NYC Cultural Affairs

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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NYC Council Feels the HeART Beat

Five hundred middle school students painted murals, designed video games, break danced, freestyle rapped, competed at tug-o-war and so much more at the HeART Beat Festival on May 30, 2018. Thrive Collective collaborated with Museum of the Moving Image, Black Spectrum Theatre, and Everybody Dance Now to produce the festival as the Queens culminating event…

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Kids laughing

NYCulture 2018

Thrive Collective proudly partnered with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs for the third consecutive year this spring. (Read our Year 1 report here; Year 2 here.) Thanks to the ongoing support of NYC Council Members Vincent Gentile, Fernando Cabrera, Donovan Richards, and Andrew Cohen, in 2018 DCA directly invested in our work at eight schools through the…

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mural unveiling

Mondays are for Mural Unveilings

It feels that way every June. This Monday, June 11th, we cut two more ribbons at Walton High School Campus in the Bronx, and Telecommunications High School in Brooklyn. Portfolios coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy the Instagram previews. Each #SchoolMurals project takes on the character of the individual school community that creates it. Today…

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use paint not guns spray painting

HeART Beat Photo Diary

– Photos and commentary by Thrive Intern Chandler Simpson (UNC Chapel Hill) The 2018 Queens HeART Beat Festival was a carefully ordered sequence of frenetic rhythms set by DJ Tony Tone’s spinning onstage. The controlled chaos unleashed a torrent of energy constantly harnessed through the many creative outlets around the park, from visual arts to…

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Malala, Martin, Malcolm, Medgar & Lincoln

How do you organize 480 middle school students at the three-hour HeART Beat Festival / field day for the NYC Council Art as Catalyst for Change anti-gun violence initiative? Arrange 14 activity centers in five color coded zones named for community leaders impacted by gun violence: Malala Yousafzai, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar…

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heART beat festival poster

Volunteer: Queens HeART Beat Festival

Up to six hundred students from six Queens middle schools will converge at Roy Wilkins Park for the 2018 Queens HeART Beat Festival on May 30 from 10am – 1pm. Join us to provide an interactive, arts-based field day experience celebrating the completion of the Art as Catalyst for Change anti-gun violence initiative. Sponsored by the NYC…

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