Projects
Fourteen projects, each one started to solve a real problem in San Nicolas. Here is why each began and what it brings today.
San Nicolas had become a fading refinery town that tourists were told to avoid. I wanted to fill its empty buildings with art and give people a reason to come back.
In 2015 I saw a wall in Bogotá painted with a boy playing a trumpet under the words “Art for Life”. I came home, invited artists and asked my neighbours for their walls.
Once the walls were painted, visitors needed someone to tell them the stories behind them, and the town needed those visitors to stay longer.
Young people needed a way in. Every participating school and NGO gets a 1.5 × 1.5 m canvas and paint to answer the year’s theme.
Young artists deserve their own stage, not a corner of someone else’s.
Artists needed a year-round place to develop, exhibit and sell, not only one weekend a year.
Our events were spread across the year. Bringing them into one week gives visitors a reason to plan a trip around Aruban art.
A dinner where guests don’t just look at art, they make it together.
“Fashion with a cause”: a runway for wearable art and the people behind it.
When Cosecha closed in 2023, many local makers lost their place to sell. We opened Space21 so they would not lose their income.
Our answer to the Justice theme: creative workshops for the women at the Korrektie Instituut Aruba (KIA).
An after-school programme so students can try dance, fashion, painting and music production, not just read about them.
Young Europeans want to learn by doing; our projects need hands. ECHO brings the two together through the European Solidarity Corps.
The town finally has visitors. They need a proper welcome and someone to point them to local businesses.
Art fairs, mural routes, galleries for makers, programmes for young people: I can help you start your own.