It's not just any summer camp.
Over 170 high school students from 25 states attended the exclusive — and extremely exciting — GRAMMY Camp this summer. Hosted by the GRAMMY Museum, the newly expanded music industry Camp was held in Miami, Los Angeles and New York City between June and August 2025.
For more than 20 years, GRAMMY Camp has offered participants insight into all aspects of commercial music via specific "career track" programming. Each location also featured a tailored curriculum tied to the city's unique musical heritage, such as musical theater and music production with a DJ emphasis.
"GRAMMY Camp has been a vital launching pad for high school students chasing their dreams in music, providing a real-world glimpse into the industry and the journey that comes with it,” GRAMMY Museum President and CEO Michael Sticka said in a statement.
Each GRAMMY Camp also featured guest artists who shared insights from their careers and offered advice to attendees. Cimafunk, DARUMAS, and GALE were guests artists at the Miami camp; Braxton Cook, Chloe Flower, and Renée Elise Goldsberry in New York; and Alexander Stewart, Aly & AJ, Daniel Seavey, D'Mile, India Shawn, and Reneé Rapp in Los Angeles.
In the spirit of shepherding the next generation of music industry professionals, two GRAMMY Camp attendees shared a diary of their own experiences. Read on for behind-the-scenes images and personal stories from 2025 GRAMMY Campers.
Miami Camp
Karlee Green, 16, Burbank, California
Music Business
I was super excited to attend GRAMMY camp this year because I really want a career in the industry working in the music business, and it was such a great opportunity to help me start. GRAMMY Camp was so fun and really helped me feel out the industry. Coming in, I wanted to be an artist manager. But walking out, I started thinking about live music and how being a tour manager could be super interesting. I had an amazing time at GRAMMY camp so I wanted to share a few little pieces of what we did this week!
Day 1
On the first day of GRAMMY Camp Miami we learned about different roles in the music industry from Jason Goldman. Jason shared with us what roles come out to play in the industry and how they are helpful like music producer, music manager, and publisher.
Day 2
Today we got to see a performance from GALE! GALE is a Latin GRAMMY nominee and she shared with us what it was like growing up in Puerto Rico and how she got signed to a label.
Day 3
On this day we had a visit from TikTok! Alberto, Manuel and Todd came in to show us the music side of the app; how the music gets on TikTok and how they help audio go viral!
This is a haul we filmed for our music business class. Music business is not just about paperwork and phone calls, social media can also fall under music business. Many artists hire someone to run their social media pages for them so for this project we had an hour to go and make TikTok’s for the GRAMMY Museum page!
At the end of the day, we got to see an awesome performance from Cimafunk featuring other campers! Cimafunk is a GRAMMY nominee! He's a Cuban musician known for mixing funk and hip hop with Cuban and Afro-Caribbean music.
Day 4
This morning we got to hear from Jason Goldman, also known as "spicy G." Jason taught us about what should be on your checklist as an up and coming artist!
Later, we got to hear from Latin GRAMMY-nominated band, DARUMAS! DARUMAS told us their origin story, how they all met and formed the band, even being from all around the world: Ceci from Miami, Vedala from Haiti, and Aldana from Argentina.
Courtesy of the Recording Academy/photo by John Parra, Getty Images© 2025
Day 5
This afternoon we got to hear from Jesse Allen from GRAMMY U. GRAMMY U is a program students can join once they graduate high school and move forward with their job in the industry!
In the music business track today we were learning about marketing. Here, we learned about marketing plans and they help you develop a successful career.
Day 6
My friends and I on the last day of GRAMMY camp Miami; about to leave for the 2025 GRAMMY camp showcase which was held in the Gibson showroom!
That's a little of everything we did at GRAMMY Camp Miami this week! GRAMMY Camp was such an amazing opportunity and I had so much fun learning more about the music industry!
Los Angeles Camp
Leon Vincent Scheifele, 17, Saint Petersburg, Florida
Vocal Performance
Hi! I’m Leon Vincent! When I found out I got into GRAMMY Camp, I was scared. It was completely out of my comfort zone — working with other people on music, especially with peers my own age, was something I had never done before. The idea of collaborating all week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. felt intimidating. I kept thinking, What if I don’t like it?
But I was wrong. GRAMMY Camp ended up being one of the most important experiences in shaping the direction of my music career.
On the first day of GRAMMY camp, we all shuffled into a big room with chairs and a stage, the faculty introduced themselves and later each "track" was called up onto the stage to introduce themselves. I was in the vocal performance track. After introducing ourselves we were split into groups again and headed to our rooms/area where our track would be working.
My teacher, Ms. Tanisha, was awesome and so were all the other teachers! They all knew so much about the music business and about their respective tracks. They were always open to and ready for questions. After talking about vocal techniques in our tracks, we immediately got to work!
A big part of being in the vocal performance track is harmonies, and let’s just say… I was not the best at those. After lunch we were already rehearsing with the bands or "combos." The day felt so long, but in a good way! We got so much accomplished.
One thing I loved about GRAMMY Camp is how fast-paced everything is! If you're learning a song, chances are you'll be performing it that same day. At first, it sounds intense — but it's actually a huge advantage. It pushes you to let go of perfection and builds your confidence quickly. It was exactly what I needed.; it helped me overcome my fear of performing and feel more relaxed and free on stage, even with minimal rehearsal time.
Lunch was always great! There were plenty of options and they made sure to accommodate anyone with food allergies or special dietary needs. The outdoor seating area was super cute — and the best part? The food was served out of the bed of an old Volkswagen bus. It was such a fun and creative touch!
Courtesy of the Recording Academy/photo by Rebecca Sapp, Getty Images© 2025
We had several special guests, including Alexander Stewart, Aly and AJ, Daniel Seavy, D MILE, Reneé Rapp, and India Shawn. We were able to ask all these guests questions, and they were all so kind!
I would describe GRAMMY Camp as one big family; everyone is doing what they love! We all work during the day to write music and rehearse songs and at the end of the day we share what we worked on with each other by performing it! As Conner, our studio engineer, says: WORK HARD, ROCK HARD!
The rest of the week kicked off each day with a morning presentation, where we took notes and learned about the music industry — covering everything from social media to career paths and other important insights.
Courtesy of the Recording Academy/photo by Rebecca Sapp, Getty Images© 2025
One of the highlights of the week for me was getting to bring my original song to Chase’s combo, "Jean Vulf" (the name they gave themselves — so fun!). Rehearsing and performing the song with them was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. Feeling the band’s energy and watching my vision come to life was truly unforgettable. And even after GRAMMY Camp, we’re continuing to work on it — I’m now recording and finishing the song with them!
One of the best parts of GRAMMY Camp is the connections and friendships you build. I now know so many incredible guitarists, drummers, bassists, keyboard players, vocalists, songwriters — and even industry professionals — I can reach out to for advice or collaboration.
These connections reignited my passion for music and reminded me that I’m not alone — there’s a whole community of people who share both the love for music and the challenges that come with pursuing it.
The open house on the last day of camp was so much fun! We got to show our parents and friends everything we had been working on throughout the week. We had chance to perform on the GRAMMY Museum’s rooftop stage — an amazing location where so many incredible artists have performed before us. It was such a special way to wrap up the experience.
GRAMMY Camp was an essential stepping stone in my journey. It showed me that there are others out there who share my passion, potential collaborators who could become lifelong friends, and, most importantly, music to be made. I’m already looking forward to coming back for GRAMMY Camp round two!
BYE! 🙂
Continue to follow my journey at @leonvincentmusic