“Be the Change,” Like Nico

One of our greatest joys at Thrive Collective is empowering local artists to live their dreams while they create beauty collaboratively with the world around them. Consider Nico Collazo, teaching artist and art director for “Dream Walls 2.0” at PS/MS 34 this year (2017), and his fiancee Cynthia Dunston.

In 2014, Nico was a student volunteer. Last year, he was a maniacal intern, trekking to ten mural locations in four boroughs for opportunities to work with legends like Crash, DAZE, Sonic, Marie Roberts, and our own Sam Wisneski. This year Nico started as an apprentice and quickly emerged as a teaching artist at two schools this spring.

Perhaps most significantly, Nico was charged with leading the ten year refresh of our very first School Murals project in the Lower East Side, under the watchful eye of Jeremy Del Rio and his entire family who live across the street from the school, work as a teacher at the school, and even pastor a church that meets at the school.

Even more stressful, he had to help facilitate the work of legends like Duro CIA,  Toofly, Claw, Lorena Barrezueta Carlo, and Kekoa, while designing the “Be the Change” wall with his students. And he crushed it. All of it. And we are proud. And his filmmaker fiancee returned to school so we can hire her too. You both rock, and you take cute photos!

Enjoy photos of Dream Walls 2.0 here.

One of our greatest joys at @nycthrive is empowering local artists to live their dreams while they create beauty collaboratively with the world around them. Consider Nico Collazo, a/k/a @armordtribe91, teaching artist and art director for #DreamWalls 2.0 at #PSMS34 this year, and his fiancee @cynthia_dunston. In 2014, Nico was a student volunteer. Last year, he was a maniacal intern, trekking to ten mural locations in four boroughs for opportunities to work with legends like @crashone @dazeworldnyc @sonicbadnyc @thebitterwonder and @sjwisneski. This year Nico started as an apprentice and quickly emerged as a teaching artist at two schools this spring. Perhaps most significantly, he was charged with leading the ten year refresh of our very first #SchoolMurals project in the #LowerEastSide – under the watchful eye of @2020schools and his entire family who live across the street from the school, work as a teacher at the school, and even pastor a church that meets at the school. Even more stressful, he had to help facilitate the work of legends like #DuroCIA @Toofly_nyc @clawmoney @lorenabarrezuetacarlo and #kekoa, while designing the #BeTheChange wall with his students. And he crushed it. All of it. And we are proud. And his filmmaker fiancee returned to school so we can hire her too. You both rock, and you take cute photos! #WeAreThrive #BringArtBack #SchoolMentors #mentornyc @nyculture @nyccouncil @cm_rosiemendez @carlinalrivera @agminnyc @nycservice

A post shared by Thrive Collective (@nycthrive) on Jun 19, 2017 at 6:37pm PDT