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...
Skyler Shields (Kenickie) and the cast of the Theatre By The Sea (Wakefield, RI) production of “Grease” running thru July 18, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop! A-wop-bam-boom!” BY ALISON O’DONNELL ON JUNE 27, 2026 Grease is the...
Isham, Sheila. Teth (#8 Creation Series). 1972. Acrylic spray on canvas. Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI. (Image courtesy of the Newport Art Museum.) Quite some time ago, I read a quip that the art of diplomacy...
In the previous issue of Motif, my esteemed colleague Pete Larrivee riffed on the fact that “good beer isn’t cheap” and cited the prevalence of the “$12 six-pack.” That citation reminded us of a 2014 Huffington Post article “Here’s how a Six-Pack of Craft Beer Ends Up Costing $12” where Joe Satran did some digging […]
Huge Blunder at Urinal? Phillipe and Jorge fear that GateHouse Media, absentee owners of the Biggest Little’s organ of record, The Urinal, may have made a colossal mistake – not the first since the carpetbaggers have taken over from their kindred much-removed spirit, the A.H. Belo Corp. of nearby Texas. We note that Alan Rosenberg […]
For the seventh straight year, Rhode Island legislators have presented a bill to tax and regulate cannabis, much like the alcohol and tobacco industries are regulated. According to Regulate Rhode Island, the Adult Use of Cannabis Act (2017 H-5555) would replace Rhode Island’s existing policy of cannabis prohibition and permit adults over the age of […]
Rhode Island is unusual among the states for a tax policy that treats rolling papers as equivalent to cigarettes, such that a package of 20 sheets of rolling paper is taxed as if it was a pack of 20 ready-made cigarettes, the current excise tax for which is $3.75. Sales tax of 7% is then […]
Massachusetts voted and decided to legalize marijuana. It then promptly shot itself in the foot over the question of how and on what timetable to fulfill that promise, but is lining up the ducks and now seems to be on track toward allowing canna businesses to actually operate. The response among many Rhode Islanders has […]
Women are setting the cannabis industry apart from typical business in the U.S. because they refuse to let this sector be dominated by men. In 2016, women made up 36% of executives in the legal cannabis industry. This number may not seem high at first, but it is impressive compared to the 22% of female […]
The Southeast New England (SENE) Film, Music and Arts Festival showcases amazing films across all genres, live music, art exhibits and much more. Continuing to expand in its ninth year, the festival will run April 25-29, bringing exciting opportunities for Rhode Islanders to experience vibrant new ventures in film, music and arts. The action is […]
Cable access shows Okee dokee folks… When I first started this column, somewhere I wrote, “Love is fleeting but cable access is forever.” Once you record a show for cable access it seems to be in reruns indefinitely. I have recorded episodes that still pop up after ten or fifteen years. The other day I […]
I had the good fortune to interview John O’Hurley (Seinfeld‘s J. Peterman). He is an extremely tall, extremely handsome actor who has, in his own words, “cornered the market on arrogance and pomposity.” My personal observations about his appearance are noted only because – yeah, right – his physical presence is a great part of […]
Immediately after North Kingstown’s new town council took over in early December it had an important – and pressing – decision to make: Whom to hire as town manager? Tom Mulligan, the former police chief appointed nine months earlier as manager, had announced he’d be leaving in February. Eight weeks to the day after being […]
