#firstworks

Cindy Sherman, Murder Mystery, 1976.

Les tout premiers travaux de Cindy Sherman. 

On peut voir ici les premières photos sans montage de l’histoire du meurtre mystérieux inspirée d’Hollywood.

A Castle for the People Artists, performers and community groups unite for a PVDFest grand finale at the iconic Cranston Street Armory

Part of the mission of PVDFest is to activate Providence’s public spaces and neighborhoods – and that means all neighborhoods. That’s why after the biggest party of the year happens Downtown on Saturday, June 3, the festival will go west for a special grand finale. On Sunday, June 4, artists, performers, and community groups will come together to celebrate Providence’s “castle for the people,” the iconic Cranston Street Armory with music, art, food trucks, and a pop-up parade.

Armory Animated by Art is an exciting collaborative project that will use art-making and performance to enliven this historic building and the adjacent Dexter Street Parade Grounds. This celebratory finale to the City’s signature summer festival begins in the afternoon with mobile, Armory-themed art and ends in the evening with an epic swell of joyful noise. It’s a unique collaboration to generate new ideas for the Armory’s re-use, convened by the Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and FirstWorks, along with poet/performer Christopher Johnson, the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, the Providence Preservation Society, Community MusicWorks, the RISD Museum, the Rhode Island Department of Administration, and the Providence Department of Planning and Development. 

"This is a really cool thing for the festival, but it's also part of a larger project to reframe old conversations and reimagine the Armory's future," said FirstWorks Executive Artistic Director Kathleen Pletcher. "It's exciting to combine creative and community thinking in this way. It's really the tip of the iceberg in terms of neighborhood outreach and stakeholder engagement in the future of this historic building."

So what should you expect for the grand finale? Here’s a quick overview:

Art Trucks & Food Trucks At 1pm, the RISD Museum will roll onto Hollywood Road, directly across from the Armory, with five repurposed box trucks. Each one will be an interactive “mini-Armory” skinned to exaggerate and highlight the unique architectural features of the building. They’ll be on display for engagement throughout the afternoon as a fleet of food trucks peddle their culinary wares along Parade Street.

A Pop-up Parade At 3pm, Haitian-born, Harlem-based violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) returns to PVDFest for a massive musical spectacle. (Check him out in the highlights from last year’s Fest.) En Masse is a large-scale composition created for up to 500 musicians that is entirely new every time it is performed. This collective musical celebration – a cross between a flash mob and a processional – will feature marching bands, street musicians, and music students from across Rhode Island. What will that look like? Something like this...

A Very Special Anniversary At 1pm (note time change!), the venerated Providence youth music program Community MusicWorks (CMW) celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special performance featuring CMW students, alumni, and faculty. They’ll join composer Gonzalo Grau, and his salsa band La Clave Secreta, along with Johnny Gandelsman and other special guests, for a reprise of "Fantasia con Guyaba Habanera,” a piece that CMW and Gandelsman premiered at John Hope Settlement House in May 2013. Here’s a look back at that original performance...

An Insider’s Guide to PVDFest Musical Headliners for Saturday, June 3: Side B

On Saturday, June 3, PVDFest 2017 will once again turn the heart of the city into Providence’s biggest free party of the year. Festival Founding Partner FirstWorks will bring in musicians from around the globe and around the corner to converge on Kennedy Plaza with the artists of the Creative Capital for an all-day extravaganza. Here’s the second half of our introduction to some names you need to know before the party starts…

Aurelio Martinez One of Honduras’ most gifted performers, singer/songwriter/guitarist Aurelio Martinez has bringing the Afro-Caribbean musical traditions of his native Garifuna culture to the world for nearly 30 years.

Etienne Charles If any one artist of this generation can embody the eclectic influences of the many Caribbean musical traditions, it is the master of Creole Soul, Etienne Charles.

Betty Bonifassi After gaining international acclaim as the singing voice behind the animated film characters Les Triplettes de Belleville (2004) this Canadian songstress now mixes modern electronics with early Delta blues music and her sultry contralto vocals for a powerful, unique sound (think Tom Waits meets Shirley Bassey at the Tomorrowland music festival...)