Stars With Shirley: April 2024
Look to the Stars with Motif‘s Shirley Prisco, bringing you your astrological horoscope for April 2024. Video filmed & edited by Eric Barao (@EricBarao).
Four Things You May Not Know About the Award-winning Comedy Musical, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Natasha Hodgson in the Broadway Company of Operation Mincemeat. Photo by Matt Crockett. The Tony Award® and Olivier Award®-winning musical launches the North American leg of its world tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center September...
You've Still Got a Friend: Theater by the Sea presents a rousing world premiere tribute
Hunter Brown, Allie Seibold, and Seth Eliser in You've Still Got a Friend, playing at Bill Hanney's Theatre By The Sea from August 20 - September 13, 2026. Photo by Michael Derr Okee dokee folks… Tonight, at Theatre By The...
They didn’t strike, they picketed: Local librarians find a new way to educate the public.
Photo by Steve Ahlquist. The unionized workers of the Community Libraries of Providence have been without a contract for two years now. Their patience, which had been wearing thin, was stretched to the breaking point by...
Flickers 44: Celebrating film from around the world and right here in the Ocean State
Photo: L-R: Pénélope Rose, Manya Glassman, Emeline Easton, and K. Elisa Garcia. by Mike Ryan. The Rhode Island International Film Festival, also known as Flickers, took place August 4 through August 9, bringing filmmakers, actors, industry...
Welcome to the Neighborhood: RI’s Newest Black-Operated Museum
I think museums and the culture around them have historically gotten a bad rap. When you think of museums, you might associate them with classism, inaccessibility, and wealthy donors and patrons. There’s also the issue...
Lawn Beers to Harvest Cheers: Summer's Last Pours to Autumn's Fresh Taps
As the leaves change to amber hues, so do fall beers. Our local brewers are excited about the opportunity to offer these loved styles of craft beer. If you are looking forward to cozy sweaters...
Fall Happenings Map
Illustration by Sadie Levine. 1. Adams Farm (pumpkins, hay rides, corn mazes) Plus: Variety fall farm stand 158 Burnt Swamp Road, Cumberland 401-714-4425 2. Appleland Orchard (apples) Plus: Cider, wine, and donuts 135 Smith Avenue, Greenville 401-949-3690 3. Barden Family Orchard (apples, pumpkins) Plus: Farmers...
Roots Report
Okee dokee folks… I just realized that I have been attending concerts for 50 years now. In that span of time I have seen countless shows. I honestly have no idea how many I have...
YourFriendM00n Wants You to Know You’re Not Alone
Moon Leone didn’t set out to make your run-of-the-mill pop songs. They build whole worlds, embodying different characters and using visuals to tell stories that ultimately help people heal from trauma. Performing as YourFriendM00n, they...
Art Focused Forum
On August 12, Motif cohosted a forum on the Arts in Providence featuring Democratic Primary Mayoral candidates Brett Smiley and David Morales. In Providence, the real election typically happens in the primary. The winner will go...
In Their Own Words: 2026
Every election cycle, Motif brings you the candidates in their own words so you can try to compare apples to apples. It’s our way of contributing to the political process while not having the fact-checking...
ecoRI News Roundup
Environmental Organizations Endorse Foulkes for Governor PROVIDENCE — The Providence Streets Coalition, a grassroots activist organization devoted to increasing funding, safety, and reliability in the state’s transit network, announced July 21 that it is backing former...
ON THE COVER: Nicholas "Niko" Tolentino
For the cover of Motif’s Fall Guide, painter and muralist Nicholas “Niko” Tolentino of Cranston drew inspiration from his childhood days, he relates in an interview at White Electric Coffee Co-Op in Providence. Roger Williams Park...
No Concert is an Island
Centerville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket hosted its first live music event in August. It started big with the Island Roads Fest, featuring popular reggae/ rock bands including Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Iration, Action Bronson, DENM, Bumpin...
Tatting at the Convention Center
Stepping into a tattoo convention without a tattoo or an array of piercings can be intimidating, like stepping into a gallery show without reading the title first. Aside from a pair of basic ear studs,...
Arts Focus Forum
August 12, 6:30 - 8:30 PM Southside Cultural Center - 393 Broad Street, Providence What do the candidates for Mayor of Providence have in mind for the future of arts engagement in the “Creative Capital”? Find...
MEOWS, MALTS, DOGS AND DRAFTS: Have a pint to rescue a paw
Can art by Joey Visco Dogs and drafts? Is there any better way to celebrate yappy hour? If you are an animal and craft beer lover, this is an event you do not want to miss!...
NOW IT’S OUR TURN: Local team seeks to keep up positive momentum from World Cup
Photo by Sindayiganza Photography. The FIFA World Cup tournament was full of thrills, drama, chaos, unity, and live television shots of devastated children in tears after their team lost a heartbreaking match. The final whistle brought...
Boatload of music: Titanic drama
Matthew Provençal as Thomas Andrews in ‘Titanic: The Broadway Musical’ at Bill Hanney's Theatre By The Sea July 23 – August 15, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. The challenge to staging a production of “Titanic: The...
2026 Tattoo Awards Gallery Wall
The Tattoo Awards featured a gallery wall populated by local artists. Here is a selection of the artwork on display! By Brianne Elizabeth @foxhallowart By Victori Leo Riel Grab Your Heart & Go by Allie Boyer @peaceflowercreations MONSTROELIZASUE by...
BTS with DMK: Lily Spencer
Photo by Jess Lee Images. I met Lily Spencer in an acting class taught by Eric Lutes, whom many television fans will remember from the 1990s sitcom “Caroline in the City.” Eric, who now lives in...
2026 Tattoo Award Winners
Rachel WS. Favorite Animal/ Favorite Floral Tara D’Agostino – Iron Lion Tattoo By the numbers, Tara D’Agostino got her first tattoo at the age of 15, picked up her own tattoo machine at the age of 19, opened...
The Long Game: River Shook Arrives Home
Photo by Jillian Clark. There’s no feeling quite like finally being able to fully step into your own, to truly embrace your whole self and carry yourself through the world with that mentality. Not an identity...
Roots Report
Kai Nanfelt. Okee dokee folks… Last weekend I went on a ten-hour, each way, road trip to play a show. The drive wasn’t so bad, but the music was horrible. As I have mentioned before, I...
The Butterfly’s Shadow
Photo by Isaac Laliberte Wards 2, 9 and 12 all report the same. Mendez wins in each! It appeared that Providence was perfectly poised to usher-in its first female mayor in history. The polls were closed and...
A Flicker of Flame
“You’re late, Brother,” she said, hovering outside the weathered cottage near a pebbly beach, indistinguishable from the shadows cast by moonlight that hit the thick hydrangeas. It was late in the evening of a seawind-chilled...
American Caesar Salad
It’s almost Cthulhu – pardon my hiccup, I meant, “election” – season again. And if the tactics of these times don’t make your head swim and your bowls ache, as if you were being eviscerated...
ON THE COVER: Bob Eggleton
When cover artist Bob Eggleton of Warwick first got interested in art and started sketching nightmarish creatures, he recalls, an aunt asked him, “What’s drawing a monster gonna get you in life?” He’s spent the last...
GREASE
Skyler Shields (Kenickie) and the cast of the Theatre By The Sea (Wakefield, RI) production of “Grease” running thru July 18, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop! A-wop-bam-boom!” BY ALISON O’DONNELL ON JUNE 27, 2026 Grease is the...
Between Worlds with Sheila Isham: Resurrecting the American abstract expressionist at the Newport Art Museum
Isham, Sheila. Teth (#8 Creation Series). 1972. Acrylic spray on canvas. Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI. (Image courtesy of the Newport Art Museum.) Quite some time ago, I read a quip that the art of diplomacy...
Stuff to Do
Saving the Bay One Drop at a Time
Obviously, water pollution harms Narragansett Bay, the sea life that inhabits it, and the people who depend on the Bay for their livelihood. For over 200 years, ever since the Industrial Revolution when chemicals and metals were dumped into the Blackstone River, the Bay has suffered from pollution. While mills of industry are no longer […]
2024 Motif RI Music Awards Recap
On Monday night, March 19, Motif threw the RI music community’s version of the Oscars, the 2024 RI Music Awards. A record crowd of over 600 musicians and music lovers came and went throughout the evening, which was filled with live performances and awards for over 50 different categories. Food from Burrito Bowl formed a […]
Twelfth Night: Gamm Theatre mines all that’s amusing in this Elizabethan comedy
There’s a tendency of late for directors to re-envision Shakespeare’s masterworks by staging them in a different time and territory, and with a more modern temperament, as if today’s audiences needed an assist in finding the plays’ relevancy. This misguided movement was recently touched on by satirical digital news source The Onion in a mock […]
WOLF PLAY: If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf
Wilbury Theatre Group presents Wolf Play, by Hansol Jung and directed by Marcel A. Mascaró. When an online adoption process goes sideways, the young boy caught in the middle launches himself into a lone wolf’s journey to find a pack he can call his own. South Korean playwright Jung has been hailed as one of […]
Subterranean Jungle: Dandy in the Underworld
Patsy Decline – Self-Titled (75orLess Records) Patsy Decline is composed of Ray Memery, George Sullivan, Jack McKenna, and Bill Gorman – veterans of some pretty legendary bands including Backwash, Mother Jefferson, Von Doom, and Ether. Patsy Decline sounds like members of Television and Wire started a tribute band to the indie days of R.E.M.. I […]
Adoptables: Sponsored by Sweet Binks Wildfire Rehabilitation, “A friend to all animals”
Sweet Binks Wildlife Rehabilitation does not rehab domestic rabbits. Learn more at sweetbinks.org cats Pawswatch Community Cat Care Center pawswatch.org and fb.com/catcarecenterRI PRINCESS GREENIE 4-year-old dilute tortie looking for a quiet, child-free home with cat tower and hut for safety. Loves pets, loves love. Spayed, current on shots and vaccines, FELV/FIV negative, microchipped. HUMPERDINK 5½-month-old […]
Roots Report
Okee dokee folks… Today I was thinking about substance abuse in the music community. I know that big rock stars have always been famous for getting on stage smashed but that is so passé. A lot of folks may never admit to having a problem with substance abuse or even want to discuss it. When […]
The “Brightside” of Seafood: A new market’s journey to change the way we buy, and eat, seafood
A fishing boat rests in the middle of the Atlantic. It sways like a piece of driftwood under the heat of the summer sun. The ocean stretches towards the blue horizon, wrapping its curving arms around the earth. The air is tranquil, still for the squawking of gulls and the gentle lapping of water against […]
Oh Buoy: More than road signs for mariners
With 384 miles of shoreline, buoys are plentiful in the Ocean State. Buoys are anchored floats strategically perched above shoals or near hazard-prone coastline to help steer sailors. First bobbing to the surface in the thirteenth century as moored rafts or tethered barrels and casks near the Iberian Peninsula, buoys expanded to aid in seafaring […]