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...
The point (pun intended) of Motif’s tattoo contest isn’t so much to pick winners – it’s to find an entertaining way to celebrate all the great tattooing that’s happening around the arts mecca of Rhode Island. Over 700 locals took time to ogle all the amazing artwork that was submitted, and here are the artists […]
Ever wonder what Shakespeare and karaoke would look like? How about hip-hop and Shakespeare? It is that spirit of collaboration that producer Corinne Wahlberg and Milo MacPhail had in mind last fall when they began collaborating on a festival. The result? Too Much of a Good Thing: A Shakespeare Shorts Festival. The phrase, borrowed from […]
Let’s talk about “new music.” The term sounds generic enough to describe any number of musical projects of differing styles, genres, instrumentations and interpretations. Within the broad field of classical music, however, the term “new music” has a more definitive meaning. It generally refers to composed music written after 1950. In larger cities like […]
Australia has always had interesting music coming out of it. The country/continent has a very strong garage rock scene along with peculiar pop artists and they still worship ‘90s post-grunge act Silverchair like they’re The Beatles. With all of this going on, a new act is rising up from down under and it’s Alice Ivy. […]
Peabody, MA, singer-songwriter Ryan Montbleau has a knack for leaving a lasting impression through melody. The way his lyrics bounce off the chords and strums is astounding and guarantees a wonderful listening experience. His stellar talent has catapulted him to the upper echelon of New England musical acts, and it looks like he’ll be staying […]
During this era of music, it’s easy to disregard innovation. Some people think that every possible style has already been conceived so there’s no chance of discovering something new. Through the nonsense, a band comes along to push the envelope while making sounds that leave the ears in awe. Philadelphia math pop quartet Palm is […]
If history books are anything to go by, movements are defined by the people who lead them. But no movement could move anywhere without its foot soldiers, who fuel the fire. The journey to the mountaintop begins first on the front porch, where communities gather for conversation and pea shelling. It is from their front […]
I’ve been both anticipating and dreading the arrival of this book. I was a huge fan of the first two books in The Merrow Trilogy (Waking the Merrow and Hunting the Merrow), and couldn’t wait to read how the story was going to end. On the flipside, I was coming to grips with the fact that […]
With the sheer number of other horrifying diseases plaguing mankind, most of us have come to think of the flu as just another inconvenience – a few days off from work, a box or two of Kleenex, and some over-the-counter remedies from the drugstore. We’ve forgotten the flu pandemic of 1918-1919 that killed somewhere between […]
FRI 9 – SUN 11 Northeast International Auto Show: New cars, trucks and SUVs will fill the RI Convention Center for the 2018 Northeast International Auto Show. Fri: 12pm – 10pm, Sat: 10am – 10pm, Sun 10 – 6pm. 1 Sabin St, PVD. providenceautoshow.com SAT 10 Cajun & Zydeco Mardi Gras Ball 2018: At this […]
