Creative Kids Celebrates 28 Years of Art Outreach in El Paso
Creative Kids Inc., founded in 1998 by Andrea Gates-Ingle and Stephen Ingle, has grown from a pilot program for children with disabilities into a major El Paso institution serving about 600 children weekly. The organization offers multiple programs including Project AIM (Art is Medicine) at Providence Children's Hospital, Project TAP for justice-involved youth in El Paso and Las Cruces, and the Resiliency Art Program (RAP) for survivors of the August 3, 2019 mass shooting. Creative Kids has expanded into rural southern New Mexico, providing art education to isolated communities. The founders emphasize that their goal is not to build artists but to build people through creative expression and emotional healing.
Key facts
- Creative Kids was founded in 1998 by Andrea Gates and Stephen Ingle.
- The program began as a pilot art camp for children with disabilities, later opened to all children.
- Gates was a special education teacher at Bill Childress Elementary in Canutillo, Texas.
- Ingle studied Graphic Design at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).
- Creative Kids now serves about 600 children weekly in El Paso and southern New Mexico.
- Project AIM delivers arts education to pediatric oncology patients at Providence Children's Hospital.
- Project TAP is a multistate initiative for justice-involved youth, recently expanded to Las Cruces.
- The Resiliency Art Program (RAP) was created in response to the August 3, 2019 mass shooting in El Paso.
Entities
Artists
- Andrea Gates-Ingle
- Stephen Ingle
Institutions
- Creative Kids Inc.
- El Paso Times
- University of Texas at El Paso
- Bill Childress Elementary
- Providence Children's Hospital
- Glasstire
Locations
- El Paso
- Texas
- United States
- Canutillo
- California
- Las Cruces
- New Mexico
- Rio Grande