PROVIDENCE – A citywide celebration of arts and culture will be returning this year.
PVDFest, marketed as the city’s signature summer festival, will take to the city streets once again later this summer and early fall. The event, a collaboration between Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza, FirstWorks, the Providence City Council and the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, was established in 2015 and has showcased more than 5,000 local artists and creators from around the world.
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Last year’s PVDFest was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FirstWorks Executive Artistic Director Kathleen Pletcher told Providence Business News Tuesday that last year was “so hard” without the festival, which draws thousands of people over the multi-day event.
However, PVDFest will be ready to return in a different configuration this year to provide arts lovers a unique experience in Rhode Island that people have come to know, Pletcher said.
“The roots of PVDFest and relationships go really deep over the years,” Pletcher said. “Although we have been quiet and there haven’t been live performances, there’s a real sense of continuing conversations and interests that have been pent up. We’re really delighted to be really nimble about this, but also to bring it back.”
City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism Director Stephanie Fortunato told PBN Tuesday that the arts community was hit particularly hard by the pandemic across the board last year and it was equally hard to postpone the 2020 festival. She said the city and its partners collaborating to put PVDFest on are “thrilled” to welcome back artists to Providence for this event.
“It’s not just the artists who are excited to be back, but also the wider community as well,” Fortunato said.
Unlike a single multi-day event, PVDFest will spread across several days around the city in July and August, called PVDFest Happenings, and then hold its “Party in Providence” in downtown on Sept. 25-26. For the PVDFest Happenings, Pletcher said it will involve showcasing public arts projects, including a live performance of “Requiem for the Living, In Color” by multimedia artist Carlos Andres Toro composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain. The performance last year was done virtually.
FirstWorks will be doing multiple shows at Roger Williams Park, and Pletcher said the first two shows in August will be special PVDFest events as part of the PVDFest Happenings slate.
Fortunato said there will also be some hybrid humanities programming through the PVDFest Ideas Track, as well as some live public art installations and performances being done across the city. By creating multiple opportunities for people to experience PVDFest in various neighborhoods this summer, Fortunato said the event hopes to engage as many artists with the community as possible.
As for as the Party in Providence event, Pletcher said the organizers are planning to have musical acts and “be responsive to the moment.” She said details on who will be part of the downtown party in September are still being finalized, as well as what safety precautions will be in place for that part of PVDFest.
Nevertheless, the return of live arts and culture to the city after being silent for a year will be the biggest aspect of this year’s PVDFest, Pletcher said.
“The flame is burning strongly,” Pletcher said. “This will be a very special festival because we will be able to gather again.”
Update: Adds paragraphs six, seven and 10 to include comments from Stephanie Fortunato.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
