One voice.
Many echoes.
Art is Aruba.ECHO is the European Solidarity Corps volunteer programme of ArtisA in San Nicolas, Aruba. We use art for education, inclusion and positive change, and invite young Europeans to help us do it.
Small actions, lasting impact.
One brushstroke, one welcome, one workshop. Every small action on the main street echoes through the community. ECHO brings volunteers into the heart of that work, and sends them home with skills and stories of their own.
You don't need to be an artist to join. You need curiosity, an open mind and the will to roll up your sleeves: welcoming visitors, running workshops, building festivals and telling the stories of the people who make San Nicolas what it is.
“Volunteers are a vital part of this ecosystem, helping transform ideas into lived experiences.”ArtisA
One street, one idea, ten years.
In 2016 cultural producer Oscar “Tito” Bolivar founded ArtisA in San Nicolas, a fading industrial town that some had started to call a ghost town.
Tito believed art could bring it back to life. Not art kept behind glass, but art on the walls, in the streets and in the hands of the people who live there. Ten years later the main street is an open-air gallery, and San Nicolas is the place people come to see what Aruban art can do.
Art is a mirror and a megaphone.
From one festival to an art district
- 2016
ArtisA is born
The first Aruba Art Fair and Mural Festival take over the main street of San Nicolas.
- 2017
Art-X-Plosion
After-school art programmes for young people start: dance, fashion, painting, design and more.
- 2018
Youth Art Fair
Young artists get a fair of their own.
- 2019
Street Art Capital
Forbes names San Nicolas the Street Art Capital of the Caribbean.
- 2021
ArtisA Gallery
A permanent gallery opens on the main street.
- 2023
Space21
A home for more than 40 local artisans opens in San Nicolas.
- 2024
MiSO
Art goes inside KIA, Aruba's prison, and the work made there is shown outside.
- 2025
Red Dot Miami
ArtisA takes 8 Aruban artists to Red Dot Miami.
- 2026
Space21 Playa & ECHO
A second Space21 opens, an Aruban mural goes up in Miami, and ECHO opens its European Solidarity Corps calls.
Art is Aruba
Turn San Nicolas into a thriving art district and make Aruba the Art Island of the Caribbean: a place where art is part of everyday life, strengthens cultural identity and reaches the world.
Create and keep open platforms for artistic expression, education and cultural exchange: supporting local artists, activating public space, running Art Week Aruba and connecting local and international creative communities.
The people behind ECHO
A small team on the main street, with the whole ArtisA family around it.
Oscar “Tito” Bolivar
Founder and director of ArtisAHe started it all, and chairs the foundation behind ECHO.
Nico Caputo
ESC coordinatorYour first contact for the project, the house and your plans. Also guides the mural tours in English and Italian.
Freddy Tromp
MentorChecks in on how you are doing, outside your daily work. Your mentor, not your boss.
Lydianne Monrose
Project coordinatorKeeps the festivals, workshops and programmes running.
Jean Cherouny & Denisse Toledo
Gallery managersRun ArtisA Gallery and Space21, where many of your days begin.
Host, organisation, quality label
The host
ArtisA, the art centre on the San Nicolas main street, with its galleries, studios, murals and festivals.
The organisation
Pure Aruba Events Foundation d.b.a. Echo Aruba, Bernard van de Veen Zeppenfeldtstraat 6, San Nicolas.
The quality label
ArtisA is a host with the European Solidarity Corps Quality Label, so placements follow ESC rules.
The projects behind ECHO
ArtisA
Art centre, galleries and studios on the main street.
Space21
Galleries for local artisans in San Nicolas and at Playa.
Art Week Aruba
Murals, live painting and festival nights.
Art-X-Plosion
Our after-school programs.
MiSO
Art made inside, shared outside.
Hear it from the volunteers
Former and current volunteers tell what their time in San Nicolas was really like.
What will your echo be?
Pick a call, send your application and we will meet you online.