Fort Thunder & Lightning Bolt: Old Mill / New Music

Exhibition on view April 29 – November 3, 2019.

From humble beginnings as a studio space rented by four RISD guys in the fall of 1995, rose the now mythic Fort Thunder collaborative, located in a dilapidated mill building on the west side of Providence. While there were other decrepit mills nearby, with funky names like Munch House, Box of Knives, & Pink Rabbit, also filled with RISD & Brown students who hosted concerts, Fort Thunder is the one that lives on in popular memory. And although its young residents put Providence on the map with their unique underground art & music scene, they also inadvertently inspired lasting changes in the city’s preservation community, when they fought the redevelopment of the historic property in Eagle Square that they had called home for almost 7 years.

The display features reproductions of Fort Thunder concert posters & handouts from the collection of Shawn Greenlee, RISD ’96, Brown MA ’03, PhD ’08, as well as recordings by some of the Fort’s bands, like Lightning Bolt & Forcefield. There are also images, maps, ephemera & photos related to the mill building (formerly the Valley Worsted Mills/American Woolen Co.) & the “Save Eagle Square” movement. An iPad offers multi-media options.

Dates: April 29 – November 3, 2019
Time: M – F 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Orwig Music Library, 1 Young Orchard Avenue, Providence

This exhibit is part of Year of the City: www.yearofthecity.com.