2026 PVDFest is the can’t-miss local event this weekend; one of the biggest fests of the year for our city-state. This year reprises last year’s footprint, encompassing Kennedy Plaza with three stages and reaching out...
Crook Point Brewing Company, 65 Massasoit Ave., East Providence; photo credit: Sean Carlson Over the past year, The Grind has gleamed as one of Rhode Island’s coffee gems. Set up at Crook Point Brewing Company (65...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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!...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“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...
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...
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...
Please join us for the Motif 2021 RI Drink Awards Monday, September 13 from 6-9pm at R1 Indoor Karting, 100 Higginson Ave, Lincoln, RI 02865Yes, there will be food trucks! Our Beer & Spirits Awards are new. We asked our eats & drinks writers, and the planners of most local beer fests and the bartenders […]
Last summer saw a huge surge of popularity in all kinds of surfing and skim boarding camps, as well as every possible form of outdoor activity. Even at the height of the pandemic, water-based sports went on unrestricted. As people’s pandemic fears ease, there will be an even bigger increase in outdoor activities, especially on […]
Please join us for the Motif 2021 Food Truck Award Ceremony Monday, September 13 from 6-9pm at R1 Indoor Karting, 100 Higginson Ave, Lincoln, RI 02865Yes, there will be food trucks! Our Food Truck Awards, now in its 5th year (with time off for pandemics), draws nominations from our food writers and the event planners […]
At the beginning of the pandemic, hundreds of articles predicted the death of the movie theater. Now it looks as if rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated. Since the dawn of television, however, pundits have been proclaiming movies dead. Let’s test your knowledge of other things predicted to kill the movie theater. Movie attendance […]
Roller disco is coming to Providence! Thursday and Friday nights, the rink at the Bank Newport City Center will be transformed into a massive outdoor Roller Disco. PVDLive is curating Thursday nights and Conscious Club curates the DJs and live performers Friday night, while the mood is set by a spinning disco ball. The Trinity […]
Rhode Island is heating up. Last year was the hottest on record, and locally, we’ve already seen days in the 80s and 90s. Heat waves and large, irregular temperature swings are pronounced effects of the accelerating global climate crisis. Temperature control in buildings – air conditioning – is globally becoming more necessary for survival during […]
Much like our roads, the path to cannabis legalization in Rhode Island has been riddled with potholes and slowdowns for many years. Many proponents of legalization felt that 2021 would finally be the year for Rhode Island, thanks to changes in leadership at the State House and an overall appetite by most lawmakers to finally […]
Attention vulgarians! In the foregoing fortnight I have been made aware of a marvelous new development in the field of print journalism: that of “sponcon,” or “sponsored content,” in which deleterious advertisement is gussied up as reportage in order to bamboozle half-literate chuckleheads such as yourselves. At the behest of my personal physician and financial […]
The scent of freshly fried foods, the sound of a live local musician and the warm summer breeze can only mean one thing. It’s Food Truck Friday season! Every Friday from April to September — for the last 7 years — hundreds of people have flocked to Roger Williams Park Zoo and Carousel Village to […]
Attention all cool people – it’s time for you to grab your closest friends and get ready for the Super Fun Activities Club (SFAC). No, seriously. The SFAC is an adult (read: 21+) sports league that features pretty much every sport you can imagine, from flag football to cornhole to pickleball, which unfortunately does not […]
