#KindnessBeatsTheVirus

COVID-19 updates and #KindnessBeatsTheVirus remote learning resources.

Thrive Co-Founder Sam Wisneski: ‘Welcome’ Mural Launched A Movement

Artist Sam Wisneski, who co-founded Thrive Collective with Jeremy Del Rio and others, recently reflected on the non-profit organization’s humble beginning. In 2011, Jeremy, a parent at PS 102 in Brooklyn, volunteered to coordinate the creation of a “Welcome” mural at the school, where his son Judah was a student. The mural, which included the…

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WPIX New York Highlights Thrive Collective’s Murals, RHYME Program

Thrive Collective was recently featured on WPIX during its 6 p.m. evening newscast. On Feb. 17,  at P.S. 155 and the Renaissance School of the Arts (RSA) in East Harlem, WPIX reporter Michelle Ross interviewed Jeremy Del Rio, founder and executive director of Thrive Collective, and sixth-grader Justin Guanilo, a student in the organization’s R.H.Y.M.E.…

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Local Newspaper Reflects on the Importance of R.H.Y.M.E

Happy New Year! Here at Thrive, we are starting 2023 on a good note.  Last week, Bronx newspaper The Hunts Point Express published an article highlighting R.H.Y.M.E’s recent work with students from the Bronx Charter School of the Arts in Hunts Point.  The article, posted online on December 3o, 2022, went far beyond giving a…

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A Storm, A Church and Three 18-Wheelers

The line of people waiting for supplies and hot food never seemed to drop below 20,000. Late October, 2012: Hurricane Sandy hits New York City. The category 3 hurricane causes an explosion in a Lower East Side power factory. In a matter of seconds, lower Manhattan goes dark with a power outage. Partnering with other…

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A Brief History of Thrive Collective: Interactive Timeline

Check out our new interactive timeline! 2022 has been a record-breaking year. We completed our 300th mural, served our 25,000th student and 200th school, and our executive director Jeremy Del Rio marks his 40th year of ministry in New York’s Lower East Side and beyond. As we look back at the years of service in…

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Columbia University Neighbors Features Thrive Collective

Our Executive Director, Jeremy Del Rio, Esq., speaks with Brandee Sanders of Columbia University Neighbors to discuss arts education as a means for community empowerment. Thank you, Columbia Neighbors, for profiling Thrive as one of your back to school features this month. “Creating an ecosystem of empowerment isn’t only crucial for students to thrive in…

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HeART Beat Online 2021

Stream Live 👆 Celebrate the achievements of Queens public school students who participated in Art a Catalyst for Change in 2021 with the HeART Beat Online Festival. HeART Beat provides an interactive, online arts experience featuring the five elements of hip hop. Watch live via Youtube on Thursday, June 17 at 1pm, or on replay…

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Why Hip Hop Education?

Hip Hop Provides a Voice, Name, Movement, Community, and Knowledge. That’s why we teach it. In this video, Thrive Collective’s hip hop director Randy Mason reminds us that the five elements of hip hop provide us a voice (emcees), a name (graffiti), a movement (b-boys), and a community (DJ-driven house and block parties) wrapped up…

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Murals Online: Public Art During Quarantine

During the pandemic, our Music and Media programs pivoted seamlessly online because the tools and outputs for those classes were already digital. Adapting the production of traditional Murals during quarantine was more tricky. For this school year, we are providing all remote options for our Murals program as well by offering digital outputs as alternatives…

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“Beloved”

“Beloved” powerfully exposes the lies and trauma of human trafficking. It also embodies the power and possibility of “remote learning” in the time of COVID-19. This interstate collaboration resulted from a Zoom-based networking session co-facilitated by Jeremy Del Rio in October 2020 for the CCDA National Conference. The conference was conducted for the first time…

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