Thrive Collective has received a 2026 Public Realm grant from the NYC Department of Small Business Services to beautify a large wall in Bay Ridge. Bay Ridge’s beloved artist Michael “Kaves” McCleer will continue our 2023 “Welcome to Bay Ridge” collaboration on the same building and lead the project with us.

We will host a community gathering at the District Offices of NYC Council Member Justin Brannan to help design the mural on November 12 at 6PM. Join us to learn more and share ideas for this upcoming mural. Light refreshments will be served. RSVP your attendance below. If you cannot attend, please feel free to leave ONLINE FEEDBACK.

In December 2020, iconic retailer Century 21 closed on 86th Street, followed by more than 600 local businesses since the pandemic. Five years later, many commercial vacancies remain. In 2023, the Brooklyn Nets and NYC Council Member Brennan commissioned the “Welcome to Bay Ridge” mural on a vacant, city-owned building at the entrance of the 86th Street BID. In 2026, NYC’s Commercial Canvas / Public Realm Grant will allow us to wrap the building and signal a district-wide revitalization befitting the neighborhood’s 1,700 storefronts.

In 2011, Thrive Collective emerged organically from Bay Ridge with a mural declaring,“Welcome to PS 102” in more than sixty languages. This project gave birth to our arts education initiatives, after the DOE featured a student documentary about the project on their website. Two years later, we completed our third mural in Coney Island at a school that suffered $1 Million in damages from Superstorm Sandy. Since then, we have completed 24 murals in Bay Ridge, 28 in Coney Island, and 90 in South Brooklyn.