Education

1. Inspire
2. Teach
3. Practice
4. Produce
5. Mentor
6. Repeat

Many New Mexico youth are inspired to create, but few get the relationships, resources, professional experience and paid opportunities to turn that inspiration into a career. Many arts programs end with inspiration. CAMP begins there.

Instead of asking young people “What do you want to be?”, CAMP asks: “What can we help you build today that brings you closer to becoming it?” Mentees work inside real productions beside designers, choreographers, filmmakers, producers and museum professionals, and leave with portfolios, résumés, references and paid experience.

CAMP began at the International Museum of Dance – New Mexico, where our co-founders Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales and Angel Guanajuato co-directed community research and development. In 2024, with support from the City of Santa Fe Arts & Culture Department, CAMP 1.0 paid young dancers to work with projection mapping and new technologies and to create an art film showing the beauty of Santa Fe.

In 2026, CAMP 2.0 moved to Albuquerque with the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County District 3: four months of paid fashion mentorship, Stitched in Tradition, ending in a public runway, a fashion film and a gallery show.

Every CAMP ends in a gathering. Runways, screenings and gallery nights bring families, elders, artists and neighbors into one room to celebrate what young people made.

Every CAMP is filmed, and the filming is part of the learning. On set, mentees work beside directors, cinematographers and producers: they take direction, hold a look through many takes, and see how a production comes together from call time to wrap.

The film is also what lasts. It carries the mentees’ work to audiences far beyond one night, gives families something to keep, and gives every young artist a piece they can show when the next opportunity comes.