Profiles

Never Forget: 9/11 & The Art of Healing

Illustration by Mario Ruiz Photos & Reflection by Jeremy Del Rio The seeds that bloomed into Thrive Collective were planted in The Pile at Ground Zero on 9/11. My father Pastor Rick Del Rio’s 9/11 story and my own have been well reported. See this Tedx talk for a summary: thrivecollective.org/tedx. What’s less well known…

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Limitless: The Documentary

“Limitless” is an inspiring documentary showcasing the incredible talents of the students of PS/MS 105. Shot and edited by talented filmmaker Eric Mason, it takes viewers on a journey into the vibrant world of hip hop and the transformative power it holds. “Limitless” focuses on the students’ involvement in Thrive Collective’s “RHYME” Program, a unique…

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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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Celebrating Community Excellence at P.S. 249

“A Culture of Learning and of Love” Only six NYC public schools received the National Blue Ribbon Award this year from the US Department of Education. Our beloved school partner P.S. 249 The Caton School was one of the six! They honored Thrive Collective by inviting us to cut the ribbon for our newest mural…

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As Seen in: Met Stories, NYC All In & Hu$tle

We are honored to announce three fun video updates right before Christmas. First, the most recent Met Stories video by the Metropolitan Museum of Art features clips of the Create! Harlem mural. New York City’s tourism office includes a clip of the Make Space for the Arts mural in a recent “All In” video feature…

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Remembering Sally Sasz

In 2018, Sally Sasz and Chandler Simpson were rockstar summer interns at Thrive Collective from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Vivacious, fun, reliable, extraordinarily talented, and insatiably curious, their lives overflowed with wonder and adventure. For two months they immersed themselves fully in New York City and the life of Thrive, working…

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The Mural Kings

ORIGIN STORIES ➡️ Tats Cru: The Mural Kings Tats Cru made history this week with the Black Lives Matter mural in lower Manhattan. Borough President Gale A. Brewer and WXY Studio gave them a week to organize & produce a 21’8″ x 570′ (12,500 SF) mural spanning three heavily trafficked, hyper politicized city blocks. Without…

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Juntos Podemos: Telemundo x Thrive

Telemundo recently featured Thrive Collective for it Juntos Podemos (“Together We Can”) segment in New York (5/22/2020). Bio of TatsCru represented #KindnessBeatsTheVirus brilliantly, and highlighted the “Wildstyle Coloring Book.” Volume 2 drops on June 2, 2020. Download Volume 1 and Volume 2, along with dozens of “Tools for Schools” arts education resources at thrivecollective.org/kindness.  The…

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Collaborative Art: A Transformational Force within Communities

Thrive Collective exemplifies “collaborative art as a transformational force to strengthen community and enhance well-being.” So said the University of Chicago in a best practice research report by Dr. Adriana V. Madzharov, Ph.D., Professor at the School of Business at the Stevens Institute of Technology, and her colleagues in the October 2019 issue of The Journal…

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