Patagonia Creative Arts Association

The purpose of the corporation is to support, advance, promote cross cultural awareness, participation and expression in all areas of arts: visual, literary and performing.

Patagonia Creative Arts Association continues to offer quality arts experiences. For the last several years we have developed a malleable and workable schedule that allows us to offer as many programs as possible to the largest number of children. With a handful of teaching artists, we are able to provide diverse and engaging opportunities. We offer classes in ceramics, color theory, drawing and painting, collage, beading, watercolor, sculpture, mosaic and literacy through the arts. All students receive services from Patagonia Creative Arts.
Our Club Theater after school program, an ever increasingly popular program, runs for eight weeks every semester of the school year where the children come to learn the craft of theater with a culminating performance. These performances draw the entire community into our Tin Shed Theater. ArtMakers, our after-school visual arts program for children 5-16 provides a fun after-school outlet.
A short summer program is offered in June where children pay a small stipend to have the opportunity to delve into all areas of the arts. We also make available adult classes in ceramics, drawing and painting and offer an open studio for local artists to gather and collaborate. We have an amateur adult theater group, The Patagonia Players, which use the Tin Shed Theater to entertain the community.

Patagonia Creative Arts Association is located in Patagonia, Arizona, nestled in the mountains 17 miles from the Mexican border. The effect of our rural location and socio-economic position influences our population. In 2010, Santa Cruz County, according to the Southern Arizona Indicators, had the highest rate (44%) of childhood poverty in southern Arizona. More specifically, 42% of children in Patagonia live below the poverty level, almost twice the state statistic. (source: city-data.com). In the present economic climate, opportunities for employment are extremely limited and many people are without jobs or in low-paying jobs. As one measure of poverty, 80% of the students at the Patagonia Public Schools are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program. Many of our children and their families speak Spanish as their first language.