Providence International Arts Festival starts Thursday

EARTH HARP founder William Close is shown playing the instrument - billed as the world's largest stringed instrument. Close will play the Earth Harp at the International Arts Festival this week in downtown Providence.
EARTH HARP founder William Close is shown playing the instrument - billed as the world's largest stringed instrument. Close will play the Earth Harp at the International Arts Festival this week in downtown Providence.

PROVIDENCE – Mayor Jorge O. Elzora and FirstWorks Executive Artist Director Kathleen Pletcher have announced the artist roster for the Providence International Arts Festival this week. Events are slated June 11-14.
The event will feature 500 artists, 30 public art installations, 15 stages, 18 participating venues, six outdoor bars and more, with all main events free and open to the public.
According to information from the mayor’s office, the festival has been made possible in part by the city’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and FirstWorks, a Providence-based nonprofit organization dedicated to building community through the arts. The lead festival sponsors include the National Endowment for the Arts, Providence Tourism Council, Rhode Island Foundation, as well as IGT (formerly GTECH), and The Avenue Concept.
The festival feature local, national and international artists from Benin, Brazil, Cuba, Mali, Poland, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and more. Entire buildings will be used as canvases for public art. Kennedy Plaza will be the main hub of the festival, transforming into a multistage pedestrian piazza for performances and art.
Art installations, street art and more will line Washington Street, and there will be a full lighting of WaterFire in the downtown rivers. A colorful procession and opening ceremony will converge at the FirstWords Plaza Stage.
“The first ever Providence International Arts Festival will showcase all that Providence has to offer using the city as a stage,” Elorza said in a statement. “We are the Creative Capital and this festival is an opportunity to celebrate the arts and to support our artists.”
Said Pletcher, “FirstWorks has drawn in international artists to join Providence’s world-class talent for this remarkable event. Festivalgoers will see the familiar anew, as parking lots will become lounges and building facades are used as painting surfaces. Equally exciting is the passion our visiting artists have for connecting with communities and students across the state.”
Kennedy Plaza will anchor the festival with six stages, a Buy Local RI marketplace, art and performances inside City Hall, and two satellite art spaces.
The FirstWorks Plaza stage will feature Angélique Kidjo; the Pedrito Martinez Group; and afro-beat orchestra BIXIGA 70, named after their São Paulo, Brazil neighborhood.
Music and spoken word ensemble Aurea will perform Melville and the Great White Whale in the City Council Chambers, and photographer Mary Beth Meehan will display portraits of Providence residents from her Seen/Unseen series in the gallery at City Hall.
There will be food trucks and vendors, and a Buy Local RI marketplace of local artisans, shops and locally-sourced goods and services will run in Burnside Park. Families can also enjoy interactive programming presented by the Providence Parks Conservancy in collaboration with the Partnership for Providence Parks.
Street spectacles on Kennedy Plaza grounds will include:

  • The Earth Harp Collective, which will perform three concerts on a large stringed instrument stretching between the center of the plaza and to 111 Westminster St., known locally as “the Superman Building.”
  • Physical and aerial theater by Wise Fool New Mexico, a collective that uses the visual and performing arts of circus and puppetry for social engagement.
  • Multimedia, site-specific, air-powered Squonk Opera using blowers of all kinds to make a 40-foot tall Lady Pneumatica.

There will be a Columbus Theatre and Imaginary Company satellite stage against the Arcade facade at 43 Weybosset St. presenting Providence-based bands including The Low Anthem, Gym Shorts, And the Kids, and others.
A second satellite space at 180 Westminster St. will feature an exhibition by the Providence Biennial for Contemporary Art and the Winter King Hawthorn sculptural installation of color and light by Providence-based artist Lynne Harlow.
Temporary public art installations and pop-up performances will line Washington Street, including ephemeral and permanent murals by The Avenue Concept, Providence-based Tape Art and international street artists Etam Cru and Natalia Rak.
At the parking lot between Washington and Fountain streets, the Dean Hotel and The Avenue Concept will create a Skate Park and Sculpture Lounge featuring local DJs and food.
Two DownCity Design installations will animate Adrian Hall Way: PopUp Providence lighting project, Leave Your Trace and youth-designed and built Skate Bench. Trinity Rep will perform on their wagon stage, custom-designed by Tony Award-winning set designer Eugene Lee.
Street performances, music and puppetry include Big Nazo and ERB (Extraordinary Rendition Band). There will also be multiple theatrical works in the city’s theater spaces
The festival also will feature exhibits at URI Providence, Paperworks and the Providence Public Library; Providence Children’s Film Festival; and the Providence Preservation Society’s Festival of Historic Houses, which will showcase contemporary living in historic homes in the Fox Point neighborhood. On Sunday, The Steel Yard will host Fire Camp, where there will be hands-on activities for all ages.

Many other venues in the city will join the festival, from karaoke at The Boombox, live music at the WBRU Summer Kick-off by Matt and Kim and The Kooks at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, The Sweatshop Dance Party with DJ Andy Morris at the Salon, Gina Brillon at The Comedy Connection, poetry with the Cafe S.O.U.L. and Christopher Johnson, and a drag queen show at The Dark Lady.
More information can be found at www.pvdfestival.com. Contact FirstWorks at 401-421-4278 or info@first-works.org.

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