About
From one wall to a whole art district.
I’m Oscar “Tito” Bolivar, a cultural producer from Aruba and the founder of ArtisA. Since 2016 I’ve worked to turn San Nicolas into a place where art, visitors and the people who live there all benefit.
The town
San Nicolas grew up around the Lago refinery. When the refinery closed in 1985, the work left and many people left with it. For years it was called a ghost town, a place tourists were told to avoid. But it still had what makes a place special: its people, its history and walls full of stories.
The spark
In 2015 I was in Bogotá and saw a wall painted with a boy playing a trumpet, under the words “Art for Life”. It stayed with me. I came home with one question: why not here?
The start
In 2016 I started inviting artists, asked my neighbours for their walls and filled empty buildings with pop-up galleries. That became the first Aruba Art Fair and Mural Festival. In 2019 Forbes called San Nicolas the Street Art Capital of the Caribbean.
Today
Ten years later the town has more than 80 murals, galleries for artists and makers, a week-long art festival, education programmes for young people, a creative programme for women at KIA, and a visitor center. I run it through Pure Aruba Events Foundation, with a small team, volunteers and hundreds of artists.
With the ArtisA team at Red Dot Miami, 2025
What drives me
Art is a mirror and a megaphone.
Turn San Nicolas into a thriving art district and make Aruba the art island of the Caribbean.
Artistic growth, economic opportunity and community pride, together.
Start with a real problem, work with the neighbourhood, and build things that keep running after the opening night.
Ten years
Milestones
- 2015A wall in Bogotá: “Art for Life”.
- 2016First Aruba Art Fair and Mural Festival in San Nicolas.
- 2017Art Expression starts in schools.
- 2018First Youth Art Fair.
- 2019Forbes: Street Art Capital of the Caribbean.
- 2021ArtisA Gallery opens.
- 2022Everything comes together as Art Week Aruba.
- 2023Space21 opens for local makers.
- 2024Made Inside starts at KIA.
- 2025Red Dot Miami: eight Aruban artists and an award.
- 2026Order of Orange-Nassau. First Aruban mural in the US. Visitor Center opens.
- 202710th Aruba Art Fair.
Recognition
Honours & partners
Order of Orange-Nassau
Appointed Member, Royal Decorations 2026.
Street Art Capital of the Caribbean
Forbes on San Nicolas, 2019.
Award at Red Dot Miami 2025
Shared with Perseus Gallery.
Organisations I have worked with include the Aruba Tourism Authority, Filomena College, the Korrektie Instituut Aruba, Perseus Gallery, the European Solidarity Corps and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied.
What I do best
Skills I bring to a project
Event production
Fairs, festivals, runway shows, dinners: from concept and budget to permits and the night itself.
Curation & public art
Exhibitions, mural festivals and art in public and hospitality spaces.
Funding & grant writing
Applications, budgets and reports for local and international funds.
Community revitalisation
Bringing life, visitors and income back to a neighbourhood with the people who live there.
Digital platforms
Websites, shops and social channels for a whole family of cultural projects.
Partnerships
Tourism, government, schools, companies and galleries abroad, working on one goal.
Roles
Hats I wear today
Most of my work runs through one foundation, with many projects under it.
Not alone
The people who make it work
None of this is a one-man show. A small team runs the galleries, tours and events every day. Volunteers from Aruba and Europe join us every year, and hundreds of artists, makers, designers and students bring the projects to life.
And none of it would exist without the neighbours of San Nicolas, who opened their walls, their doors and their streets.
ArtisA at Red Dot Miami, 2025
Want to build something together?
Tell me what you are planning. The first conversation is just that: a conversation.