art kits

Art Kits & Bellco Credit Union

With school group visits to the museum on pause and many students participating in at-home learning, we launched a new effort to provide free art supplies to teachers and their students around Denver. Noting a need among teachers for materials, the DAM’s learning and education’s school and community division created art kits as a way to help elementary students be creative and learn new skills at home.

Producing and dispersing 3,000 art kits is no small feat. Luckily, Bellco Credit Union was right by our side, helping to fund, assemble, and distribute the kits. Bellco staff generously gave their time, along with museum staff and volunteers, to help build the kits. Staying safe was a priority, as well, and each volunteer had symptom and temperature checks before entering the building, built kits at their own socially distanced workstation, and always wore protective masks and gloves.

We sent information about art kits to schools throughout the seven county SCFD metro area, and in response, we received an overwhelming number of applications. With a pick-up station at the museum and at several Bellco Credit Union branches across Denver, every single kit was distributed! The kits made it possible for 79 elementary school teachers at 59 schools to help students be creative at home. In the end, all seven SCFD counties were represented and 75% of the schools had never partnered with the museum before.

All of this is possible thanks to support from our friends and partners. In addition to their support for art kits, Bellco Credit Union is a supporting sponsor of our Free for Kids program, ensuring all youth aged 18 and younger have access to the museum, every day.

Each kit contained:

  • Scissors (suitable for left-handed as well as right-handed children)
  • White glue
  • Colored pencils
  • Watercolor palette with brush
  • Modeling clay
  • One pass good for up to 4 free adult general admission tickets
  • FUNancial $marts youth activity booklet from Bellco Credit Union

Free for Kids

The Denver Art Museum is thankful for Bellco Credit Union’s continued support to making art and creativity accessible. Since 2016, Bellco Credit Union’s sponsorship of Free for Kids allowed 356,844 kids to visit the museum for free and 149,492 to see ticketed special exhibitions for only $5. Through their generosity, these numbers continue to grow.