The Pell Humanities Initiative was organized by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University, and the University of Rhode Island Libraries with the goals of honoring Rhode Island’s late Senator Claiborne Pell — who sponsored legislation that led to the founding of the National Endowment for the Humanities — and of showcasing the vital contributions of the humanities in our society today. Rhode Island’s higher education institutions and major humanities organizations held events throughout the year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Humanities in Rhode Island. See the list of participating organizations and projects below.
Participating Organizations & Projects:
2nd Story Theatre, Discussion Sundays, September 2015 – May 2016
Brown University, First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare, April 2016
Cogut Center for the Humanities, Brown University, Humanities in the World, October – December 2015
Everett: Company, Stage & School, Youth-led Freedom Cafes, Fall 2015 – Spring 2016
FirstWorks, Urban Bush Women in Rhode Island: Art Activating Community, October 2015 – February 2016
FirstWorks, ‘Half Life’ by Cloud Eye Control, November 2015
Governor Henry Lippitt House Museum in collaboration with Generation Citizen and the Providence League of Women Voters, Community Discussion Series, November 2015 and Spring 2016
John Hay Library, Brown University, Influence of Anxiety: Lovecraft, Bloch, Barlow, et al., August 2015 – January 2016
John Hay Library, Brown University, Prison Poets: Poetry from the age of mass incarceration, September 2015 – January 2016
John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities & Cultural Heritage, Brown University, The New Tour: Innovations in Place-based Storytelling, September 2015
John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities & Cultural Heritage, Brown University, The Umbrella Movement in Art and Photography, May 2016
John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities & Cultural Heritage, Brown University, Incarceration Project with the Humanities Action Lab, Fall 2016
Johnson & Wales University John Hazen White College of Arts & Sciences, Cultural Life Speakers Series: Dr. Temple Grandin, March 2016
Newport Historical Society, Revolution House: Reinterpreting the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House and the American Revolution, August 2015 – August 2016
Newport Restoration Foundation, Waterscapes: Architecture & Islamic Art at Doris Duke’s Shangri La, April – October 2016
Pell Center for Public Policy & International Relations at Salve Regina University, Story in the Public Square, September 2015 – August 2016
Providence Athenaeum, SALON: Athenaeum Executive Director/writer Matt Burriesci and writer/translator Damion Searls in a conversation about ideas and education, via their recent works, December 2015
Providence Center for Media Culture, Providence Art and Design Film Festival, October – November 2015
Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities, October 2015
Providence Preservation Society, 2015 Providence Symposium, November 2015
Providence Public Library in collaboration with Robb Dimmick and Ray Rickman, Stages of Freedom: Black Performing Arts in Rhode Island, October – December 2015
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Rhode Tour: Sen. Claiborne Pell and the Humanities at the Grass Roots, August 2016
Rhode Island Historical Society, Ranger Talks at the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket, RI, January – March 2016
Rhode Island School of Design, 75th Anniversary of the Division of Liberal Arts, October 2015 – April 2016
RISD Museum, Double Take and Making Art History Events, September – November 2015
Roger Williams National Memorial, #TBT: Roger Williams Returns, October 2015
Roger Williams University, Bristol: Past and Present, November – December 2015
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, “The Rant” by Andrew Case – a series of Public Forums, November – December 2015
University of Rhode Island Center for the Humanities, The URI Pell Archive Initiative, August 2015 – August 2016
Wheaton College Institute for the Interdisciplinary Humanities, Gender and Social Justice: Innovation and Community Action: Three Events, September 2015, October 2015, March 2016
