We couldn’t help but notice that something was afoot at the Westminster Street home of a certain nonprofit music education and performance organization*, and indeed, they are expanding their footprint to become the Community MusicWorks Center, a gathering place for music and community.
There is an architectural mock-up of the future facility at the website, which I can’t quite make sense of — where is the West Side Diner?! — but it looks to be an ambitious project. [See update below.] The ‘Take a Tour’ page shows plans for a gallery, administration offices, a café, and perhaps most importantly, a 100-seat performance space. In the past, the CMW musicians have played in some wonderful venues like the RISD Museum and the Southside Cultural Center — and I’m sure the ensemble in residence, the CMW Collective, will still be in demand — but now they will have their own space.
How can you help? Go here to Donate Now. You can apply your donation to the CMW annual fund, or to the CMW Capital Campaign.
*Community MusicWorks was founded 25 years ago by Sebastian Ruth, a Brown University student with a passion for music and social justice and an idea about creating opportunities for musicians and young people in Providence. The organization’s after-school programming serves the families of Providence’s West End, South Side, Elmwood, and Olneyville neighborhoods. In 2010, Ruth was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
Twenty-five years ago this program stepped into the gaping hole left by the gutting of our public school music programs. It has since become so much more.
[Correction: Thank you commenter! That image makes more sense now. I could see the Armory building in the background but I couldn’t figure it out. Plus the project looked too big. So my photograph below is not part of this project at all . . . just an architectural MacGuffin.]
Community MusicWorks, 1392 Westminster Street, (directions)
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The photo at the bottom of your post is where Big Nazo is building.
The weird construction project in your bottom photo (which seems to be stalled) isn’t the MusicWorks Center. The proposed building site is down the block a bit towards downtown at the corner of Dexter. Next to the 5 story apartment building that was completed a couple years ago.