DRIVE Project Colorado and Ellis Elementary Commission an Identity Mural Designed by a Local Artist

DENVER - May 21, 2019 - PRLog -- DRIVE Project Colorado, a local nonprofit that supports civic engagement and advocacy work within the refugee and immigrant communities, has partnered with Ellis Elementary and Denver Artist, Rez, to create an identify mural on the school's property on Friday, March 24, 2019.

The mural artwork, titled Be Somebody, Be Yourself, will be lead by Rez (artist) and will also be painted by a handful of students from Ellis Elementary. Because Ellis Elementary is a Title 1 school where 30% of the students identify as a refugee or immigrant, the original intention of this project was to bring experiential learning resources to this diverse group of students. However, the project gained even more momentum and a secondary purpose after a recent hate crime took place on the school's property where gasoline was used to burn an anti-Semitic symbol on the asphalt near the playground.

"The goal of the project is to encourage students to work together and collaborate on creating a mural, so that they can see firsthand the power of diversity and the arts," said Alejandro Vera, Executive Director of DRIVE Project Colorado. "We hope they'll carry this small memory with them beyond Ellis Elementary. We want to show them that hate crimes have no space in our communities and, together, we will encourage love and peace through art."

Collaborators of the project hope that the kids see themselves reflected on the walls of their school and that their diversity should be celebrated.

"I hope the mural creates a greater feeling of interconnectedness and a stronger sense of community, especially among those who have diverse backgrounds," said Rez, the artist and designer of the mural. "I also hope it inspires kids to create more art, for the sake of their personal enrichment and mental health, as well as for the betterment of the community."

DRIVE will examine the efficacy of this project and replicate this experiential learning program to other schools. Additionally, DRIVE hopes to pilot other experiential learning programs and demonstrate their unique impact on refugee and immigrant youth.

Vera continued, "We want to prove that these experiential learning programs are complementary to the existing Denver Public School curriculum. If successful, a low-cost model can be replicated at other Title 1 schools for students who may otherwise be unable to participate in artistic projects of this scale."