The founder of the long-standing hipster-ish West Side restaurant Julians hadn’t been involved directly with the restaurant in quite some time. But his legacy persisted. A larger-than-life personality, you never knew at what event Julian might show up, his square jaw ready-to-fire sarcasm preceding him by a few paces. He pioneered the “this wait staff […]
Renowned supporter of local music and arts Lisa Gourley (Sometimes Lisa Gourleyx) passed away on June 15. Reading reactions on social media, you can’t help but notice how often the words “nice,” “kind,” and “photography” come up. Lisa won Motif’s Favorite Photographer award a few times, most recently in 2023. Here’s how our reporter Bobby […]
Symbolic of grass roots entrepreneurism, the three-year old concert series that takes place in 195 District Park returns in quadruplicate this year. The Lemonade Stand began as a small, music-focused outing in 2024, the brainchild of Liam Anastasia-Murphy and Eva Okrent. This year it will be staged on Saturday, May 16; Friday, June 12; Saturday, […]
We sat down a few months ago with one of the organizers of RI’s Deportation Defense Line. The Defense Line’s origins are organic and multifaceted. No one person is in charge of it. No one organization is either. But the end result is a system that, while far from foolproof, is effective and responsive, driven […]
This event — the 4th annual –took place on May 27, 2026 The live celebration, included performances for each category and live voting, as well as the results of the online voting, and took place at Myrtle, 134 Waterman Ave, East Providence. See who won, complete with write-ups on the artists See candid and formal photos from […]
PVD-based artist Ian Gaudreau got a tip from a friend about a grant-sponsored mural project. Ten thousand dollars (the advertised amount) is a pretty good commission in the working artist world, so he looked into it. He discussed it with the sponsoring organization, who conveyed the tragic life-cut-short story of Iryna Zarutska. Gaudreau declined to […]
VOTING OPEN NOW! Wednesday, May 276 – 10pmMyrtle, East Providence Join us for the 4th annual Motif Spoken Awards! We are excited to be returning to Myrtle to celebrate RI’s spoken word community. The live celebration, including performances for each category and live voting, as well as the results of the online voting, will take […]
The 2026 Tattoo Awards took place on June 2 at Narragansett Brewery. Check out the winners and photos from the event at the links below! “May your tattoo ink never run dry,” as the ancient Portlandian blessing goes, has rarely been more applicable. Motif is proud to partner again with Narragansett Brewery to bring you […]
The second episode of the Real Housewives of Rhode Island will premiere tonight. (Well, Wednesday, depending on when you read this. Thursday on Peacock.) The show has produced a social media furor almost as big as the botoxed lips of its stars – not really a surprise for one-degree-of-separation Rhody and our “know a guy” culture. […]
The Music Awards went off without a hitch this year, and over the course of the evening more than 400 local music lovers dropped by to dance, listen, and cheer on fellow musicians. We’ll have more photos and a fuller description soon, but for right now, here are the picks over 5,000 voters selected this […]