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RISCAnewsPrograms Newsletter of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
May 2010
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RISCA Receives Special Recognition Award from the Rhode Island Tourism Division EDC Director Keith Stokes, Director of Tourism Mark Brodeur, RISCA Executive Director Randall Rosenbaum and Governor Carcieri. Photo by Lew Place | The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts was honored to receive a special recognition from the Rhode Island Tourism Division during the 25th Annual Tourism Unity Luncheon and Awards on May 12. Randall Rosenbaum accepted the 2010 Special Recognition Award for RISCA's "outstanding contribution to the development, growth and enhancement of the Arts & Culture Community of Rhode Island". Each year the Unity Luncheon honors groups and individuals in each region of the state. This year celebrated the arts with awards going to: RI State Poet Lisa Starr on Block Island, The Gamm Theatre in the Blackstone Valley, The Courthouse Center for the Arts in South County, the Newport Folk & Jazz Festival, Linden Place in Bristol, the Warwick Museum of Art, and David Duffy, Chairman of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority in Providence. RISCA was happy to help bring the arts directly to the event with beautiful glass centerpieces by Belleau Art Glass and live music by the WhatNots and the Bohemian Quartet. Thank you Rhode Island Tourism Division! |
| A Gorgeous New Public Art Installation by Jamestown Artist Paul Housberg Housberg - Spring | The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the Rhode Island Judiciary are proud to announce the installation of four kiln-cast glass panels by Jamestown artist Paul Housberg at the Kent County Courthouse in Warwick. This installation marks the completion of a process that began several years ago with the selection of Housberg as one of two artists, chosen through a panel review process, to create public art for the courthouse through Rhode Island's 1% for Public Art Program.
A primary goal of the Kent County Courthouse public art selection panel was to commission artwork for the building that would, "take into account the human dramas that unfold daily within the courthouse, as well as the pressures that judges and staff undergo working in this environment. The architecture intends to convey a sense of dignity for all who enter it, yet it retains the feeling of a formal place of important business. Likewise, artwork is sought that may bring relief, clarity or diversion to the viewer while remaining respectful of the seriousness of the location."
Housberg's glass screens realize this goal - and then some. The light, colors, textures and composition of each panel are ethereal and beautiful. They transform an otherwise bland space on each floor of the courthouse into a place a beauty and contemplation, replacing views of traffic on Bald Hill Road with luminescent colors representing each New England season. Winter is on the first floor, spring is on the second, summer on the third and fall resides on the fourth floor.
Housberg - Summer | How did Housberg bring his vision into reality? The beautiful glass panels represent a three-year effort that employed local artists, engineers and steel and glass fabricators. After Housberg was selected for the commission through RISCA's panel review process, he designed and re-designed his concept for the courthouse; kiln cast 16 30" x 80" glass panel sections; worked with a local engineering firm to design frames that would each hold up to 1000 lbs of glass; fabricated those frames through South County Steel, Inc.; worked with the courts to obtain security clearances for himself, his part-time assistants and sub-contractors; coordinated installation days and times outside of the court's hours of operation; bolted the frames into each floor of the building; and finally mounted the glass panels to a tempered glass substrate. The creation and installation of Housberg's artwork in the Courthouse employed local artisans and skilled laborers at a time when jobs were being lost in our economy. The resulting creation will improve the environment within the courthouse and brighten the experience of staff and visitors for decades to come. For more information on Public Art at the Kent County Courthouse, contact Cristina DiChiera. |
URI's new College of Pharmacy building | Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Public Art at the College of Pharmacy at URI's Kingston campus. This art commission will be for the design and construction of a Medicinal and Wellness Garden.
The new North District, where the Medicinal and Wellness Garden will be located, is a place for life sciences and health-related studies at URI. The new 130,000 SF College of Pharmacy Building is currently under construction and will house classrooms, offices, research labs, and community social spaces. Payette Associates of Boston, MA has designed the building to have many "green" and energy efficient features meeting LEED Silver® standards.
The new Medicinal & Wellness Garden will be a strong component of URI's approach to learner-centered education. It will feature an educational display of medicinal plants, herbal plants, and spices and also function as a conservatory source of standard specimens. The garden will aid in the study of pharmacognosy and help illustrate sources of plant-derivative drugs. Beyond serving as a botanical resource, the garden will inspire the visitor to explore man's relationship to nature and the natural environment's role in human wellbeing. The garden will be a unique work of art, a landscape that engages science, nature, aesthetics, and human spirit.
The deadline is June 4 at 5:00 PM. For more information on this RFQ click here. |
Take a Break, Out to Lunch, Back to Work at the Dept of Labor and Training. Photo by Shea'la Finch | RISCA's New Online Public Art Directory Have you ever wondered what and where all of the big, beautiful and interesting public art is in Rhode Island? Check it out! http://www.arts.ri.gov/publicart/ Thank you Alfred Calderone in the DOA IT Depament for building the framework of our directory and to Shea'la Finch for making it complete. For more information about the the Public Art Directory contact Cristina or Shea'la |
GiveMe5! GiveMe5 filmmakers, jurors and organizers. Photo by Lew Place | The 2010 GiveMe5 Teen Film Festival was held on May 15 at Bryant University in Smithfield. The event brought students from public and private schools across the state to screen their films with titles such as, "Stitchedophrenia," "Carbon Emissions," and "Zombie Nation." Subjects ranged from documentaries on difficult current issues to creepy horror films and light comedy. The panel of judges included Judge Frank Caprio, Dana Neugent of the URI Film Department and Steven Feinberg, Director of the RI Film and Television Office. The panel gave each filmmaker direct feedback on their work. At the GiveMe 5 Teen Film Festival, everyone is a winner and each production team took home a trophy. To read the Providence Journal review, click here. For more information on GiveMe5 and RISCA's Education Programs, contact Sherry Brown at 401-222-6994 or sherry@arts.ri.gov |
support the great work of RI Citizens for the Arts by becoming a member!  | Powerful Testimonies at House Finance Committee Hearings in Support of Arts Funding Governor Carcieri has proposed three major cuts to arts funding in Rhode Island in his budget recommendations to the General Asseumbly. These include: the elimination of the 1% for Public Art Program (a proposal that was subsequently withdrawn, but ultimately rests with the General Assembly); the elimination of the Motion Picture Tax Incentive Program; and the elimination of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts' grant programs. Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts coordinated a powerful presence during the House Finance Committee Meeting at the Rhode Island State House on May 5, to advocate against these budget cuts. Over 65 arts supporters filled the House hearing room and spilled into the hallway to show their support for maintaining State funding for the arts in Rhode Island.
The hearing began with RISCA Executive Director Randy Rosenbaum and Steven Feinberg, Director of the RI Film and Television Office, explaining that every $1 invested in film and television production in Rhode Island has resulted in $8 of clearly documented economic activity, as well as additional economic benefits not counted in this figure (download a copy of the study here). Rosenbaum also explained that the grants awarded by RISCA help to employ hundreds of people at arts and cultural organizations across the state and generate nearly 25 times their value in matching grants and donations to those organizations. The $700,000 that the State invests in the Arts Council annually is also matched directly by the National Endowment for the Arts with a grant of $818,000, which would be immediately jeopardized if those State funds were cut.
Rosenbaum cited a soon-to-be-released study by Americans for the Arts showing that the arts currently employ over 13,000 people in Rhode Island, which represents an 11% increase over last year - a period when job losses in the Rhode Island economy were over 7%. The arts are one of the fastest growing industries in our state, Rosenbaum explained, and contribute close to three quarters of a billion dollars ($750 million) annually to the state's economy.
Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts testified that the cut would be "absolutely wrong for our economy and for our State" and described the number of businesses and jobs in the arts that continue to grow and contribute significantly to the RI economy. Additional testimony was presented by from Allan Tear, technology innovator and co-founder of Betspring, Kevin Cunningham, RISD graduate, RISCA fellow, and arts entrepreneur, Woonsocket Economic Development Director Matt Wojcik, former Warren Town Manager (and current CFO of 2nd Story Theatre) Michael Abruzzi, Howie Sneider from the Steel Yard, Bekah Greenwald from RiverzEdge and David Beauchesne from RI Philharmonic who explained that the Philharmonic pays more in taxes to the state than is given to them in funding through RISCA - "a net-positive" for the state. Lisa Goddard and Rod Hanley, Executive Director and board president, respectively, of the Newport Art Museum, Amber Rose Johnson, Classical High School student and recipient of the NEA's Poetry Out Loud Award, Public Artist Peter Geisser and Daniel Kertzner, representing the RI Foundation described the importance of public support for the arts. Lisa Carnevale, Director of RI Citizens for the Arts, concluded testimony by presenting the committee with over 600 signed letters and over 350 emails and phone calls in support of maintaining RISCA's budget generated in the weeks preceding the hearings and she acknowledged the multitude of people watching the hearings in the hallway outside of the hearing room - all there to show their support for the arts.
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RISCA Staff Reports from the Field Dan and Elena attended New Urban Arts' "Art Party" on May 14th. This multi-disciplinary storefront center on Westminster St. in Providence continues to engage youth and adults in a range of highly creative and accomplished mentoring activities. The party included exhibits, youth films, music and burgeoning wells of enthusiasm. The food hasn't been the same since they gave up the "Elvis sandwiches" of their early days, but the party was great and the series of artists' talks hosted by Emmy Bright and Kendrin Frias have been remarkable. New Urban Arts richly deserved their presidential Coming Up Taller award this past year! Guitar strummin' at the RI Folk Festival. Photo by David Hughes | Cristina attended the Rhode Island Folk Festival at Little Rhody Vasa Park in Foster on May 15 and she hasn't stopped talking and emailing about it since. This event, coordinated annually by FosteringArts, is perfect for families with a range of activities for all ages, as well as activities for music lovers, learners and performers. For $5 visitors can enjoy a day of music, this year presented by the RI Songwriters Association, which ranges from traditional to contemporary folk, in a beautiful setting. The food was great, the beer was cold, and the littlest attendees loved playing on the playground and catching tadpoles in the frog pond (seriously!). But the real beauty of the event is the activities taking place in tents around the grounds and in the park house where, for $15, attendees can learn American clogging, Irish step dancing, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, tin whistle and myriad other traditional artforms. The event culminates in a round robin, a contra dance, dinner and an evening performance. Don't miss it next year!!!! A proud bookmaker at the Fox Point Library | Be sure to visit Pages of Possibility at the AS220 Project Space Reading Room before it comes down this weekend. Mary Geisser received a RISCA project grant to conduct book making workshops with children at the Fox Point Library and this exhibit presents the gems created during that time. Cristina's favorite book is The Princess by Samantha: once upon a time there was a Princess. She is not a good princess she is a monster.
She eats worms and dirt. Ewww.
Her favorite drink is worm juice. She always wears black.
She has red eyes and loves bones.
(But, really, you HAVE to see the illustrations to truly appreciate it!)
Superstars of the Latino Community Celebration planning meeting | Elena helped to coordinate the first informational meeting on May 18 for the 2010 Latino Community Celebration. It was a great success with over 45 community arts leaders networking and planning for this month-long celebration of Latino culture, community and creativity. The group also began making plans for collaborative marketing efforts to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Events will take place September 15 - October 15 throughout the state. This effort is being spearheaded by a partnership between RISCA, the Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, and the Hispanic Heritage Committee of RI. For more information, please visit www.hispanicheritageri.org |
| News & Events: updates from RISCA Fellows and Grantees
Ted Delaney used the funds he received from his 2009 Film & Video Fellowship award to help finance his latest documentary film Library of the Early Mind, which explores "the deeper aspects of children's literature." Ted recently informed us that the film is essentially complete and is scheduled for its first major screening on October 19th, 2010, at the Askwith Forums at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Askwith Forums are Harvard-sponsored events that are open to the public and draw an audience of educators and academics. To learn more about Library of the Early Mind, visit the film's production blog. The official website will be launched soon. Brendas by Jenna Goldberg | Jenna Goldberg, recipient of the 2005 Crafts Fellowship, will be showing her furniture at Gallery NAGA in Boston. The solo show, titled Wallflower, includes a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Deborah Weisgall and runs June 4 - July 16. Opening Reception Friday, June 4, 6-8pm VSA arts of Rhode Island, the state affiliate of the international VSA, will be sending artists and artwork juried by distinguished panelists to the 2010 International VSA Festival. The festival will take over Washington, D.C. from June 6-12. Rhode Island participants include: Amy Lynn Budd of Providence whose The Thing That Ate My Brain...Almost (which was created with support from RISCA's Project Grant program) will be presented on June 9th at H St Playhouse; Look! The MONster! by Emett Estrada will be exhibited in Revealing Culture at The Smithsonian International Gallery; Artwork created in VSA Arte Postale, an international visual arts exchange program (RI exchanged with Jordan) will be on display at the U.S. Department of Education; State of the Art Tryptch, by Ryan Dobbins is part of the "All Kids Can...CREATE!" Exhibition with CVS Caremark at Union Station Jun 6 - 12; What is Disability? by Paul Almeida of Pawtucket will be part of a dramatic display at the Kennedy Center Hall of States. Guarding Sheep by Lucas Foglia | 2007 RISCA Photography Fellowship recipient Lucas Foglia is represented in an upcoming exhibition of thesis work by the 2010 Yale MFA Photography class. The show is a collaboration with Helac and Wirth Art Advisory to install the show in a 5000 square foot vacant commercial space in midtown Manhattan. YALE MFA PHOTOGRAPHY 2010, 225 east 57th street (between 2nd and 3rd avenue), NEW YORK CITY, June 4 - July 2, 2010 Reception: June 4, 6-9pm The show will also be traveling to: CHICAGO, David Weinberg Gallery, September 10 - October 30, 2010, 300 W Superior St, Suite 203 Reception: September 10, 5-8pm & LOS ANGELES, Eight Veil, September 21 - 27, 2010, 7174 Sunset Boulevard, Reception: September 21, 7-9pm AudioWinds #1 is an audio art installation by Rhode Island-based writer, storyteller, and radio host Marc Levitt (sound engineer James Moses) and was supported in part by a 2010 RISCA Project Grant. It is a multi-channel orchestration of sounds that might have been heard at its location over the last few centuries, from before contact between local indigenous people and European settlers to the present time. The sounds have been taken from their historical context and used as 'notes' in this orchestration. The location - the Moore Terrace, 20 N Main St in Providence (the second-floor entrance to RISD's Chace Center) - has, at various points, served as the site of a Narragansett Indian settlement; a homestead to settlers as they arrived from Europe; a place with ties to slave-based labor; a location for stables, factories, and rooming houses; and the center of Providence's commercial district. Visit the site between May 20th and July 18th to listen to AudioWinds #1. |
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