the 2018 summer sweepstakes is now open
eNTRIES CLOSE MONDAY, APRIL 9.
WINNER DRAWN TUESDAY, APRIL 10.
How much is tuition for the asc theatre camp?
Tuition is $3,625 per session. Campers attending both sessions receive a 10% discount on their total session tuition cost. Tuition for the Extended Experience Week (XXW) between sessions is $900.
I want to come to camp, but the tuition cost is a prohibitive factor for me. What can I do, and where do I start?
Don’t worry – we have several options in place for easing the burden of tuition. We want to make camp a reality for everyone, regardless of financial situation. With that said, the first step for everyone towards getting to camp is filling out an application. Applications are free to submit and have no strings attached; they cost you nothing but some time and effort, and they neither obligate you to attend camp nor guarantee you a spot at camp.
I filled out and submitted the application – now what?
We will review your application and contact applicants and their families regarding admittance. Applications are rolling until filled. Campers must be accepted in order to both register for camp and apply for financial aid.
I was accepted! Now what?
Congratulations on your acceptance! But you’re not done yet – after submitting the application and being accepted, parents and guardians must then register to secure their campers’ place in either session. Registration requires a $150 tuition deposit and guarantees your spot in the accepted session. Acceptance emails sent to campers and their families will contain a custom link to their personal registration form, as well as a link to the financial aid application. Families may apply for financial aid at any time after acceptance, whether before or after registering.
A note about financial aid awards: the financial aid fund provides families with tuition assistance. We do not award full scholarships through the financial aid fund. For more information about full scholarship possibilities, check out the Shakespeare Sweepstakes and the External Scholarship tabs in this section.
How is “registering” different from “applying”?
Registering is not the same as applying! As it says above, the ASC Theatre Camp does not charge an application fee (because applying to camp shouldn’t cost you anything), but accepted applicants must in turn accept their acceptances by submitting the registration form – which includes paying a $150 tuition deposit.
Registration is required to hold your place in either session. If you do not register and pay the $150 non-refundable tuition deposit, you may lose your place and move to our waiting list.
Please carefully review the registration checklists for both campers and parents.
Thanks to the Financial Aid Fund, partial tuition assistance is available to help ease the burden of tuition.
Once a camper’s application has been accepted, they may apply for aid using the custom Financial Aid Application link contained in their acceptance email.
Some things to keep in mind about applying for Financial Aid:
- Financial Aid awards are not full scholarships.
- We do what we can with financial aid, but it’s important to know that financial aid awards will not cover the full cost of tuition.
- Financial Aid awards can help with up to half the cost of tuition, making $1812.50 the largest financial aid amount we are able to award.
- We are unable to provide travel subsidies.
- We accept Financial Aid applications on a rolling basis and send out case-by-case award offers until all aid has been distributed.
- Priority for Financial Aid awards will go to registered campers, but campers are not required to register before applying for Financial Aid.
The 2018 summer Sweepstakes
The ASCTC 2018 Summer Sweepstakes opens on MONDAY, MARCH 19. Head on over to the Entry Form in order to put your name in the pot. We will select the lucky winner on TUESDAY, APRIL 10. May the odds be ever in your favor!
aBOUT THE sHAKESPEARE sWEEPSTAKES
My self-confidence improved monumentally during the time I was at camp. I went into camp shy and quiet, constantly fearing that I was going to be judged negatively. By the time camp was over, I truly believed that it didn’t matter if people judged me because I am enough just how I am.
Camper, 2012
Programs like the ASC Theatre Camp are transformative. And expensive.
Though the cost of the ASC Theatre Camp is significantly lower than that of the few other comparable programs (both across the country and around the world), it can still be prohibitive for many.
So a few years ago, we created the Shakespeare Summer Sweepstakes, which we’re proud to continue today. The Sweepstakes is a chance to win a full tuition scholarship to a session of camp — for ANYBODY. Everyone can enter, and everyone has an equal chance to win. (Want to see how we choose the winner? Make sure to check out the previous winner selection videos at the bottom of this page).
That first year, Cat Moreschi (pictured above) was our winner. After her experience in the first session of ASCTC 2016, she wrote us to say:
I can’t even begin to explain how much attending camp has changed me. I learned so much over the course of the three weeks, met so many wonderful people, and had so much fun. Even now, two weeks later, I find myself wishing I was back at camp. I would have been more than happy to spend my entire summer there. … I can’t thank you enough for allowing me to have this experience. It is one I will never forget.

We raise money year-round for the ASCTC Financial Aid Fund, and we are able to provide some tuition assistance. But we simply can’t make camp a reality for all the students who want, and need, and wish to come. At least, not yet.
The Shakespeare Summer Sweepstakes was created for those potential campers. For those who will be bolstered and buoyed by camp, encouraged to take ownership of their words, their presence, their essential being – to push themselves to the limit, to encounter insurmountable challenges on day one and then surmount them on day twenty-one. For those who will change and challenge their fellow campers, their directors and RDAs, and themselves. Because that’s what our campers do, that’s what camp does, and if price is the only thing standing in the way then by heaven, we’ll shove it over for at least one person, at least one camper, to have an experience they couldn’t otherwise.
This brings me to a larger point about why we have this Sweepstakes at all: If you can afford camp, please pay for it.
In order to provide the experience we provide, we require the time and effort of a lot of very dedicated people. We use resources like the Blackfriars Playhouse and the Mary Baldwin University campus. We hire a world-class artistic staff to direct, teach, and train our campers; alongside a top-notch administrative staff to bring those artistic ideas to life. We provide housing for the campers (with round-the-clock adult supervision) and access to a healthy variety of meal choices (other than gruel with a side of saltines).
These things cost money. The price tag of tuition isn’t about making money for the American Shakespeare Center — which, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is not legally permitted to make a profit. Tuition pays for the program, and that price tag is simply what it costs to run a program as exemplary, exceptional, and extraordinary as ours.
I want camp to be available to everybody. This Sweepstakes is one way of bringing camp to at least one person for whom attendance would otherwise be impossible. We all like to get something for free whenever we can – but please don’t enter the Sweepstakes just because it would be nice to get camp for free.
We need your support. If you can afford to support camp by paying tuition, then you can also give a camper who could never otherwise attend a better chance of winning.
SWEEPSTAKES ON TOUR
In 2018, we debuted the Sweepstakes on Tour in Clarksville, Texas. Learn More
previous winners
2017 – Maren Machel-Ostlund
2016 – Cat Moreschi
Many organizations offer competitive, merit- and need-based scholarships for high school students seeking to enrich their lives through summer arts programs. Here are a few that we recommend checking out if you’re thinking about applying for Financial Aid.
Other Scholarship Opportunities
We have started a list of possible national and state scholarship opportunities below. If you discover a local or state scholarship opportunity that you would like to share with fellow campers, please send us the scholarship details and we will add it to the list. This list is for your reference only. We cannot guarantee the availability of any of these opportunities or that the ASC Theatre Camp qualifies for any funding prerequisite.
- The Andrew Lloyd Webber initiative from the American Theatre Wing – direct support for underserved public school students demonstrating exceptional talent and economic need to participate in after school training programs or intensive summer study programs to better prepare for future training at the university level.
- Application deadline extended through January 29, 2018!
- Princess Grace Foundation
- Donna Reed Performing Arts Scholarships – National
- Young Masters Program – Texas
- National YoungArts Foundation (Theater) (have to be 15-18 to apply; must register in competition in order to win cash award)
- Educational Theatre Association Scholarships– students must be inducted Thespians, and/or compete in the Thespian Scholarship Auditions at the International Thespian Festival.
- The Anthony Quinn Foundation supports high school students’ extracurricular study of the visual arts and design, performing arts, media arts, and/or literary arts. Scholarship amounts range from $1,000 to $2,500.
- Scholarships may be used for a recognized pre-college, summer, or afterschool arts education program but may not be used for either secondary school or college tuition.
- To be eligible, applicants must be a young adult in high school who demonstrates exceptional talent, dedication, and a strong commitment to personal artistic growth who will benefit from financial support.
ASCTC Fundraising Fun: Creative Ways to Meet Your Goals
Scholarships are well and good, but you don’t need one to raise money for camp yourself. This list of fun and creative fundraising ideas can help you meet your tuition fundraising goals. If you have other ideas to add to this list, please share them with us. Other campers have seen great success by using some of the ideas below.
- Host a spaghetti dinner or bake sale at your school or church
- Host a sonnet reading event or talent show
- Produce a one-act play
- Sell raffle tickets for a prize donated by a local business or community group
- Collect money for writing poems or creating greeting cards for family and friends
- Offer to help your neighbors with lawn care, recycling, or pet-sitting
- Partner with a local grocery store and offer to bag groceries in exchange for keeping tips
- Use your creative skills to sell hand-made crafts and art
- Host a yard or garage sale with your neighbors
- Offer to do errands or odd-jobs for people in your community that need assistance
- Write the numbers 1-85 on 85 envelopes. If every person that you give an envelope to donates the amount written on their envelope, you will collect enough funds to cover the cost of tuition.
We have also made it possible for your friends and family to contribute to your camp tuition through our online form, Give the Gift of Camp. You can share this link with your family and friends by email and other social media. The form does not require a set payment amount, so friends and family can contribute as much as they like.
Other resources that you may find in your community include grants and arts scholarships. We suggest contacting your local arts council, community foundation, city council, school system, and state commission for the arts to inquire about funding sources in your region.
We hope that these ideas jump-start many creative fundraising efforts!