A Message from Elizabeth Francis, Executive Director, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities
October is National Arts & Humanities Month, and this morning I had the opportunity to join Governor Gina Raimondo along with our board chair Touba Ghadessi and our partners from the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts as the Governor signed a proclamation declaring October Arts & Humanities Month here in the Ocean State. We are grateful to the Governor for this action because it highlights our state’s recognition of the role cultural organizations, artists, writers, scholars, and makers play in boosting our economy and building community.
This proclamation represents the hundreds of hours of creative, collaborative work that is done in studios, offices, libraries, museums, archives, schools, parks and even out on the streets. It represents the thousands of Rhode Islanders and visitors who reflect on art , attend lectures to engage new perspectives on history and culture, stop for a moment to take in the newest mural gracing an old building, or listen to a podcast on the issues of the day. All of this is the humanities and the arts at work.
We invite you to participate!
- Join us at the annual Celebration of the Humanities on October 17th. Tickets available here.
- Attend the programs being organized by our grantees including the Providence Public Library (10/10 and 10/29), Shai Afsai (10/17), and the Providence Biennial (10/26) at their free programs throughout the month. And check out this calendar of additional events happening throughout October from our cultural partners.
- And tune into our social media campaign #artsANDhumanitiesRI where the Humanities Council and RISCA will be sharing selected arts and culture profiles created by the Rhode Island Arts and Culture Research Fellow, Janaya Kizzie. Janaya has been working to research, write, collect and connect stories of significant visual artists, performers, and writers past and present connected to Rhode Island and that are now appearing on Wikipedia! We will be sharing these articles with the hashtag #artsANDhumanitiesRI at @rihumanities on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
