Healing in community

When art conveys an aspect of human experience, it can touch people’s lives in profound and meaningful ways. Rose Weaver tells a story of how her artistic work helped her and others to deal with difficult and complicated family losses. Writing plays, storytelling, composing songs, and singing are analogous to food and water for me....

A safe space to work toward ambitious goals

The ribbon was cut, students poured down the new staircase with excitement, flooding the renovated basement with their enthusiasm. I began to cry when I saw the tables with sewing machines, the new computers, and the recording studio full of instruments. I looked to my fellow students and found we were all in a collective...

Arts teach empathy and patience

I work as a summer camp counselor at a wonderful organization called Artists’ Exchange, and I also volunteer there regularly during the school year. In addition to summer camp and community art classes, Artists’ Exchange offers a day program for adults with disabilities that provides all sorts of art therapy and work experience to enhance...

“Food for the soul”

Since my retirement as the executive director of a privately funded arts organization and as member of the Board of Directors of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Newport County, I know the value of the arts firsthand. To cut funding will hurt the public in the long term. If governments withdraw all support for...

Making the invisible visible

The arts can allow us to make new and unexpected connections and elevate the people and places that so often go unnoticed. In 2016, I completed a public art piece entitled “Faces of Woonsocket” with a grant from RISCA, the InsideOut Project, and in partnership with the city of Woonsocket. For this project, I photographed...

The experience of community

One of the co-founder of The Arctic Playhouse Theatre in West Warwick, David Vieira wants to share his love of live performance and community. Art -- in particular, theatre and live music -- has always played a pivotal role in my life, starting when I was a teen through now in my 60s. I learned...

“I want to learn to dance, too”

For the past three years, Deborah Wagner has used “Big Yellow Bus” grant funds to bring third, fourth, and fifth-grade students to the Rhode Island Philharmonic Link Up Concert at the VETS Auditorium in Providence. Following the concert, Ms. Wagner encourages her students to write their reflections on the experience. I teach music at Springbrook...

The arts are an economic engine

Donald R. Grebien, Mayor of the City of Pawtucket, speaks about the power of the arts.  Many have heard the old saying, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” Taking this phrase one step further, in the City of Pawtucket we have seen artists creating portraits, sculptures, jewelry, and revitalizing the economy of our community. In...

A path to self-discovery

The arts can help young people develop confidence and self-knowledge. With encouragement and support, children can overcome self-doubt and find their creativity. Cathren Housley sees this first-hand in the students she works with. I have been a RISCA grant-funded artist for 6 years, and the work I do is all with the children in the...