Honoring the late Claiborne Pell - who was instrumental in the development of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities - this year’s Pell Lecture celebrates the 30th anniversary of Rhode Island’s Expansion Arts program and challenges us to develop a more equitable arts ecosystem. 
The Humanities Council is proud to sponsor PVDFest, promoting Providence's unique arts & humanities communities. Council grantees and partners are featured throughout the festival, and art installations featuring stories, connections, and the humanities will take place throughout the weekend.
The City of Providence and its partners host the annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities to honor the late Claiborne Pell (1918-2009), who represented the State of Rhode Island in the United States Senate from 1961-1997. Senator Pell was a lead sponsor of the “Basic Educational Opportunity Grants” program in 1973, renamed […]
PVDFest Kicks Off With Cyborg Cities Conference One-day ideas conference features discussions about technology, rising sea levels, and cybersecurity For the second year in a row, PVDFest will begin with a daylong ideas conference at Providence Public Library. The theme of PVDFest Ideas 2018 is Cyborg Cities: Humans, Technology, and Urban Spaces, a frame that brings together artists, scholars, designers and practitioners […]
Exhibition: August 15, 2019 – October 14, 2019 Reception on August 15, 2019 – 4:30pm – 6:30pm EXHIBITION STATEMENT: The old aphorism, “As above, so below,” has often been used in a secular context to mean that things experienced on a macroscopic scale find expression all the way down stream in the microcosm of everyday […]
Mayor Jorge O. Elorza, the City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture+ Tourism and founding partner FirstWorks will once again host PVDFest, Providence’s free outdoor signature arts festival, June 10-12, 2022. After an unimaginable two years, artists and performers from around the corner and around the globe will reinvigorate and rebuild Providence’s world-renowned art and […]
Our Department developed PVDx2031 in collaboration with local artists and arts organizations throughout 2020, a year with unforeseen yet necessary sociopolitical pivots. Engaging a cultural planning process during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns and in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement was both challenging and fortuitous. We could not shy away from this place […]
Mayor Brett P. Smiley, the City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture, Tourism and founding partner FirstWorks host PVDFest, Providence’s free outdoor signature arts festival, September 8-10, 2023. Artists and performers from around the corner and around the globe will come to the Creative Capital, including headliner Mabel Staples. PVDFest programming will culminate on Sunday, […]
