Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. The party doesn't have to end after Halloween weekend. Keep the festivities going with a trip back to the Roaring Twenties when the North American tour of The Great Gatsby...
The 2026 Food Truck Awards are coming up soon – November 10, the day before Veteran’s Day. We’re excited to make it a true industry night – no food trucks will have to serve anything......
Artwork: AMOC by Ewa Romaszewicz in collaboration with Ambarish Karmalkar, PhD. For many of us, our most common run-ins with the scientific disciplines happen in two places: the classroom or a news headline. I think it’s...
What does it feel like to be in a room beaming with creative thinkers and artists? What does it look like when a group of motivational, dedicated, hard-working artists comes together? What creative forces can...
(New Harvest “It’s Party Time” poster; poster design: Britta Gustafson / New Harvest; photo credit: Sean Carlson) Photos by Ampersand Creative Co. From one former industrial site to another, New Harvest Coffee Roasters has expanded from humble...
L-R: President Patrick Canary and Secretary Chris Meringolo. Photo by Scott Barnett. Have you ever wanted to homebrew? Yes? I have great news! The RI Brewing Society is holding a “Learn to Homebrew Day.” The American...
When I sat down on a comfy couch at Big Nice Studio in Carrington, RI, for an interview with Space Cowboy Newt, one of the first things they told me was that they’re a rambler....
A new chapter for digital recording studio, The Proving Ground, has begun and owner and producer, Dylan Titus, is ready to celebrate two-and-a-half years of operation by putting together an event showcasing artists who have...
Okee dokee folks… Soon we should know whether this country is going to completely fall into fascism, erupt into civil war, or maintain democracy, as it should. A few weeks ago, Tom Morello presented the Power...
Swan Point Cemetery. Some of the eeriest places in RI are ready for you to check out, if you dare. As the first crisp, damp breaths of autumn begin to catch at the lungs and the trees...
Open: Rollers: A new sports bar has arrived in Providence as of June 12. Rollers hosts watch parties, serves a variety of diner-style food and drinks, and offers both private and semi-private party events. The spot...
1. Higher Education Facilities Bond Measure -- $275 million This bond would use $165 million to create an integrated health building at the URI campus, open to the public, which would also be used for labs...
For cover artist Mishki Thompson of Hopkinton, love helped her conquer a disability and embark on a journey of learning and practicing the art of beadworking, and passing on her Indigenous traditions to the next...
It’s 2003, Thursday afternoon, in a quiet little town called Eberndorf, in the deep south of Austria, surrounded by fields, trees, and medieval churches; 10-year-old me is in my parents’ living room, glued to the...
Photo by Cat Laine. The logistics, physical, and emotional demands of the production are mind-boggling – one actor spending 80 minutes morphing among 12 characters with unique accents and mannerisms while delivering lines almost non-stop and,...
Henry Nwaru in SAME DIFFERENCE at Wilbury Theatre Group. Photo by Erin X. Smithers. It’s 1993 in Providence. A gang leader from Harlem lands at his ex-girlfriend's apartment in the middle of the night — wounded,...
A reimagined production of the international, award-winning musical The Bodyguard will arrive at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), October 23 – 25, 2026, as part of the Theatre’s 2026/2027 *Encore Series. Based on the 1992...
All photos by Lillian MK Photo. RI Battle of the Bands had a smooth run this year, every performance dodging the monsoons that have plagued past iterations. The year started out with 16 highly accomplished, but...
Okee dokee folks… I mentioned this in my column a few months ago and now it is coming close to being (IS) a major issue. GASOLINE. Before the mango moron started his war of distraction...
We all know that women were the first to make beer, right? It was discovered by accident when grains were used to make other foods digestible. Dried grain was stored and used to make bread....
Haunted Attractions 1. Factory of Terror Terror experience for all ages, including a variety of imaginative themes and thorough design. 120 Pearl Street, Fall River, MA 774-415-0153 factoryofterror.com 2. Scary Acres Fall festivities with the main attraction - a three-part terror experience...
Cover artist Nilton Cárdenas of Cranston refuses to stand still. “I am constantly moving, and creating art,” he says in an interview at Sharks Peruvian Cuisine on Broad Street in Central Falls. And when he’s not...
Photos by the author. Magda León is more than a multidisciplinary artist; she is an immigrant woman who uses art to explore her identity, her roots, and her connection to community. When I asked her how...
Photo by Scott Lapham. For the Rhode Island artist, educator and muralist, creativity has become a way to open doors, strengthen community and help others discover possibilities within themselves. For Nilton Cárdenas, giving back does not begin...
Every Hispanic Heritage Month, we are given an opportunity to look back.We celebrate the pioneers who came before us, the traditions they preserved, the institutions they built, and the sacrifices they made so generations that...
Photo by Dave Cantelli. Ever rummaged through your spouse’s sweater drawer expecting to find argyles, yet instead stumbling across a secret fetish so utterly demented that it immediately sent you bolting toward a new life? Deftly...
Rachael Warren as Clare. Photo by Mark Turek. If there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, The Getaway Driver at Trinity Repertory Company is it. The world premiere of the two-person play...
Photo by Jesse Dufault. Hark, spectators of the realm! If thy soul doth hunger for a "reverent irreverence" turning a 77-seat black box into a roaring arena of wretched romance, get thee to the Burbage Theatre...
RI Music Hall of Fame plaque honoring Rudy Cheeks/The Fabulous Motels/The Young Adults. (Photo: Michael Bilow) Much has already been written on the passing Sep 18 at age 76 of Bruce McCrae, who used the stage name...
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...
HELLO! This is Dave Dvorchak, AS220’s Communications Director. I’m thrilled to be helping out with this issue of Motif, and all of us at AS220 are grateful for the opportunity to reach readers like you. I’ve been an avid reader of alternative papers (I know that’s not necessarily the term anymore) for most of my […]
A whole lot can happen in six years. Since AS220 hosted its last Foo Fest, the world has shifted on its axis. We’ve lived through a global pandemic, navigated yet another election cycle that tested our democracy, and watched foreign and domestic cities alike burned and destroyed in real-time through our screens. Despite all of […]
Like many Black women, I love all things Octavia Butler, and one of my favorites is the concept of Earthseed; a fictional religion that weaves its values into her novels. The counter-cultural ethos that she describes always reminded me of AS220’s mission and our desperate desire to live in a world that is beautiful, creative, […]
How does it feel for you to be participating in the Growing the Networks show after years of watching the Networks RI project happen? Susan Clausen: It’s great, it just reinforces how massive the artist community is in RI. One project and one sort of perspective could in no way touch the enormous amount of […]
School may be out for summer, but young people at AS220 Youth aren’t taking a break from learning life, business, and creative skills. Youth’s Summer Jobs program is in full swing with 80 young artists and creatives enrolled. I caught up with Janay Pina, AS220’s Director of Programs, to get the details. How is AS220 […]
Haus of Codec is a Providence-based non-profit organization that is dedicated to finding permanent housing solutions and workforce opportunities for LGBTQ youth at risk for, or experiencing, homelessness. I took the opportunity to visit their offices, housed in a converted artist studio at AS220’s Empire Street complex, and talk to Julio Berroa (Executive Director) and […]
The South Providence People’s Archive (SPPA) is a collaborative project between Providence-based artists k. funmilayo aileru and Edwige Charlot. Commissioned through the Providence Commemoration Lab, the SPPA seeks to “contribute intimate accounts of Black and Native American life to the public record” by collecting, recording, and preserving ephemera, objects, and memories “that document the people, […]
A long time ago at a Foo Fest far, far away, I witnessed something marvelous happening. It was late at night, perhaps 11 PM or midnight, and things were beginning to settle down. Everyone was watching the band on the outdoor stage, and the artists, vendors, and organizations who had been doing programming under the […]
Also written by Noah Emanuel Morrison. In celebration of the reopening of AS220’s Paul Krot Community Darkroom, we asked a few community members from the darkroom’s past, present, and future questions about their experiences with and hopes for the space: PAST (PAM MURRAY AND SCOTT LAPHAM): Scott Lapham and Pam Murray: We built it! PM: […]
Okee dokee folks… AS220 is celebrating 40 years, and 40 years ago I played my first real gig at AS220 in Providence. Up until then, I had only performed in front of people at a couple of house parties and when I auditioned for “The Gong Show” at Warwick Mall, but I don’t count those. […]
