Art as Catalyst for Change

A Bright and Lively Community Mural

Kadeem Phillip, art director, beside the mural’s centerpiece portrait Dream Neighborhood With their newly completed 908 square foot “Arverne Adventure” mural, the students of M.S. 42 Q Robert Vernam are demonstrating that dreaming big pays off! Created under the artistic direction of Kadeem Phillip and project management of Lourdes Rojo, students collaboratively envisioned their dream…

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5th Annual Art a Catalyst For Change Queens Culminating Event

2022 HeART Beat Festival  / The 5th Annual Art a Catalyst For Change Queens Culminating Event On the morning of May 26th, 2022 over 100 Queens school students converged upon Roy Wilkins park for the 5th Annual NYC Council Art a Catalyst For Change Queens Culminating Event- The 2022 Heart Beat Festival. The excitement was…

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HeART Beat 2022 Returns to Roy Wilkins Park

5th Annual 2022 Art a Catalyst For Change Queens Culminating Event On the morning of May 26th, 2022, over 100 Queens school students converged upon Roy Wilkins park for the 5th Annual NYC Council 2022 Art a Catalyst For Change Queens Culminating Event: The Heart Beat Festival. The excitement was palpable! The HeART Beat festival…

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Culture Making with NYC

Thank you, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, for consistently investing in Thrive Collective’s expansion as an arts education provider for students and schools since 2016. (Drone video footage by @just_a_spectator.) This past year nurtured our deepening relationship through four NYC initiatives: the Cultural Development Fund (“CDF”), Art a Catalyst for Change (“Catalyst”), Cultural Immigrants Initiative…

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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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HeART Beat Online 2020

Watch HeART Beat Online 2021 here. Replay the Live Stream Enjoy the replay edited by Tony Horn of Bric Arts Media. Originally hosted on Zoom and live-streamed on June 25 by Moving Image Studio of Museum of the Moving Image. 🔥🔥🔥🔥 An interactive, online arts festival with special guest, actress Luna Velez from Spider-Man: Into the…

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Queens HeART Beat 2019

Video produced by Tony Horn / BRIC Arts Media for NYC Council  The 2nd Annual HeART Beat Festival returned to Roy Wilkins Park in Queens on May 29, 2019. Middle school students painted murals, designed video games, break danced, freestyle rapped, competed at drama games and so much more. Thrive Collective collaborated with Museum of…

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student spray paint

NYCulture 2019

Thanks to the ongoing support of NYC Council Members Justin Brannan, Fernando Cabrera, Donovan Richards, Andrew Cohen, Carlina Rivera, and Matthieu Eugene, in 2019 the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs directly invested in our work with fourteen public schools and a NYCHA senior center through the Cultural Immigrants Fund, Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA), Art a…

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Randy Mason rap with student

HeART Beat Queens Photo Diary (2019)

Thank you NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, and Council Members Donovan Richards, Adrienne Adams, and Jimmy Van Bramer for trusting us to celebrate the Art a Catalyst for Change anti-gun violence initiative with the great students of IS 42, PS/MS 183, IS 8, IS 72, IS 111, and IS 204. On…

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“Gifts > Guns,” Song and Lyrics by PS/MS 42Q 6th Graders

“Gifts > Guns,” song and lyrics by 6th grade scholar/emcees MS/MS 42Q in The Rockaways Teaching Artist: Randy Mason Sponsored by NYC Council Member Donovan Richards / Art a Catalyst for Change Use words not weapons Shoot for the stars not at them Give kids gifts not guns Help instead of harm People instead of…

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