Providence Dept. AC+T

06/13/2023

Join us TOMORROW, June 14, for a conversation with the artists behind Who We Are Now with curator Mary Beth Meehan, at Providence Public Library (150 Empire Street) at 6:00 p.m. We will explore the motivation behind the artists’ work, the backstories of the featured photographs, and the effects the large-scale banners have had on the communities they represent. 
 
 
Who We Are Now Artists: 
Kannetha Brown
Eli De Faria
Jeny Hernandez Watson
Jonathan Pitts-Wiley
Abenda Sohn

06/12/2023

Providence Art Culture Tourism, the Art in City Life Commission, and the Department of Public Property are excited to announce the three semi-finalists for the Elmwood Community Center public art open call...

Congratulations to AGONZA, Edwige Charlot & Rene Gomez!

These semi-finalists will be paid a proposal fee and invited to develop a site-specific art proposal for the project, which will be reviewed by the art selection panel. Learn more: https://artculturetourism.com/elmwood-community-center-semi-finalists/

06/07/2023

06/06/2023

The City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism and The Providence Public Library invite you to meet the artists behind "Who We Are Now,” a public installation of photographs that reflects our vibrant, multicultural state, through the eyes of five Rhode Island-based emerging artists. 
 
On Wednesday, June 14, the artists will be in conversation with curator Mary Beth Meehan, at Providence Public Library (150 Empire Street) at 6:00 p.m. We will explore the motivation behind the artists’ work, the backstories of the featured photographs, and the effects the large-scale banners have had on the communities they represent. 
 
 
Who We Are Now Artists: 
Kannetha Brown
Eli De Faria
Jeny Hernandez Watson
Jonathan Pitts-Wiley
Abenda Sohn
Curators: Mary Beth Meehan & David Santilli

02/23/2023

The Pell Lecture introducing our cultural plan, PVDx2031: A Cultural Plan for Culture Shift, is six days away!

Today, we highlight our second Sector Alchemist. As we mentioned yesterday, Sector Alchemists are RI based artists and representatives of arts orgs who supported and held part of the cultural plan design process.

Dr. led the cultural plan topic of Art in Public Spaces, which became the theme Placekeeping in Neighborhoods. Guest speakers for this theme included Meida McNeal of the Chicago Parks District and Kenny Borge, independent artist and skateboarding advocate. Micah manages large grants and strategic artist initiatives for the City, collaborating with cultural institutions, artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs. Micah serves on the boards of the Providence Public Library and Community MusicWorks.

02/22/2023

The Pell Lecture introducing our cultural plan, PVDx2031: A Cultural Plan for Culture Shift, is one week away! And we wanted to make sure we properly introduce to you our Sector Alchemists for the Plan.

Sector Alchemists are RI based artists and representatives of arts orgs who supported and held part of the cultural plan design process.

First up, we have . RIBS promotes the awareness, appreciation and application of Black Storytelling through performances, workshops, and historical, cultural, and educational experiences. RIBS Director Valerie Tutson is an artist, cultural steward, and justice seeker. RIBS led a conversation with artists, culture bearers, and scientists working at the intersection of arts, health, and climate justice.

To register (for free) see the link in our bio!

12/09/2022

📸Running Deer, 2022 by Jeny Hernandez-Watson
📍135 Washington St

Documenting through photography has always been a very important part of Jeny's life. Since her early teen years she gravitated toward capturing her environment through the lens of a camera. As she learned the medium, she realized that event documentation was a niche of hers. Capturing the creative process, individuals involved & materials used; the meeting of the minds; the process and the unexpected changes; all ending with final production coming alive is an experience that she enjoys capturing. Jeny loves allowing viewers to relive or connect more deeply through the images she produces. Being an indigenous woman, this wonderful gift of creative vision coupled with the amazing medium of photography has taught her the importance of capturing our world; the milestones of loved ones (and self); the gatherings of cultural and social events; and most importantly, the process of it all.

Artist Statement:  Here in Rhode Island we have many different cultures that thrive together; especially in Providence. We live it… we experience it… it is what has been passed down to us and what we will pass down. It is who we are. This image highlights the original people, the original culture of the woodlands we call Rhode Island.

12/08/2022

📷 Sara Socheata Brown, 2022 by Kannetha Brown
📍165 Washington St

Kannetha Brown is a Cambodian-American photographer based in Providence. Her artwork contemplates the relationship between social justice and photography, and considers how representation shapes self-identity and the perception of others. Brown is currently working on a monograph titled “The Americans”; an oral and photographic history project celebrating Asian American stories in Rhode Island. She is a senior in the B.F.A. Photography program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. There, the Liberal Arts Department awarded her the Global Competence and Intercultural Understanding Award for her contributions to the Asian American community as an artist and scholar.

Artist Statement: When you’re a child of an immigrant, there is a tangible weight to the question: “Who We Are Now." You can feel it in the sound of your Mother speaking in her first language, the scent of the food that transports you home, or the family photographs that hide in boxes or take up every wall. When you’re a child of an immigrant, you are a living piece of someone else’s legacy and the creator of your own. Growing up as a Cambodian-American, one of the most consequential memories of my childhood was when I waited to learn about my Mother’s heritage in school, and the day never came. I developed a desire for representation that began to influence how I moved through the world as an artist. I realized that I could create the change I wanted to see by starting small: by photographing my community here, in Rhode Island. Asians have been an integral part of Rhode Island and American history since the 1800s, but I’ve noticed that our stories have been underrepresented, erased, and falsified to the point where I can’t make photographs without the thought of honoring our complex histories in mind. (Con't at https://artculturetourism.com/who-we-are-now/)

12/07/2022

📷 Frances Queweah, 2022 by Abenda Sohn
📍201 Washington St

Abenda Sohn is a multidisciplinary Liberian artist currently based in Providence. He is a Seth Macfarlane fellow and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design. His artwork varies from drawings and paintings to installations and stage photography. He explores the intersections and intimacy of memory, Liberian identity, and archives pertaining to Liberia’s history and his family’s immigration experiences. He has been in numerous local group shows in Rhode Island and recently had his first solo exhibitions: Dream Country at the Brown Art Institute (2021) and Life Is Land at AS220 (2022). He was also one of the lead artists who was recruited by the state to design the Black Lives Matter mural in downtown Providence in 2021.

Artist Statement: For the past five years, I have been investigating my Liberian and Liberian-American identities, as well as Liberian history. This search involves uncovering forgotten Liberian accounts as it connects to me here in Providence. In doing so, I portray Liberian immigration narratives along with my own life and family narratives through stage photography, painting, and installation. This trans-media approach enables me to explore how Liberians view themselves and one another, as opposed to how those from other cultures view Liberians. (Cont'd at https://artculturetourism.com/who-we-are-now/)

12/06/2022

📷 Raheem and Ruel, 2020 by Eli De Faria
📍165 Washington St

Eli De Faria, 31, is a photographer based out of Pawtucket. He was introduced to photography while attending Central Falls High School and furthered his interest at Progresso Latino's afterschool programs. Several years later, he opened up his own photography and styling studio in Hopkinton, with business partner, Hannah Wert, working on local and national brands. When not working, Eli loves being outside or in the company of his best friends and family.   

Artist Statement: After such a wild couple of years, where police violence was documented and shared more than ever before, we were very tired, numb, and constantly retraumatized by what was being shared. It was paramount for the world to see what was going on, but at the same time, what about the other side of that? The joy? The tenderness? The vibrancy of Black lives? I took these portraits in collaboration with each person to share the message they wanted to send out, not what the media portrayed.

12/05/2022

📷 Crown of Thunder, 2019 by Johnathan Pitts-Wiley
📍46 Aborn St

We will spend this week diving deeper into the "Who We Are Now" portraits we unveiled last week, and the artists behind the lens. First up: Jonathan Pitts-Wiley.

Jonathan Pitts-Wiley is a father, husband, storyteller, and educator. A native of the Ocean State and graduate of Yale, he has been the creative director at Curiosity Store in Jamestown since November 2021. Prior to this role, Jonathan taught History at Moses Brown in Providence and since 2010, has been the Artistic Director of Pawtucket’s Mixed Magic Theatre. An avid photographer, Jonathan is drawn to portrait work–particularly on film–and has provided photography for Mixed Magic Theatre, The Rhode Island Black Storytellers, the marketing and communication firm Rustle and Spark, Locus magazine, and Brown University.

Artist Statement: Like so many others, Rhode Islanders are in the midst of a reckoning. We are caught up in a moment of realization, confrontation, and reflection whether we care to embrace that fact or not. Reckonings are rarely, if ever, concerned with the new or novel; reckonings are about old things, unresolved things, unrequited things. When considering the question of “who are we now?” I can’t help but think that we are who we have always been and we are being confronted, on various intersecting levels, with how much we actually understand about who we have been, who we want to be, and the type of world we want to exist in. (Cont'd at https://artculturetourism.com/who-we-are-now/)

12/05/2022

On Sunday, December 18, we will host our second annual Hanukkah Spectaculah with festive food, music, drinks, candle-lighting, and art with your neighbors and friends.

This event is free, family-friendly and open to the public.

A big thanks to our sponsors:

Mayor Elorza
Providence City Council
Jewish Alliance
Greater Board of Rabbis of RI
P3
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
Providence Tourism Council
RI Commerce