LIVE / WHIRLED – Perishable Theatre, Rhode Island’s Research & Development theatre, is pleased to announce the final concert in this year’s Live/Whirled Series.

“Girl-Whirled” on Sunday March 9 @ 3:00 PM.

Featured performers are two fabulous singers with very personal styles, Ellen Santaniello and Michelle Cruz. (more…)

WaterFire Providence seeks volunteers for their upcoming 2008 Season

Want to be part of the most exciting arts installation in Providence?!  You can help to inspire and transform our city as part of the WaterFire family. WaterFire Providence, the local non-profit organization which produces the popular sculpture installation by artist Barnaby Evans, is calling all people interested in a unique volunteering opportunity.  We welcome citizens from around the area to take an active role in the production of the world-renown art installation, WaterFire. (more…)

  Pawtucket gets some credit for steping up its game, landing the number 9 slot in this month’s Art Calendar magazine:

Hall said she was aware of Pawtucket’s reputation as an “artist-friendly” place, as well as being one of nine cities in Rhode Island that offer tax incentives to working artists. “There are only a few areas of the country that are doing things like that,” she said. Hall called Pawtucket “a model city” for other municipalities that want to reinvent themselves as “art towns.”

“They have a great program and it is very established,” she said. “I would say it is one of the most solid places for an artist to live.”

Arts guru Herb Weiss* is stoked: “This article in Art Calendar is a reflection of the buzz and sizzle that is occurring nationwide about Pawtucket being a great city for working artists. It’s a concrete example that what we’re doing here is working.”

*Arts guru Herb Weiss is also on the ballot on Tuesday, as an uncommitted delegate to the Dem convention.

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts invites you to attend the RISCA Fellowship Exhibition Writers Night on Friday, Feb 15, from 6:30-8:00pm at Machines With Magnets Gallery in Pawtucket.

The evening will include readings by Poetry Fellowship Award Winner Nehassiaiu DeGannes, Fiction Fellowship Award Winner Brian Sousa, Fiction Fellowship Merit Award Winner Bruce Reilly. This year the Writers Night will also feature music by Folk Arts Fellowship Merit Award Winner Jose Fernandes.

Coffee & Cookies generously donated by Kafe Lila. Come for the readings and enjoy the artwork of the RISCA Fellowship Exhibition!

Free and open to the public.

Eleven artists explore the theme of indulgence through various media, music, objects, food, and interaction. There will be events throughout the month, including great live music, a dance party, and a night of performance art. Get sticky with the artists at the opening party on Saturday, January 5th.

Kit Tobia
Caroline Doherty
Monica Delgado Chaffee
Mandy Fraser
Shelley Cardoos
Lulu Lederman
Mark Arruda
Suzy Mobley
Erin Murphy
Anna Kocon
Lillie Gould

Opening party
Saturday, January 5th
7pm til midnight
@ FHXIII

And after the snowstorm cancellation of the Mellencamp concert, the show had better go on. If the superintendent expects to keep his job:

LIZA Minelli has surprised her doctors with a swift recovery from her collapse on stage three weeks ago, and will be back entertaining her US fans next week.

Liza Minnelli will perform next week, despite collapsing during a Swedish show three weeks ago. The 61-year-old singer collapsed as she was walking offstage in Goteborg, Sweden, on December 12 and returned to the US the following day to seek advice from her doctors.

However, Liza’s lawyer Allen Arrow has reassured fans “not to worry” about the star, and insisted she will be ready for her performance in Providence, Rhode Island, on January 12.

It’s Free-For-All Saturday at the RISD Museum.

So you can’t afford real jewelry — in fact, you can’t even afford to pay to get into a museum, then today is your day. Every last Saturday of the month, the RISD Museum of Art is free! Go see the show ‘Fabulous Fakes: Jewelry of Kenneth Jay Lane’ and look at costume jewelry (that you also can not even afford). You will never look at Nana’s brooches the same way again (one display in the exhibition will tell you exactly what ‘marks’ to look for, if you can just get the damn thing away from Nana.) Exhibit ends January 27.

The Rhode Island School of Design has named John Maeda to be their new president. Maeda’s background in new media and corporate design makes him a very interesting choice for the school who’s history has usually bent more towards the fine/practical arts. At 41 Maeda will be the youngest president in the school’s history. Outgoing president Roger Mandle describes Maeda as “a humanist. He is a genius — and he gets things done.”

RISD has more information and a cute little video.

Big ups to Barnaby Evans for the tip on this