Nicole Chochrek worked with the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts (CEPA) to extend arts programming and environmental stewardship across Erie and Niagara County. Nicole completed solo and group exhibitions and launched Broken Plastics, an arts and education initiative placing Microplastic Recycling Bins in 12 locations where they collected and removed over 20,000 microplastics from the environment. The collection was exhibited in the Focus Gallery in an interactive station to help petition support for the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act in NYS. Nicole also hosted 35 free educational workshops for the public, led community cleanups, worked with over 20 partner organizations, contracted work from 5 artists, published an open-educational activity book, and screened experimental works by NTY.studio in the galleries at CEPA. The collaboration culminated in BLINDSPOT, an exhibition exploring optical illusions as metaphors for how people with dyslexia process text.

CEPA Gallery is a contemporary photography and visual arts center with impact in both local and national communities. With four galleries of changing exhibits and events, multimedia public art installations, arts education programs, and an open-access darkroom and digital photo lab, CEPA creates a vibrant presence in the heart of Buffalo.