Creative
Careers
Camp
Weeks spent turning young artists into creative entrepreneurs — born out of the mural walls of HOPE Outdoor Gallery, built by HOPE Campaign.
Creatives, meeting causes
“HOPE — Helping Other People Everywhere — connects creatives with causes, mobilizing artists and partners to build a more inclusive, vibrant community.”
HOPE Campaign, mission statementCreative Careers Camp is HOPE Campaign's answer to a simple question: what happens if you hand young people the same tools working artists use — a brand, a canvas, a spray can, a pitch — and treat their ideas like a business, not a school project?
This past summer, that question became weeks of programming at HOPE Outdoor Gallery: kids sketching their own product lines, building them out on laptops, pitching brands, and picking up a paintbrush — or a spray can — against a wall for the very first time.
real brands, dreamed up by kids
Born on the gallery walls
HOPE Outdoor Gallery started in 2010 on Baylor Street — a defunct condo foundation that became, in the organization's own words, “the only art park of its kind in the USA.” Muralists, street artists and neighborhood kids treated it as a shared canvas until it closed in 2019 to make way for a permanent home.
Somewhere in those years, HOPE's organizers noticed the same thing over and over: teenagers weren't just looking at the gallery's walls, they were learning from them — how to plan a piece, defend an idea, work in public. Creative Careers Camp exists to teach that on purpose.
Many disciplines, one portfolio
Campers rotate through the same disciplines HOPE's own creative partners work in every day — then put them together to launch a pretend (very sincerely pitched) brand of their own.
Art & Illustration
Sketchbooks, character design, and drawing for an audience instead of a grade.
Mural Painting
Scaling a small idea onto a big wall, HOPE Outdoor Gallery style.
Screen Printing
Turning a design into something you can actually wear or sell.
Brand & Entrepreneurship
Naming a business, pricing a product, and pitching it out loud.
Every table full, every camper mid-sketch — this is what pitch week looks like inside HOPE Outdoor Gallery.
A week, in snapshots
Creative Careers Camp is going year two
HOPE Campaign is still finalizing exact dates and enrollment for the next Creative Careers Camp. Here's what we can tell you now:
- Hosted in Austin, TX, at HOPE Campaign's studio space and the new HOPE Outdoor Gallery home.
- Built for middle-school-aged makers and older who want to draw, build, and pitch something real.
- Led by working artists, muralists, and brand mentors who volunteer their time through HOPE.
- Every session ends the way this one did — with campers presenting a brand of their own making.
Be first to know
Get on HOPE's list for the next Creative Careers Camp, or ask about volunteering as a mentor.
Email HOPE Campaign See official camp updates →