ON FIRE, Barnaby Evans’ creative combination of flames, water and music continues to draw thousands to downtown Providence.
Barnaby Evans is getting used to creating sparks. From the signature piece that seems now to represent the downtown Providence revitalization – Waterfire – to the spat with South County merchants whose efforts to replicate Evans’ work on a much smaller scale earned the rebuke of the artist and a suggestion they look for another original work to celebrate their rivers.
South County and other imitators aside, this Evans’ sculpture has grown to become a well-in-demand spectacle and a major attraction for Rhode Islanders and out-of-staters alike.
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This season alone, Evans said, more than a half million out-of-staters are expected to travel to Providence to view Waterfire, its 97 fires and musical pieces gathered from around the world, some quite obscure, all adding to the mystique of the evening. And they’ll bring their tourist dollars and adventuresome souls, that will inspire them to wander to any number of Rhode Island attractions, from Newport to the South County beaches to the Blackstone Valley.
“With 53 percent of the people coming from out of state,” Evans said, “that’s maybe $24 million of spending coming into the state that very likely would not have come here.” Add to that the in-state spectators, who Evans suggests are spending another $20 million.
The figures come from an economic impact project undertaken in 1999 by Evans and Waterfire. They surveyed 577 visitors. Here are some of the observations:
Some 43 percent of visitors were making their first trip to Waterfire.
Of those surveyed, 95 percent said they would highly recommend Waterfire and Providence to a friend as a place to visit.
Some 53 percent were from out of state, compared to what Evans said is the typical figure of 8 to 10 percent for more traditional arts groups.
Of all visitors, 73 percent said they’d had lunch, dinner or drinks as part of their Waterfire experience. Of the out-of-staters, 85 percent had eaten in a restaurant or gone to a bar.
“The typical visit for an out-of-stater is a whole day,” Evans said. “Their goal is to see Waterfire. We’ve had people come from Montreal just to see Waterfire. They come for the day, they look at the city, go to Newport, South County beaches, or the zoo. They come have lunch in town, or dinner. They come to the event, possibly stay overnight.”
This season alone, Evans said, with the expanded number of fires, the event is expected to attract more than a million visitors, spending in excess of $44 million.
“One of the reasons we have higher spending than the theater or a museum, is Waterfire is an event you can linger over,” Evans said. “You can have lunch in the afternoon, have a cocktail, watch the lighting of the fire, have dinner, meet friends, have dessert or a nightcap. Unlike going to the opera, you can arrange your schedule completely around the event.”
Evans said Waterfire used various projections from a variety of studies to measure the event’s impact.
Waterfire has come a long way since its first showing on Dec. 31, 1994 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of First Night Providence. “It was First Night’s crowd” then, Evans said, and the initial, much smaller Waterfire, didn’t necessarily draw people. When it returned a year and a half later at the June 1996 Conversion festival in Providence, it was expanded and began to become a draw on its own.
Today, Waterfire still creates that initial magic that leads this Manhattan (New York City) visitor to write: “Monumental and powerful in scale, but immediate and intimate in effect. Audacious in scope and logistics, but as ethereal and magical as a breeze rippling the waters of the boat people.”
It has grown to where it now employs 23 to 24 people, Evans said, with 700 volunteers. It has also become a very strongly requested item by convention and meeting planners, and for university graduations, Evans said. “It’s something where we’ve had numerous conventions choose Providence if Waterfire was a part of the offering.”
How will Waterfire grow from its current 97 fires?
In the near future, Evans said Waterfire has to work to improve its infrastructure. “We’ve been working on a real skeletal budget,” Evans said. “We have a lot of infrastructure support we need to work on.” Among that is to get additional revenue, in part solved by the inclusion in the new state budget of a 1 percent increase in the hotel room tax to support the Heritage Harbor Museum project and Waterfire. Details have not been worked out, Evans said. Among those infrastructure needs, Evans said, is the purchase of more boats.
Evans said future plans include collaboration with other non-profit arts groups. In particular, he suggested, Waterfire, through some creative programming and “collaborative imagination” might play a role in helping these other arts groups with audience development, “suddenly catapulting new ventures into another league. That’s a win-win situation for everybody. Waterfire will still not charge admission. We need to develop some sort of infrastructure that will bring the arts to the forefront, from the mandolin orchestra to the Rhode Island Philharmonic.” Evans said Waterfire is working with the Convergence Festival and has talked to the Festival Ballet about doing several different works. “We’re working with them to do a production of Festival Ballet on floating sets as part of Waterfire. It will make an absolutely stunning production.”
Evans’ tiff with South County imitators, is consistent with his belief that Waterfire is a Providence event. He has rebuked requests from a number of New England cities that have requested him to do Waterfire, including Boston, Hartford and Cambridge, he said. “This has been something that has been made possible by dedicated support and financial donations by the Rhode Island community. It is inappropriate to do Waterfire elsewhere in New England. It is symbolic of the renaissance of the state.” But Evans isn’t opposed to taking Waterfire on the road. He did take Waterfire to Houston, Texas – a smaller version – when they were dredging the river there. “They ran a one-hour TV show of Waterfire. We still have people come by who said we saw you in Houston. Almost like the Bolshoi Ballet on tour. I don’t how how realistic it is. I love the idea of doing a touring one, going to other cities. We’re not in the position to handle that yet.” Among the cities that have inquired, he said, are Dublin, Ireland; Lucerne, Switzerland; Florence and Venice in Italy.” But that’s well into the future. For now, he said, “our focus is making the best work we can in Providence and solving practical problems.”
Evans never anticipated what Waterfire would become, or how it would change his own career. The whole event has served to transform downtown Providence.
“What frustrated me tremendously about people in Providence was the city was not interesting, not happening,” Evans said. “No one had this sort of excitement and pride in their downtown. Waterfire has helped to bring that back and that is absolutely wonderful.”
And that, underscored by this comment written in the guest book by a former Rhode Islander: “Was born and raised in Rhode Island. Moved away four years ago. What a pleasure to come back and see so many people in downtown Providence. People and families of all ages and ethnic groups. That’s what it’s all about. The WaterFire is Incredible.”
