Information for specific summer camps will generally be sent by the instructors 48-72 hours before the first day of camp. Many of our instructors work full-time at our camps all summer and are very busy. If you have a specific question or concern about summer camps, feel free to email the Program Director. The following is general housekeeping information that applies to summer camps, winter and spring camps, and day workshops.

Arrival policy: Please do not drop your child off earlier than 10 minutes before the start of camp, including on the first day. Our teachers spend a lot of time before the day begins setting up so that the day starts organized and campers can dive right into their activities. If you do have something come up where it is essential to drop off your child earlier than 10 minutes before the start of class, please contact Program Director first so that they can confirm with the teachers.

Late policy: Please be respectful of the time of our teaching artists. We understand completely that life happens, so we provide parents with the phone number of one of our teachers at the beginning of camp so that you can notify them directly. Notifying the Program Director or calling the site is not always effective as we keep our young artists busy and might not hear a phone call elsewhere, and our Program Director is often off-site. Our facilities are locked on the outside for maximum security, so if you are late to drop-off (we’re parents! we get it), we request you also notify the teacher directly. For every 15 minutes that a child is waiting after the end of the day, and a teacher has not been notified, there will be a $5 late charge to the card on file.

DROP-OFF/PICK-UP PERMISSIONS: When you register, please let us know ALL caregivers who have permission to pick up. We will ask for ID at pick-up if we do not recognize the person picking the child up. We also ask for written notification if anyone is added to that list after registration, or if there is a change. We use Sawyer as our registration, so we check in and out every child through through our rosters.

SNACKS- YES!!!! We love snacks! We encourage parents to pack snacks, even for 1/2 day camps. When packing snacks for your camper, please note that Vibe Studios are a NUT FREE space for the safety of some of our artists who have severe allergies. Thank you for understanding.

Lunches: Please pack a nut-free lunch, and be generous, campers get hungry! We do have snacks on-site for when kids forget or if they are still hungry. Please pack a water bottle as we do not carry bottled water. Please note: often young campers get so excited during breaks that they forget to eat. We do our best to remind campers to focus on eating, but ultimately we will not be “making” any child eat their lunch! We are happy to tell you if they ate their lunch, but we are not in a position to make sure that they do.

Outside time: Vibe feels it important that students are able to access the outdoors for exercise, play, and a lot of times for finding inspiration for our art projects with a walk around the block! Please pack accordingly, we generally spend a some time outside- including our fall and winter camps! We eat lunches outside either onsite or a quick walk to a nearby playground or park. For warmer days: apply sunscreen before drop-off, as our teachers and staff will not be able to do so. Hats, sunglasses, extra clothing as needed. Sometimes on warmer days we will have some games involving water- sprinklers, etc., and we will give you a heads up and make sure we have permission (and extra clothes!) Please note: in the case of a heat-wave, Vibe reserves the right to cancel class for the day if needed as we believe the safest place a young artist can be is at home to prevent heat exhaustion. The Portland Moose lodge classes are held in a very cool basement and we have been able to continue offering classes at that site with limited outside time under shade. The St John Studio at Cathedral Village and The Craft Factory both have central AC and is fine. We will credit any missed classes due to heat or snow.

We love our young artists and our teachers! Sometimes a young artist might not agree with the teacher, or get along so well with others. We do our best to make sure that all young artists are respectful to each other, no unkind words, and everyone stays in their own personal space. We generally try to de-escalate any situation by taking space, having one on one conversations and redirecting. Sometimes children need quiet space to reflect and relax, and all of our sites provide that and staffing to allow for that. Our staffing levels are 4-5 students per adult per class. If a child hurts or bullies another child we will call the caregiver and ask for the child to be taken home. We can then have a conversation after the day is over for best practices so that we can welcome the young artist back to camp. Should you have any concerns, we ask that you contact the Program Director.

IF YOUR CAMPER IS NOT FEELING WELL: If your child is experiencing any of the following: 1. Fever. Any temperature of 100.4° Fahrenheit (38° Centigrade), 2. Vomiting or diarrhea 24 hours prior to camp, 3. Bad pain, 4. Coughing that won’t stop — or anything different about your child’s breathing- we ask that you keep your camper at home. We understand it is frustrating to pay for camp and then your camper is ill- we will fully credit camp tuition due to illness.

TOILET TRAINING / BATHROOM INDEPENDENCE: Children should be fully toilet trained and possess the ability to use the bathroom independently. This involves not relying on diapers or training pants, minimizing accidents, proactively communicating bathroom needs, pausing activities with ample time to reach the bathroom, independently managing clothing, self-cleaning after using the toilet, and practicing proper hand washing and drying. Reasonable accommodations will be explored for children with documented medical conditions.

CANCELATIONS: FOR ALL CAMPS: Cancelation 31+ days from the start of camp: Participants that cancel 31 or more days from the start of camp will receive a refund of 65%. Cancelation 15-30 days from the start of camp: Refund of 40%, Cancelation 0-14 days: no refund (NOTE: For Summer Camps 2024- and after, NO REFUNDS for cancelations after July 1st).

DID YOU KNOW? : You can write off Vibe camps and classes as childcare. Please save your receipt, which will have our TAX ID (20-5930495) number as well as the classes you registered for.

LASTLY: We do not offer refunds or credits for camps that were missed due to forgetting. We understand that when you register early, it’s easy to lose track of schedules. We generally don’t send reminders after you receive your order confirmation and receipt (didn’t see one- check your junk folder, where sometimes they like to hide), but do send a general welcome email 48 hours prior to camp starting. Please be sure to enter the camp into your google/Apple/electronic calendar of your choosing. Thank you for understanding!

While this may seem like a lot, we want to make that you have a good sense of what to expect and what you can share with your young artist. We love our Vibe community!