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...
Ken Panciera met Peter Mello when he began volunteering for WaterFire in 2015. Mello is the managing director and WaterFire’s “Money Man,” creating sponsorship opportunities with some of the largest companies in the state including Amica, Cox Communication and National Grid. We asked him to tell us about Mello’s contributions to WaterFire and the community. […]
I’m a stepparent. It’s still a freaky to hear that, and I’ve been with my now-husband and his daughter since she was around 18 months old. She’s 6 now, and I just dropped her off at her last day of kindergarten. Being a stepparent means a lot of things, such as laughs, good times, struggles […]
Behind every piece of monumental filmmaking lurks a creative genius quietly spurring the vision along. In the case of internationally acclaimed documentarian Gary Glassman’s work, it is a humble, unassuming genius who gives everything and takes nothing in return. Add to that an eye for a shot and a knack for storytelling, and you’ve got […]
“The Rhode Island cupcake community is competitive and very vocal. Everyone has a favorite and no one is afraid to talk about it. Loudly.” Jim Nellis does not mince words. Well, he didn’t in that sentence. He does occasionally mince words. Okay, he often minces words. After food-fighting, Nellis’ number one talent may actually be […]
June 28 is the third anniversary of the momentous day when Governor Gina Raimondo signed House Bill 8100 Substitute B and Senate Bill 3053 Substitute A – which, as you certainly must know by now, allowed breweries to sell 288 ounces of beer for off-premise consumption (in any combo of growlers, bottles and cans) — […]
P&J Still Awaiting Federal Jobs At right about the same time that Phillipe & Jorge were about to volunteer to Secretary of Navy Richard Spencer as the next heads of the US Naval War College in Newport, a candidate with better credentials (Rear Admiral Shoshanna Chatfield) was named by Secretary Spencer. In case you haven’t […]
Dust off that Mr. Beer kit — the homebrewers are coming! PVD, home to one of the best beer scenes in the country, is officially cool enough to host the 41st annual Homebrew Con, presented by the American Homebrewers Association, set to take place at the Rhode Island Convention Center. This three-day (Jun 27 – […]
At this year’s Grownass Prom, Brook Long stormed The Met like a celestial marauder. Her black dress rippled and folded like a wormhole and her red-tinted shades evoked an alien who also may be a celebrity influencer, hiding from her paparazzi on Mars. She didn’t wear a tiara that night (her platinum wig cascaded to […]
In Laos, when someone wants to emphasize what they’re saying, they repeat the word twice. That’s how Vilada Khammahavong (known to everyone as “Vi”) came up with the name KowKow for her food truck — khao, pronounced “kow,” meaning either rice or food in her parents’ native tongue. And from my experience at KowKow, I […]
On June 29, some of the best women-created animation from around the world will be featured at AS220 for the annual Womanimation! screening. MergingArts Productions, helmed by creative director Toni Pennacchia, puts the festival together every year. This 90-minute festival brings to the screen 12 animated shorts from 11 countries, and more than half of […]
