Expansion Arts Program Coordinator 2017-2019 Supported by a collaboration among the Rhode Island Foundation, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, […]
Rhode Island Center for the Book Announces 2017 Reading Across Rhode Island Title
Reading Across Rhode Island, Rhode Island’s only One Book, One State community read program kicks off its 15th year by inviting everyone to join in the reading of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
Recent Mini Grant Awards
Congratulations to our newest mini grant awardees! The Council is pleased to announce 6 awards from the November mini-rant cycle totaling $10,500 to the following public humanities projects.
Sensory Week Newport offers points of connection
The humanities provide us with the tools to listen deeply, value differing perspectives, and broaden our world views. As 2016 comes to a close it can seem like the days […]
The 21st Century Essay as an exercise in scale and perspective
Writer and historian Jane Gerhard takes us on a journey—exploring how the Aurea Ensemble’s blending of poetry and music weaves together a whole new kind of concert experience—asking audience members to suspend the urge to know, “what they are supposed to think,” in favor of enjoying the experience as a method for reflection and connection. “This is no mere sound collage or sentimental voice over,” Gerhard says. “The juxtaposition is far more dynamic than that.”
2016 NEMA EXCELLENCE AWARDS HONOR TWO GRANTEES
November 2016 • Congratulations to NEMA Excellence Award winners Marjory O’Toole of the Little Compton Historical Society and Lorén Spears of the Tomaquag Museum!
Akiko Busch – Essay as way to bring together humanities and science
This month the Humanities Council joined forces with the Providence Athenaeum’s Salon Series to bring us writer Akiko Busch to share her thoughts on the 21st century essay and how it offers a form by which to link personal experience and observation with larger, more universal stories. Watch this space for a forthcoming podcast with the author.
Celebration Raises Funds for Public Humanities and Honors Those Who Amplify Power of Connections
On Thursday, October 6, 2016 – the Council honored Tom Roberts, senior lecturer in History at the Rhode Island School of Design and founding executive director of the Council, Lorén […]
What is the 21st Century Essay? Reflections on Silvered: Tracing Gorham at Mashapaug Pond
Join historian and writer Jane Gerhard as she explores the ecological, social, industrial, and cultural history of her very own neighborhood through a whole new lens thanks to the essay in film and sound created by artists Erik Gould and Erik Carlson for this series. Follow along and stay tuned for a podcast interview with the artists coming soon.
Environment and Memory – Reflections on the Margo Jefferson Lecture
To commemorate the Prize and its place in public humanities, the Council is staging conversations across the state about the Essay– the nature, purpose and contours of the essay genre in the 21st century and within that, showcasing programming that pays special attention to questions of the environment. Historian and writer Jane Gerhard broadens the discussion to include all kinds of climates while reflecting on a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and memoirist Margo Jefferson.
