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...
Note: Read a Q&A with Rifffraff cofounders Emma Ramadan and Tom Roberge at motifri.com/ramadanroberge In 1773, well before Olneyville became a Providence neighborhood, Christopher Olney established a place for paper production along the Woonasquatucket River. The Brown George Paper Mill passed to his sons, only to sell at public auction due to financial distress. In […]
When Poindexter Coffee opened off the lobby of the Graduate Providence hotel (formerly the Biltmore, 11 Dorrance St, PVD) in May 2019, its interior included literature as part of its aesthetic. Vintage hardcovers crisscross both sides of the fireplace, leaving guests a chance to thumb a classic edition of This Side of Paradise by F. […]
“The last time she was here, it felt forced. It felt like we were trying too hard. I know I felt that way, but I still wanted to try. This year, her kid’s in — I think he’s in Italy or something. He’s traveling. She was just going to sit at home. I said, ‘Why […]
Deidra Ricci, founder of Grand Adventure Nature Photography, held her first show at the Common Fence Point Center for Arts, Wellness and Community in Portsmouth on Sunday, December 8. Deidra’s captivating stills graced the walls of the center in the form of canvas, framed prints and postcards. Deidra, a travel enthusiast, used the catch phrase “photos […]
After 12 years of running Darwin Liquors on Benefit Street, George Darwin couldn’t predict another venture was waiting for him as he locked up his shop for the very last time. “[I] sold the store in 2018. Got bored — simple as that! You have to pay bills. You have to make money. You have to […]
Bochek is a PVD-based jazz-rock band that has been working its way up the scene — this year, they received the number one title from Battle of the Bands, hosted by Rhode Island College’s Student Radio, 90.7 WXIN FM. The band consists of four members: Nevin, John, Noah and Dante; past member and founder of […]
Dear C and Dr. B; I am 50 years old and have worked from home part time for the last 16 years to raise my child and be available for her as she grew. Now that she is 16, I find myself with a dilemma. My daughter is pretty much self-sufficient and I‘d like to […]
WED 18 PechaKucha PVD: This month’s theme for the adult show-and-tell slideshow event is Nostalgia. No one in RI knows anything about this, so come find out. 7:20 -10pm. Where the Castle Cinema used to be, Federal Hill Pizza, 1039 Chalkstone Ave, PVD. fb.com/ProvidencePKN THU 19 Larry’s Lounge Variety Show: The locally produced variety show […]
Though the play involves hand puppets, Robert Ashkin’s Hand to God explores issues like sexual repression, sexual deviance, violence, alcoholism, compulsive overeating and death; and, therefore, is NOT meant for children. This is a play for an adult audience to get down with their flawed selves. The Burbage Theatre Company has boldly decided to take […]
Fade is a play you really, really want to like. It has characters you rarely get to see onstage, a playwright with an interesting perspective, and an environment that seems ripe for examination — the world of television. Yet, in spite of all of that, Tatyana-Marie Carlo’s production of Tanya Saracho’s two-hander is a bunch […]
