About this Service

Beam Center seeks design proposals for an ambitious public artwork that will be brought to life through collaborations between youth, Beam Camp staff and the selected proposer. Projects will be realized by a community of more than 100 young people at Beam Camp in July 2026.

Beam Camp is a specialized summer camp for building and collaboration located in Strafford, NH. Our award-winning program offers youth (ages 10-17) the opportunity to cultivate hands-on skills while exploring innovative thinking, design, problem solving and the creative process.

Every year, Beam Camp solicits proposals for unique and spectacular large-scale projects that serve as the centerpiece for the 29-day session of camp, during which they will be built and brought to life by 100 campers and 20+ staff. Our Project Team works with the winning designers to translate their project designs into the camp context. We pride ourselves on the high level of craftsmanship and skill that our Projects and the work of our staff and campers reflect. Projects are always ambitious and technically challenging, and in many cases are brought to life through the exploration of vibrant themes that can become the world we live in during our time at camp. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with our past projects.

Winning proposals will be selected by a committee composed of Beam Center staff, youth, past project designers, and community members.

We will be holding two Zoom info sessions for prospective project proposers. Please register:
Thursday, October 30 at 2:00 PM
Saturday, November 29 at 2:00PM

Link to full RFP: https://www.beamcenter.org/events/2026-beam-camp-project-call

About this Lister

Beam Camp was founded in 2004 by Brian Cohen and Danny Kahn to provide children with exciting experiences in creative problem-solving through working with their hands and actively collaborating with others.

Since then, Beam Camp has guided 2500+ campers to cultivate hands-on skills while exploring innovative thinking, design, and the creative process. Each session campers and staff build a spectacular large-scale collaborative project chosen through an annual worldwide design competition. Beam Projects have received international media exposure and won major architecture prizes.

In late 2011, Danny and Brian founded the nonprofit Beam Center as the New York home for Beam's philosophy and practice. In 2015, Brian donated the Beam Camp operation to Beam Center and became its Executive Director. Beam Center now collaborates with 29+ NYC public middle and high schools and its Brooklyn home hosts full schedule of Apprenticeship and Youth Employment programs.

Since its start Beam Camp has funded scholarships and tuition assistance for more than 40% of all campers, the majority of which go to students from Beam Center’s New York City youth network.

Beam Camp remains an integral part of Beam Center's mission. In 2016, Beam Camp refined its summer program to sharpen the focus on skill-building, collaborative challenge, responsibility, and mentorship and deepened its commitment to serve youth from Beam Center's partner public schools and Community Based Organizations. As of summer 2022, Beam Camp is led by Co-Directors Brett Ricard and Pearl Cohen.