From Executive Director Elizabeth Francis, PhD —
Here’s a challenge: Try to set aside the habit of judging what you pass by in Providence. Some of my typical judgments as I navigate downtown during a day at work include: “Something needs to happen with the Superman Building!” “I’m going to trip on this bumpy sidewalk.” “This walkway is vacant and scary!” Letting go of these gripes, worries, and condemnations might reveal new possibilities for your relationship to Providence. What might you see, hear, and feel that you ignored before? What are your questions? What can you learn?
PVDFest is a wonderful setting to try this out. You are downtown, not rushing to work or getting to the theater or dinner reservation on time. Something else can happen. And that’s where PVDFest Ideas! comes in. Ideas! walking tours, discussions and book clubs, performances and exhibitions all present opportunities to enjoy Providence and think differently about the city.
Ideas! invites us to engage the humanities in ways that matter to everyday life and produce new and deeper experiences. What can you learn about the history of this place that helps you understand it in this present moment? How is your experience shaped by the stories of this city — both told and untold? How can we savor and soak in these moments and then use them to imagine and connect? Here is your chance to suspend the routines and obligations of everyday life and simply experience, discover, and encounter Providence. Judgment is tempting but inquiry is more fun.
Pick up your copy of the PVDFest Ideas! Program at events from June 2 – 9. See the full schedule here.
