To Peter Bramante, his new job as managing director of FirstWorks is like coming home again.
Bramante spent 10 years as executive director of the Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island, but before that he was a professional dancer and ran his own dance company, Groundwerx Dance Theatre. “I had worked with FirstWorks before, so I was very much aware of the group and intrigued by it,” he told Providence Business News.
When he heard about the employment opportunity at FirstWorks, he jumped at it and became the group’s first-ever managing director June 28. So, he once again is working solely in the arts, dealing firsthand with performing artists just as he used to as head of a dance company.
The timing was ideal for his career switch, he said, because he had just “closed a very important chapter” in the life of the arts and business council, overseeing an upgrade of ArtTix, the Web-based marketing and box office service for arts and cultural events in the Providence area.
He will bring to FirstWorks the same relationship-building skills he honed while at the arts and business council, he said, with the added advantage of “understanding the ins and outs of the nuanced realities of financial planning” as a direct result of his work with the local business community. A key goal, he said, will be to strengthen FirstWorks’ partnerships with other organizations.
Bramante will oversee day-to-operations of the five-member staff, but Executive Artistic Director Kathleen Pletcher remains in charge of the nonprofit’s artistic vision as it moves into its seventh season. “When I see Peter, I see growth,” she said, when asked how Bramante will contribute to her organization.
Pletcher noted that Bramante has more than 20 years of experience as an arts executive, manager, artist and educator. He initiated IndieArts, a marketing and promotional program of the arts and business council that focuses on contemporary artists. He has been on the faculty at Brown University, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University and Connecticut College.
Bramante is a “strategic planner,” she said, and “his experience in marketing and his knowledge of the arts community in Rhode Island are amazing benefits to us.” She and Bramante declined to reveal his annual salary.
Bramante, Pletcher and their staff are currently organizing the 2010 FirstWorks Festival that kicks off Sept. 25 and extends for seven weeks, featuring high-profile artists at venues throughout the city. In March, FirstWorks will kick off a three-month project that will see the 55-member Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform, a first for Rhode Island, Pletcher said.
A Pawtucket resident, she is a native of Omaha, Neb., who came to Providence because she wanted to live in a city smaller than the larger cities where she had resided before. She is trained in arts administration and is a visual artist with a 1997 bachelor’s degree in sculpture from Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Siemering has worked for the arts and business council for four years, previously working on specific projects such as the Encore Awards and IndieArts Fest. She was and remains director of Providence Art Windows.
“Rebecca’s solid management credentials, knowledge of the arts community and previous experience with the organization will not only allow a smooth transition of [the council’s] executive leadership, but also will be instrumental in broadening the appeal, services and membership of the newly deployed ArtTix platform and website,” said Gina DiSpirito, council chairwoman.
“Audience development and service” are what Siemering said she will concentrate on during the coming months, an endeavor she noted will be greatly helped along by the new ArtTix platform that Bramante put together.
The arts and business council about three weeks ago adopted an ArtTix format developed by a California nonprofit that allows participants to enter the details of an event on a main website, which is linked to and immediately shares the information with a host of local websites, Siemering explained.
Asked what businesses can do to help the arts, Siemering suggested that companies consider becoming an ArtTix calendar partner, a move that for a fee allows the ArtTix calendar of events to appear on a company’s website. In general, she said, businesses should support the arts in any way they can. “The more you support the arts and the creative businesses in our community, the more we can help each other out and be successful,” she said. •
