indianapolis where invited high school concert bands, orchestras, percussion, and chamber ensembles perform for expert adjudicators.
National High School Musical Theatre Awards (Jimmy Awards)
A national celebration of student musical theater performers, where nominees who win one of 51 regional awards programs travel to perform at a Broadway showcase in New York City for scholarships and recognition.
National Wind Band Honors (Mark of Excellence)
National recorded-submission competition recognizing outstanding high school and middle school concert bands, judged on a live recording from the current school year.
National YoungArts Foundation National Arts Competition
A prestigious national competition for artists ages 15-18 across ten disciplines including visual arts, design, film, jazz, photography, classical music, theater, dance, and voice, with cash awards and mentorship for winners.
North Carolina Governor's School
The nation's oldest statewide residential summer program for gifted and talented students, offering rising juniors and seniors intensive study across the arts alongside academic disciplines at no cost to families.
Northwestern NHSI – Theatre Arts Division (Cherubs)
Northwestern's Theatre Arts "Cherubs" program is a five-week, very selective residential intensive in Evanston with a full conservatory-style schedule and final performances.
NYU Tisch Summer High School Program
Tisch Summer High School offers four-week residential and commuter tracks in drama, filmmaking, and production, giving students college-credit training with Tisch faculty in New York City.
Orchestra Cup (National Orchestra Championships)
Elite, invitation-based national high school orchestra championship held at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, where top school orchestras perform for renowned adjudicators.
PlayGround Young Playwrights Project
Bay Area playwriting contest and mentorship program for high school students across all nine Bay Area counties, with winning short plays given professional staged readings at Potrero Stage in San Francisco.
Ragazzi Boys Chorus (Young Men's Ensemble)
Redwood City-based boys' and young men's choral organization with a track for older/high-school-age singers, offering vocal training and performances.
Rita Moreno Awards
Regional high school musical theatre awards program covering San Mateo to Santa Barbara counties, California, recognizing top student performers who compete for a chance to represent the region at the national Jimmy Awards in New York.
San Francisco Ballet School Summer Program
Prestigious pre-professional summer ballet intensive with tracks for intermediate and advanced/pre-professional dancers, admission by audition.
San Francisco Youth Chorus
San Francisco choir serving singers in grades K-12, with formal auditions for grades 3 and up, rehearsing weekly during the school year and performing publicly.
San Jose Stage Company – Work With Us (Teens)
San Jose Stage Company lists seasonal positions and internships, including education, front-of-house, and production opportunities that sometimes accept advanced high-school students interested in professional theatre operations.
School of American Ballet Summer Course
A five-week intensive ballet training program in New York City run by the official school of New York City Ballet, admitting intermediate and advanced dancers ages 12-18 through a national audition tour.
SFJAZZ High School All-Stars
Audition-based jazz training program at SFJAZZ in San Francisco that selects 20-25 of the Bay Area's top young jazz musicians for the All-Stars Big Band and Combo each year. Members rehearse weekly with professional jazz educators and perform at SFJAZZ Center venues. Tuition is $500 per ensemble (with discount for both); need-based scholarships available. Audition video due in July.
South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities Summer Programs
One- to five-week residential summer arts programs in South Carolina for students in grades 6-11, offering focused training tracks in music, visual arts, dance, theatre, and creative writing.
Stagedoor Manor
A total-immersion theater summer camp in upstate New York for students ages 10-18, offering three-week sessions with dozens of full productions and classes across acting, singing, dance, and technical theater.
Summer Shakes Intensive (Chicago Youth Shakespeare)
A Chicago summer intensive in which high school students train in Shakespearean acting technique and textual analysis, culminating in a week of live Shakespeare performances.
Summer with Shakespeare High School Intensive (A Noise Within)
A five-week summer intensive in Pasadena, California for students ages 14-18 that combines conservatory-style Shakespeare text analysis with a choice of acting or theater technology training, culminating in performances.
Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts
A three-week tuition-free summer intensive for rising Tennessee juniors and seniors to develop pre-professional skills in music, ballet, theatre, filmmaking, or visual art.
U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" Orchestra Young Artist Competition
Prestigious national solo instrumental competition for grades 9-12 strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion; winners perform with the U.S. Army Orchestra.
UNCSA Summer Session
Summer intensives, camps, and workshops for high schoolers at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, spanning dance, drama, visual art, filmmaking/animation, and music with conservatory-level faculty.
Virginia Summer Residential Governor's Schools - Visual & Performing Arts
A tuition-free, weeks-long residential summer program on a Virginia college campus where junior and senior high schoolers pursue intensive study in visual and performing arts alongside seminars and performances.
Walnut Hill School for the Arts Summer Programs
One- to three-week residential summer intensives at Walnut Hill's arts boarding school near Boston, covering theater, music, dance, filmmaking/writing, fashion, and visual arts for students ages 11-19.
Young Artists of America – Summer Performing Arts Program
YAA runs summer training and performance programs that combine orchestra, choir, and musical theatre, culminating in fully staged productions with professional-level direction.
Young People's Symphony Orchestra (YPSO)
Oldest independent youth orchestra in the nation, based in Berkeley, drawing Bay Area musicians ages 11-21 for weekly rehearsals, a retreat, and subscription concerts.
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