“It’s literacy for the 21st Century… most kids today are perfectly adept at reading TV, movies, animation and mass media, yet they may barely know the basics about writing and creating in these languages. At Ithaca Media Arts fun is always our number one priority, but kids also learn valuable skills, build self-confidence and self-esteem, and almost by accident they become more savvy media consumers along the way.”

 — Cliff Roth, IMA Program Director

ABOUT ITHACA MEDIA ARTS

Founded in 2007, Ithaca Media Arts is dedicated to the proposition that learning about making movies, TV, audio recordings, animations, and other media projects is both fun and essential. In 2009 we launched our summer camp, and in 2010 moved to our new home on Route 79, five minutes from downtown Ithaca and East Hill Plaza, with plenty of parking and TCAT bus access too.

Ithaca Media Arts provides much more than software and equipment skills. Learning the technology is just the beginning! We teach visual storytelling and audio awareness — and — most importantly, everyone gets to work cooperatively and creatively in teams. Experience the thrill of seeing work projected on a big screen in a real movie theater with a big and supportive audience too!

FAQs AND MORE INFO

Learn more about Ithaca Media Arts camps, policies, and procedures on our

Frequently Asked Questions page.

Learn more about Ithaca Media Arts’ founding, philosophy vision and mission here:
IMA Philosophy, Vision and Mission.

Program Director:

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

From Downtown Ithaca take Green Street (one way) past the Commons, keep to the right,  stay on Route 79 East for about 3 to 5 minutes. Ithaca Media Arts is on the left, just past Lois Lane (yes!) on the right, and just before the blinking yellow light at Pine Tree Road.

From Cornell and East Hill take Pine Tree Road South to its end, turn right on Route 79 (Slaterville Rd.) and look for Ithaca Media Arts on the right, about three buildings from the corner.

From New York City and Binghamton via I-81N take Exit 8 to Route 79 West. Turn right at bottom of exit ramp, then left at the “T.”  Follow 79 West for approximately 30 miles, slow down after passing blinking yellow light at Pine Tree Road, Ithaca Media Arts is approx. 1/10 mile past this light on the right (2 miles before downtown Ithaca.)

From Syracuse and Cortland via I-81S take Exit 11 to Route 281 South. Follow to Route 13 South and West (turning right at traffic light in Dryden.) Make diagonal left turn onto 366 West at traffic light (just past NYSEG offices on left), take 366 West about five minutes, turn left at Pine Tree Road (passing Cornell on right), then turn right at the flashing red light at bottom of hill (Route 79/Slaterville Rd.) Ithaca Media Arts is approx. 1/10 mile past this light on the right.

VISIT US!

If you’re not sure whether Ithaca Media Arts is right for you, we encourage you to stop by for a visit, especially during summer camp weeks when we are open most of the day.  Please call ahead (272-3580) to check if we’re open for other times of the year.

CHANGES, CANCELLATIONS & REFUNDS

If YOU CHANGE your registration…
If you need to change the weeks or times of your registration, we will do our best to accommodate you, assuming space is still available in the new weeks and times desired. A $50 administrative fee will apply for each change request (a single change request may involve multiple weeks and will only incur one such charge.) Please email us with any change requests.

If WE Cancel…

We refund all payments for enrollments cancelled by us, for any reason.

For after school programs, we will cancel classes whenever the Ithaca City School District has cancelled classes or if the roads are closed due to hazardous conditions.

Weekend and school-breaks programs may also be cancelled by us due to severe weather or if the roads are closed due to hazardous conditions (check with the  Tompkins County sheriff for road closings). Program fees for sessions that are cancelled due to inclement weather will not be refunded. We will try our best to schedule make-up classes whenever practical, however, we cannot guarantee make-up classes in all instances.

Summer programs run rain or shine and are never cancelled by us due to weather.

If YOU Cancel…

If you are cancelling an enrollment for any reason our refund policy is as follows:

We provide a full 100% refund to those who register for any program with a deposit or pay in full and then cancel 30 days or more prior to the start date for the program. For those who cancel less than 30 days prior to start date (including no-shows and those who start a program and do not complete it) our refund policy is:

1. 30 days or more prior to the program starting date Ithaca Media Arts will refund the deposit (or full payment) in full.
2. Between 3 – 29 days prior to the program starting date  Ithaca Media Arts will retain the deposit (and refund the difference if payment in full has been made.)
3. Between 0-3 days (72-hours) prior to the program starting date date  Ithaca Media Arts will retain 50% of full camp fee (and refund the difference if payment in full has been made.)
4. Once the 1st class or camp session has begun there will be NO CASH REFUNDS. (Camp credit towards future programs may be available, however.)
5. Withdrawal prior to the 2nd class or camp session entitles the student to a credit of 75% of the fees paid, usable for 1 year.
6. Withdrawal prior to the 3rd class or camp session entitles the student to a credit of 50% of the fees paid, usable for 1year.
7. No credits will be given after the 3rd class or camp session.
8. Credit may be used towards payment of any Ithaca Media Arts program(s). No cash refunds will be given for unused credit. (Credit may be carried over from year to year.)
9. Multi-week registrations: If cancellation occurs after a multi-week registration has started, the fees charged for time used up to the point of cancellation revert to the single week rate for that program. There are NO CASH refunds for unused portions of multi-week registrations once camp has begun, however camp credit may be available according to the above rules.

Note: In order for Ithaca Media Arts to honor these policies, a student’s parent or caregiver must notify us when withdrawing from a class or camp. Failure to attend or to complete a class or camp does not constitute official withdrawal. Like most educational and camp programs, we do not provide partial cash refunds for any of our regular multi-session programs. (See Primitive Pursuits’ policies,  viewable here: http://ccetompkins.org/4h/primitive-pursuits/policies-and-procedures , or CSMA’s at http://www.csma-ithaca.org/Reg_Policies.html for  a comparison; our policies are based on theirs. )

Missed Sessions

Participants who miss one or more sessions of any program due to illness or for any other reasons will receive no refund for missed sessions. We will make our best effort (but cannot guarantee) to schedule a make-up session(s) when practical. If you know in advance that a session will be missed, please let us know, as make-up sessions are easier to schedule when we have advance notice.

BULLYING, TEASING AND WITHDRAWL DUE TO CAMPER BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

Ithaca Media Arts has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and teasing. Our camp rules can be viewed here. Our campers are generally well behaved, polite, and respectful of other campers. We encourage and maintain a very gentle, peaceful and cooperative attitude among campers. Incidents of teasing and bullying are extremely rare here, and our counselors keep a close eye on camper interactions. However, campers and their parents and caregivers must understand that there are some periods during the camp day when campers are allowed to speak privately with each other and play with each other, especially during lunch periods and snack breaks when they are outside at our picnic tables and playing on our big lawn. We do our best to promote a friendly safe atmosphere among campers, and campers are watched at all times by our staff, but we are not responsible for things campers may say to each other during the course of the camp day.

In the event of an allegation of teasing or bullying, here’s what will happen:

If your camper is teased or bullied:
We will confront the camper(s) who is accused of teasing or bullying and try to arrange a meeting in which the accused bully apologizes to your camper. We will speak with the entire camper population regarding the importance of good behavior and respect for other campers and remind them of the camp rules. We will assign one or more counselors to keep an eye out for any repeated bullying or teasing behavior, and to stay with your camper during free play times to prevent any further problems. While we do everything possible to prevent any further problems, please understand that it’s physically impossible for us to prevent private interactions between campers. (If you are concerned this might be a problem, please instruct your camper to stay near a counselor during lunch and snack breaks.) We do not issue refunds for allegations of bullying or teasing. We hope that your camper feels safe to return to camp, but just in case your camper prefers, we will also offer you credit to return to camp in a future camp week. This is a courtesy we offer with sensitivity to the situation, but to be clear, we are not responsible for things campers say to each other, and we will not provide refunds to any camper due to something that was said by another camper. We prefer your camper come right back, partly because learning conflict resolution is an important part of growing up, but we give you the choice.

If your camper is accused of teasing or bullying:
We will discuss the incident with your camper, try to get to the bottom of what happened, and if your camper appears in our judgment to have actually behaved inappropriately, we will ask your camper to apologize and promise to behave better. In extreme cases we may expel the camper from our camp. In such instances, no refund or credit will be available, as the camper broke our camp rules in a significant way. (This happens very rarely, but we reserve the right to expel campers for misbehavior.)

PRIVACY

We do not share any information collected with anyone.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND DONATIONS

We offer partial scholarships to campers whose families who cannot afford our regular camp fees. Please email us for more information about availability and to request scholarship consideration. We also encourage parents, caregivers and other community members to donate to our scholarship fund to enable more of these opportunities for less privileged campers. Use the PayPal button below to donate. Thank you!!!