Recently, I was at Wynn Las Vegas partaking of Zero Bond’s “Breaking Bread” series, and one of my dining partners was Tina Turnbull.  Tina wears many hats—training K-9 detection/sniffer dogs, real estate, professional DJ, etc.—but what really made me prick up my ears was when she told me she’d started a nonprofit summer camp for kids who aspire to be DJs and music producers.

Needless to say, as someone who began DJing at 14, I was thinking, “Where was this when I was a teen?”

The camp is Camp Spin Off, a nonprofit sleepaway summer camp dedicated to teaching teens ages 12–17 how to DJ, produce music, and understand the music business.  Held in Alamo, Nevada, about 90 minutes from Las Vegas, Camp Spin Off gives musically obsessed kids the chance to stop simply listening to music and start making it.  And there really isn’t another summer camp quite like it.

For four days and nights, campers train on the same professional DJ equipment used in clubs, festivals, and studios around the world.  They learn from working DJs, music producers, and industry professionals, while getting hands-on instruction in DJing, music production, performance, and the business side of music.

Past Camp Spin Off instructors have included A-Trak, DJ Vice, Lil Jon, Mixmaster Mike of Beastie Boys fame, Samantha Ronson, and Spinderella of Salt-N-Pepa, which is not exactly your average summer-camp counselor roster.

Here’s the skinny: Camp Spin Off is built for teens who love music enough to do more than stream, playlist, or dance to it.  Over the course of the camp, they will make friends with other kids who are just as obsessed with music as they are and begin building a creative community that can last well beyond the summer.

What’s more, it all goes down at 4-H Camp Alamo, a traditional sleepaway camp in Alamo, Nevada (roughly 90 minutes from Las Vegas).  So, the campers aren’t spending every waking hour indoors behind the decks.  They also spend time outside for the kind of classic summer camp activities that make the whole experience feel like, well, summer camp: sports, arts and crafts, climbing walls, water activities, and time in the great outdoors.

In other words, it’s not just a DJ workshop.  It’s a sleepaway camp for aspiring DJs, music producers, and future music-industry kids, set in a safe, inclusive camp community.

Safety and supervision are also part of the setup.  Staff are background-checked, counselors trained in First Aid and CPR are on-site, and there’s an on-site nurse, so campers are professionally supervised throughout the session.

Tuition is $1,499 per camper and includes lodging (with linens, so no bulky sleeping bags), meals, DJ equipment and training, and camp activities. More than half of campers receive scholarship support.  When you consider that private DJ lessons these days cost $75-100 per hour, and that Camp Spin Off includes roughly 20-25 hours of instruction (in addition to the above amenities), the math works out rather favorably.

Besides, as my mother used to point out, summer camp is as much for the parents as it is for the kids.  Because no matter how much they adore their children, sometimes parents just need a break.

A summer camp for aspiring DJs and music producers?  Who’d’ve thunk it?

Tina Turnbull—aka DJ Tina T—that’s who.

Camp Spin Off
July 19-23, 2026 | Alamo, NV
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#CampSpinOff