The project was a success. The school's principal credits it for helping decrease violence, increase enrollment and improve test scores. The school used the program to help raise funds to add an art teacher to the faculty.
Having proven itself in Wynwood, RAW expanded its budget and its scope and is going international, becoming the Re-Imagining the Arts Worldwide Project.
So why start in Denver? Serendipity and immediate support, says project manager Audrey Sykes, whose contacts in the Denver Public Schools said the city had communities and schools that could use a facelift.
"We knew we needed to take this nationally, and had a feeling art would be embraced here, but we had no idea how much," Sykes says as she sets up Italian artist Zed1 with a cooler of water, paint and a lift. "I reached out blindly and had my email forwarded to the Denver Public Schools superintendent."
When de los Rios began the project in Miami, it coincided with Miami's Art Basel fair; now the project is coinciding with Denver's CRUSH festival. Coincidence or not, RAW has recruited roughly thirty artists from Denver, the U.S. and the world for its work in the Mile High City.
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Elementary students paint the wall outside of Cowell. "These murals are one of the most special things to happen in our community in years," Principal Shayley Levensalor says.
Kenzie Bruce
"In Holland, it's ingrained. We're able to take art until college," says Dutch artist Saïd Kinos, one of nine international artists who came to Denver for the project. "It shouldn't be mandatory, but people who are drawn to art should have the opportunity. Access is important. With no access, there's no choice."
Access has not been a problem for the project in Denver: School employees, children, artists and community members alike have given the project the green light. Even Hurricane Irma, which ruined plans to truck paint from Miami to Denver, didn't hold the program back too much; a Denver paint shop stepped in to help.
After being approved for a fall 2017 start date, RAW came to Denver in March and decided to focus on the Sun Valley and Villa Park communities, ultimately choosing three elementary schools to champion the project: Cowell, Eagleton and Fairview.
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A mural from Miami-based artist Trek 6 at Cowell.
Kenzie Bruce
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A mural from Mexico City artist Paola Delfín at Eagleton. Delfín took photos of multiple students and used them for inspiration for this piece.
Photo courtesy of Lee Rains Thomas
Thomas says it's too early to really ascertain the project's impact, but she's noticed a shift already: Her school has the best attendance she's seen in five years. "Only seven students were absent out of 400 earlier this week. That's pretty impressive," she says.
And RAW agrees. Says Sykes, "I just thought, 'Man, if this is the feedback from one city, why stop going?'" So the group is not going to stop. The RAW Project will be in Denver through the end of September, and plans to spend time in both L.A. and London during 2018.
For a chance to support the RAW Project, visit Baere Brewery on Tuesday, September 19, for an event where 10 percent of the profits will be donated to the project. Follow it on Instagram and Facebook for other opportunities to get involved.