Education is at the core of the longstanding partnership between Providence’s FirstWorks and the Brown Arts Initiative.
The collaboration has drawn performers and artists to Rhode Island in an effort to expose young people to a diverse arts palette through public school and college.
Founded nearly 15 years ago, the nonprofit FirstWorks has dedicated itself to filling the gap left by depleted arts programs in public schools, while Brown University’s arts initiative has a similar aim in higher education.
Although FirstWorks works with numerous organizations and colleges, including the Rhode Island School of Design and Providence College, the team-up with Brown has been especially fruitful.
It resulted in a season-long project two years ago with famed dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor, which ended with a world premiere performance in Providence accompanied by the Brown orchestra.
“The partnership with Brown kind of expands educationally what we do [with] college-age students,” said Kathleen Pletcher, FirstWorks founder and executive artistic director.
“We really look at ourselves as having two components. We do curations, programs, performances and festivals. … The other is education,” she said.
FirstWorks brings resident artists such as Heather Henson, the daughter of Muppets creator Jim Henson, and renowned performers, including cellist Yo-Y o Ma, to lead workshops in more than 30 public and charter schools across Rhode Island.
“When we talk about FirstWorks, we’re talking about children’s or students’ first experiences in the arts, and we really believe that’s important,” Pletcher said, adding that interaction with professional artists can help kids think creatively in non-arts-related pursuits as well.
Patricia Ybarra, professor and chair of the department of theater arts and performance studies at Brown, agreed.
“I think that the arts are the most tangible things that we teach,” she said. “I think that imagining a world … is really important in whatever profession the students go into.”
Furthering the message on the importance of inclusivity and representation, FirstWorks and Brown are working together to bring MacArthur fellow and Tony-nominated performer and playwright Taylor Mac to Providence for an artist residency this month.
Mac, known for the widely acclaimed “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” will speak, perform and participate in a panel discussion.
A finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama, the performance channels music, history and theater through the presentation of 246 songs that were popular in the United States from 1776 through the present day.
“Mac doesn’t just expose social biases and boundaries in his work, but artfully confronts and topples them,” said Brown Arts Initiative Managing Director Anne Bergeron. “This action is at the core of a liberal arts education at Brown.”
Mac plans to perform a two-hour abridged version of the work on Sept. 14 in Providence.
“The Taylor Mac residency for us is an opportunity to see a really important piece of work,” Ybarra said.
Mac’s residency marks his first performance in Providence, Pletcher said.
“I think Taylor Mac is recognized throughout the world as doing something that really cracks open theater and brings unheard voices to the stage. … For FirstWorks this is the idea, for world-class artists to come and not just perform but engage the community,” she said. “Another aspect to this is the times that we live in, and we feel like living art and creative forces have a lot to offer us as we think about equity and inclusivity.”
Working with organizations such as Bank of America Corp., Textron Inc.and the Providence Performing Arts Center has helped FirstWorks push its educational agenda forward, with an eye on the future of the arts.
“The many partnerships … have been a part of our business strategy. … How do we collaborate in Providence to do something that is bigger than what we imagined we could do?” Pletcher said.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Graham@PBN.com.
