School of Creative & Performing Arts [ SOCAPA ] — Local services in New York

When my 16 y-o daughter decided that she’d work with cinema - as I, a screenwriter, do - we thought it’d be a good idea for her to have a taste of how it is actually done. We’d researched a lot of options before finding out about Socapa. Their program and curriculum seemed amazing, and the staff was really helpful and nice with all our queries and doubts. I expected she’d have a good experience on their Core Filmmaking 3 week camp in NY. I was wrong: it was much, much better. I could attest that not only by her enthusiasm and happiness while there and when she came back, but also by the unbelievable amount of knowledge she managed to grasp with the help of the instructors and the collaboration of her peers - as all students work in each other movies, in different capacities, and also have the chance to create and direct their own shorts. Writing, cinematography, editing, directing, she’s been exposed to a great deal of core principles and, above all, hands-on experience. Also, the school really goes all out to make all students feel welcome and safe and happy there - even for an international student then in her first experience staying away from her country by her own. She’s coming back this year for the Advanced program, now in VT, and I’m positive that, after such an amazing and complete experience of what’s really like to make movies - magic, fascinating and extremely demanding work - she’s gonna be up to the task of building her future telling her stories on screens, big and small. I couldn’t recommend Socapa’s programs more. If I could, this would be a six-out-of-five...

I attended the 3 week core filmmaking camp, and I can say that I absolutely hated it with a passion. It was the most boring thing I’ve ever done and I had to quit the last week because of how horrible the experience was. The days are extremely long and they make you stay late and during the weekends. Almost everyday was sitting in the same spot for 8 hours, and the teacher I had wasn’t even good. She never even helped me, couldn’t speak up, was extremely quiet, and the teaching was overall boring and I didn’t learn a single thing. She was also rude at times. This camp is so expensive and it’s low quality, not worth a penny I could’ve been way more productive doing anything else. The program was also extremely disorganized expecting you to do things without giving you any time to do so and not even telling you you had to do that. Absolutely ridiculous extremely sorry that they wasted my parents money and my time, + they don’t give any sort of refund whatsoever. I couldn’t stand the camp, and I’m an athlete and there’s no time to stand up much less exercise. For multiple days in a row i would have to sit at a chair from 9-5 editing, and they would rarely let me go to the bathroom. This is probably the most extensive review you’ll see because there’s so much to say with all honesty. I would never come back here not...

My Daughter Anna dream is to be a writer, director & filmmaker. Finding experiences and training is this area is very challenging. We felt blessed to have been recommended to SOCAPA and attended the 1 week Core Filmmaking Camp in Manhattan in the late summer of 2019 after her sophomore year. It was a fantastic experience for her. The program was very well organized, the teaching was top notch and it was the best of the 4 camps she had attended up until then. She particularly like how they were treated as serious young adults who wanted to really learn filmmaking and not children staying busy during the summer with a "camp" . For this reason I feel like their programs are really closer to an academy experience - staying in dorms, serious teaching , etc. than a camp. It is the only program she wants to attend again - The whole program and the NYC experience was amazing , and excellent value, well supervised. She was all signed up for a 2 week session in 2020 but due to COVID was canceled. This year we are so excited they are back and offering in person sessions. She's over the top excited to go back this summer prior to starting college - she will be attending and we will be investing in a 4 week program. She...