All Artwork Created by Kids
Creative Kids offers art classes every Saturday. Fee includes all materials.
Little Picassos • Ages 4 – 7
10:00am – 12:30pm
Fundamentals • Ages 8 – 10
10:00am – 1:00pm
Studio Artists • Ages 11 – 18
10:00am – 1:00pm
Portfolio Artists • Ages 13 – 18
10:00am – 1:00pm
Creative Kids draws on several areas of strength from a track record of twelve years in successful project management, including the oversight of numerous federal, state and local grants, as well as private and corporate funds. Creative Kids recently retrofitted a 16,000 sq. ft warehouse space known as the OLO Gallery (Other Learning Opportunities). OLO is located in Union Plaza Arts District in Downtown El Paso, and is the permanent home to Creative Kids’ Art Studios, Cooking Facility, Art Gallery, Multimedia Skills Development Center and administrative offices.
First Lady Michelle Obama presented the 2013 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award to El Paso’s Creative Kids Project AIM (Arts in Motion), a visual arts program for pediatric oncology patients will be recognized for its effectiveness in developing learning and life skills in young people by engaging them in the arts or humanities on Friday, November 22, 2013 at a ceremony at the White House East Room. The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award is the highest national honor awarded to such programs. “We are honored for this program to be recognized by the White House, President and First Lady,” said Andrea Gates-Ingle who with her husband, Stephen Ingle, co-founded this program in 1999 at Providence Children’s Hospital. Project AIM has since expanded to include both children’s hospitals in El Paso, TX.
Miranda Luna, a participant in Project AIM, accompanied co-founder and Executive Director of Creative Kids, Andrea Gates-Ingle receive the award at the White House. In 2008, Miranda was a tender 10 years of age when she was delivered the news that she had Leukemia. Faced with a devastating diagnosis, Miranda immediately started treatment at Providence Children’s Hospital. It was then when she was first introduced to the Creative Kids hospital art program – Project AIM. Miranda gravitated towards the program and was always the first patient to be waiting for the art studio to be opened at the hospital. Whether it was painting, printmaking or dabbling in Photoshop and Illustrator, Miranda loved to be immersed in the art program as she said it helped to melt away her fear and anxiety of not knowing what the next day may bring. Over the years, Miranda has transformed from a shy young lady into a confident, outspoken young woman who, six years later, still loves to be engaged in the Creative Kids art program. The ceremony also included a speech by 12-year-old Danashiya Pritchard, a “Creative Kid” and participant in Project AIM in El Paso, Texas. Project AIM reaches over 1,000 children battling cancer in two area hospitals, offering art-mediated therapy in painting on canvas, printmaking, and graphic arts, among other art forms. Over Project AIM’s fourteen-year history, more than 250 pieces of the patients’ artwork have been showcased in more than six venues in the El Paso area.
Through these programs, young people are discovering their creative voices, developing a stronger sense of who they are as individuals, and gaining a deeper understanding of the world around them,” wrote Mrs. Obama in the program for the award ceremony. “And, as young people navigate today’s challenges, the programs we are honoring offer safe harbors that cultivate enthusiasm for learning, support academic achievement, and promote college readiness.”
Creative Kids was one of twelve organizations chosen from a pool of more than 350 nominations and 50 finalists. The award also comes with a $10,000 grant. The awards are administered by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Congratulations Creative Kids!
For more information about the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards,
visit www.pcah.gov.
Creative Kids partners with Region 19 – Migrant Education Program, where we engage migrant students in an intensive summer art program to which they otherwise would not have access. The participants are able to pick a track that is aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). These tracks are: painting, photography, digital media/graphic design, culinary arts, silk screening and printmaking.
Creative Kids provides the training that requires long hours of practice, focus and perseverance – all components of self-discipline. In addition, the program builds on the participants’ self-esteem and self-worth traits that are important for future successes. An important outcome of the Creative Kids program is to showcase the artwork that is created from the youth in the program. Through their inspirational artwork, they are able to paint a world that is full of vibrant color, visual energy and a sense of calm.
By showcasing the artwork of the students, it provides awareness to the general public that these youth have an intense depth to themselves that they offer through the lens of their creative spirit. The importance and value of the artwork is that the focus is not that they come from difficult situations, but rather they are diverse artistic individuals offering a glimpse into their personal life, feelings and emotions that they are experiencing at this point in their young lives. View Gallery
In partnership with El Paso Community College, Fabens Independent School District and their Cotton Valley Early College High School, Creative Kids provides the participating youth with focused training in professional skills that utilizes technology, visual arts, digital media, and business development and entrepreneurship. The expected outcomes are that students gain confidence, complete their high school education and associates degree simultaneously, and pursue higher education goals.
The presence of Creative Kids embodies a strategic set of critical, cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities that are designed to engage the students in a year-round program that is integrated into their school day, as well as an intensive summer program. Participants develop a strong understanding of the creative possibilities in life by engaging in artistically inspired activities that include: painting on canvas, printmaking, silk-screening, sculpture, photography, digital media and graphic design. This program is important because it provides opportunities for the students to realize their talents and strengths, and ultimately encourage and prepare them for success in career and higher education goals. View Gallery
