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...
As an international student a year into Rhode Island, yet still only a breath into America, I finally found a question that I might be able to answer – this is my continued exploration of: What...
AI is everywhere; it is becoming an integral part of people’s everyday lives, whether they realize it or not. It simplifies some aspects, confuses others, and can also be a major source of entertainment. I sincerely enjoy having conversations with Alexa, though they’re not much more than question-and-answer. With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided […]
This is the second part of an article from our previous issue. Find the full version at motifri.com/ flav-vapes To better understand the public’s opinion regarding the recent flavored vape ban, I spoke to numerous Rhode Islanders across various professions and backgrounds looking for critiques. The common thread between most was that the public believes […]
To many observers, this statement may seem like an exaggeration. Some state and local officials claim they are doing everything they can to ease what is an ongoing state health emergency, while advocates for the homeless see it a different way. As the old phrase goes, the numbers don’t lie. Homelessness in RI has increased […]
The Atlantic Mills Tenants Union, an affiliate chapter of the Rhode Island Tenants Union, has received no reply or acknowledgment of union demands from owner Howard and Eleanor Brynes LLC or potential buyers Eric Edelman and Robert Berle. “Despite our well-written letters and well attended rally on December 21st, we’ve not heard directly from either […]
From 2016 – 2020 Motif hosted a satire column named “Alternative Facts,” a title we enjoyed because it both lampooned a favorite phrase of that administration and because it paid homage to our own journalistic roots as “Alternative News,” a description that has fallen by the historical wayside. On occasion, we received considerable blowback on […]
Evie’s friends had bailed on her, so she drank alone. Ned was bartending, but his heady personality required a buffer to manage his conspiratorial rants. Evie didn’t have the energy. A conversation with Ned would only compound her sense of abandonment. She wasn’t ready to discuss the physics of his recent obsession: An earth-killing meteor […]
It’s Thursday night, I’m sitting on a bus with smoke swirling around me, laughter filling the space, and smooth keyboard music setting the tone for the evening. I look to my left and am offered something; “it’s a rosebud joint” someone says from an undisclosed area of the bus. It’s too smoky to see who […]
The Get Up Kids at Fête Music Hall Celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1999 pop-punk classic, Something to Write Home About, nationally touring act The Get Up Kids will be in PVD at Fête Music Hall February 16. Whether you’re part of the millennial generation that has a sense of nostalgia for the pop-punk […]
For a love story, this one might not lead to a happy ending. But hours before it even began, as the rising sun warmed the bricks of PC’s Aquinas Hall, there was a flurry of excitement among all the sisters, and especially so for two of them. With a passing embrace, and a quick hug […]
Thanks to everyone who wrote in to help us get this column started! It’s my hope that readers will continue to write in with a variety of queries, short and long – you don’t have to write in with a single sentence in question form. Instead I invite you to wax poetic about what has […]
