FW: PPS May E-Newsletter

In This Issue Preservation Education Events Volunteer/Donation Opportunities Community Notes Quick Links Become a Member PPS Website Preservation Nation Upcoming PPS Events Through June 12 Children's Heritage Tours May 6 Most Endangered Properties List Press Conference May 29 Tiffany Garden Party   June 6 2009 Festival of Historic Houses Saturday House Tour June 7 2009 Festival of Historic Houses Sunday House Tour   May 2009 News Preservation May is National Preservation Month! Join Us As We Announce the 2009 Most Endangered Properties List On Wednesday, May 6 at 4:00 p.m., PPS will hold a press conference to announce its highly anticipated 2009 Most Endangered Properties List. The event will take place at 24 Meeting Street in Providence. It is open to the public and all are welcome. Responses are requested; R.S.V.P. to Sara Emmenecker at (401) 831-7440 or semmenecker@ppsri.org. Click here to read more. PPS Championed in Providence Journal Op-Ed   Read Arnold B. Chace, Jr.'s April 22, 2009 op-ed, "PPS's Long History of Success." Federal Hill, Reservoir & West End Charette   The next installment of the City's neighborhood planning process brings planners to the Federal Hill House at 9 Courtland Street May 4-7. Federal Hill, Reservoir, and West End residents are encouraged to come to provide input on a number of critical neighborhood issues. Click here for more information. Traveling Photography Exhibit's Final Stop   As we roll out the new 2009 Most Endangered Properties List, the run of the traveling photography exhibit featuring properties listed in 2008 is coming to an end. Be sure to check it out at Three Sisters, 1074 Hope Street, through May 14. Senate Committee on Corporations forwards Gas Meter Bill to Senate Floor Thank you to all who answered our Preservation Alert and contacted your state senators and Committee on Corporations members urging them to support S-0107, the Senate Bill that would prohibit National Grid from installing gas meters without homeowners' permission. National Grid has successfully stalled the legislative process and continues its efforts to weaken the bill's protections; the vote, once scheduled for April 29, is now set for the middle of next week. Thank you for your assistance with this important advocacy effort. Read more about the issue in Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. What Place Matters to You? In honor of National Preservation Month, PPS invites you to participate in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's endeavor to discuss places that matter to people across the nation. Whether it's the site of a significant historical moment or something more personal, the National Trust wants you to document and publicize the places that matter most to you on their This Place Matters website. One place that matters to us all, the City of Providence, is profiled in the latest issue of Preservation; click here to read the story. Education April Docent Site Visit Gives Behind-the-Scenes Look at John Brown House Dan Santos, Educational Programs and Services Manager at the John Brown House, gave the PPS docents a personalized tour of the house on Tuesday, April 7. Focusing on the early years of the building and its grounds, the tour brought to light discoveries made by local archeologist and Brown postdoctoral fellow Krysta Ryzewski. A full exhibit of her discoveries will eventually be displayed at the John Brown House; stay tuned for updates. PPS Re-launches Adult Education with Fall Symposium This fall PPS will re-launch its Adult Educational Programs by taking a look at the "American Renaissance" (c. 1876 - c. 1914) in Providence with a symposium that coincides with our annual Fall Event, to be held under the gilded dome of one of Providence's most iconic commercial buildings of the period. The cultural and aesthetic trends of this era will be further explored through a series of lectures in 2010, developed in collaboration with other local cultural and historic institutions. Please mark your calendars for October 23-24 and check www.ppsri.org for updates. Children's Heritage Education Tours Bookings are still being accepted for our Spring 2009 Children's Heritage Education Tours, which are led Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m., through June 12.   Teachers may contact Education Coordinator Kathleen McAreavey at kmcareavey@ppsri.org or (401)831-7440, ext. 103. To learn more about PPS's educational programing, including ways you can help, click here. Art+History: Place Explorations At the Nightingale-Brown House through October 2 Please stop by the Nightingale-Brown House to view the graduate thesis project Art+History. Curated by graduate students Rosie Branson Gill and Meg Rotzel and presenting original works by Carla Hererra- Prats and Jill Slosburg-Ackerman, this exhibit of commissioned artworks reflects on the assembled histories of the house.   For more information, curriculum and public programs visit http://artplushistory.wordpress.com/  and http://www.brown.edu/Research/JNBC/. Events 30th Festival of Historic Houses   PPS celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its Festival in style with a Saturday, June 6 tour on majestic Stimson Avenue and a Sunday, June 7 tour in the eclectic West End. To honor this anniversary Festival, Tiffany & Co. is sponsoring a "Tiffany Garden Party" on Friday, May 29 in an historic Angell Street house and garden adjacent to the Saturday tour neighborhood. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.ppsri.org/festival. Sponsors to date include: Dominion Energy, Pella Windows and Doors, Bank Rhode Island, Dimeo Construction Company, WPRI-TV, and   Volunteer/Donation Opportunities 30th Festival of Historic Houses   Be a volunteer for one of the premier events of the Providence cultural calendar - the Festival of Historic Houses on June 6. Volunteer shifts are 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. or 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Roles include, but are not limited to: house guides, route guides, and registration greeters. Mandatory volunteer meetings are scheduled for Monday, May 4 at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m; all volunteers are required to attend one meeting. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Barbara Zdravesky at barbara.zdravesky@gmail.com. General Office/Clerical Assistant PPS seeks a volunteer to assist with general office/clerical tasks, including but not limited to answering a multi-line phone, greeting visitors, working on special projects, mailings, and attending and assisting with various major events. Experience with Microsoft Office programs necessary. Help needed Mondays and Thursdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m., and Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.  Must be pleasant on the phone and able to handle multiple tasks at once. Please email your interest and availability to info@ppsri.org. Community Notes Available for Rent: Shakespeare's Head, 21 Meeting St. Commercial tenant sought for lovely garden-level office space in historic building. Office approximately 400 square feet, it features a row of windows with a view of the tranquil Shakespeare's Head Garden and plenty of natural light. Monthly rent is $650. Terms: Long-term, triple-net lease. Contact Kristi Agniel at (401) 749-5008.    Location: Convenient to Downtown, Courthouse, State House, College Hill and RISD. Owner:  Shakespeare's Head Association.  Availability: Immediate. Keep off the Grass at the John Nicholas Brown Center Original, site-specific theatre, developed by New York-based playwright Molly Rice and students in the Brown University class "Site-Specific Playwriting in Brown's Historical Spaces," will travel from the Nightingale-Brown House (357 Benefit Street) to the John Brown House (52 Power Street), May 11-13 at 5:00 p.m. For questions and reservations please e-mail historicsiteplay@gmail.com. Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture April 17-July 20, 2009, at the RISD Museum of Art   Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture is the first exhibition to treat all facets of Breuer's work with equal weight. Breuer's long career was marked by equal parts acclaim and controversy - like the modernist style he helped to define. "Old House Soul" Another chapter of the preservation documentary "Old House Soul" (a work in progress) will be screened on Thursday, May 7 (6:00-7:30 p.m.) at the Providence Public Library in the Barnard Room, 3rd floor, 150 Empire Street, Providence. For more information, visit www.oldhousesoul.com. The mission of the Providence Preservation Society (PPS) is to improve the quality of life in the city of Providence through historic preservation and the enhancement of the built environment. PPS is a nonprofit membership organization, exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and is recognized as a charitable organization.