Whether you are visiting Providence for the first time or returning for another world-class art experience these guides will help you make the most of your time at a WaterFire Lighting or the WaterFire Arts Center.
A view of Memorial Park and the Wall of Braziers. Photograph by Erin Cuddigan.
Photograph by Erin Cuddigan- Photograph by Erin Cuddigan
- Photograph by Erin Cuddigan.
- Photograph by Heidi Gumula of DBVW Architects
WaterFire Providence presents groundbreaking, world-class art experiences on the rivers of downtown Providence and at the WaterFire Arts Center in the Olneyville neighborhood. Additionally, the WaterFire Arts Center also serves as an event space where we play host to a wide range of galas, trade shows, and community events.
Visitors can proudly support the businesses listed on our guides knowing that they support the same important values and community connections that WaterFire seeks to foster. All of the hotels and restaurants listed here are direct financial supporters of WaterFire and/or the WaterFire Arts Center.
Are you a local business owner who is looking for a way to reach more visitors and help support our mission? Take a look at our Restaurant & Hotel Partnership Opportunities.
For more visit GoProvidence.com to find more guides from our partner organization the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The WaterFire Arts Center
475 Valley Street| Providence, RI 02908 | 401.443.5553
The WaterFire Arts Center serves as our headquarters, production complex, and multi-purpose arts venue as well as a social enterprise platform strengthening the organization’s long-term financial sustainability. One of the unique features of the WaterFire Arts Center is the Main Hall which provides 15,000 sq. ft. of uninterrupted exhibition, performance, and production space with a 40 ft. ceiling.
The WaterFire Arts Center is available for your next event! From Galas and Weddings to Business Lunches and Trade Shows, we can make your event in Providence a success.
Upcoming Events the WaterFire Arts Center
Event Details
ART
Event Details
The month-long exhibition, ART is Everywhere, brings the essence of Rhode Island PBS‘ short-video series ART inc. from the screen to the gallery at the WaterFire Arts Center. Delving into the heart of human expression, the series illuminates the transformative power of art—from its ability to soothe and inspire to its role as a catalyst for societal change.
Participating artists and performers from ART inc. Season One and Two are Sam Heydt, William Heydt, Jeff Palmer, Willa Van Nostrand, Eva Goodman, Jennifer Gilooly Cahoon, LaDiva Jonz, Zuly Palomino Jimenez, Eben Horton, Jen Nauck, Dan Fischer, Sam Allerton Green, and Joel Rosario Tapia. Additional artists included are AGONZA, Savonnara Alexander Sok, and Kent Stetson.
The exhibition is on view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Thursday, April 4 through Sunday, April 28, 2024 with an opening reception on Thursday, April 4th from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The third Thursday of the month, April 18th, is Gallery Night Providence, the WFAC gallery as well as other art spaces in the city are open late and trolley tours are available. Join mixologist, Willa Van Nostrand in the gallery for a special garden-to-glass experience. In addition, sign up for ArtLab@WaterFire Creative Labs Workshops (waterfire.org/workshops) including a potato-plaster retablos art workshop by Zuly Palomino Jimenez on Wednesday, April 10th. More details coming soon.
A related event, is the food and wine fundraising event, Uncorked! to benefit Rhode Island PBS on April 12. The theme for this year’s Uncorked! draws inspiration from Pop Art and centers around the Rhode Island PBS original series, ART inc. Attendees and the community will have the opportunity to explore the curated work of artists profiled in the series, displayed in the gallery.
“My definition of art is broad. As human beings, we’re innately creative. When we open ourselves to this possibility, we realize that art is everywhere.
Rhode Island PBS gave me the opportunity to create ART inc. as a platform for sharing the stories and processes of our local artists through first person storytelling and creative expression. It’s journalism, but it’s also art.
We’re thrilled for the opportunity to collaborate with WaterFire for this exhibition. WaterFire shifted the creative culture of the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island. Their work continues to serve local communities and expand creative possibility.
This exhibition is the perfect way to bring ART inc. stories to life in person. This collaboration and curation is its own form of art.”
Tracy MacDonald
Executive Producer, Arts and Culture
Rhode Island PBS
The WaterFire Arts Center store + gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to all, donations encouraged.
ART inc. graphic opening by Matt Zodrow
About ART inc.
Art is central to the human experience. It can be a calming presence or a powerful tool for social change. It connects us and challenges us. It stokes our curiosity, invites us in, and shows us what’s possible. It’s everywhere we look, and sometimes invisible. ART inc. pulls back the curtain on the people and the process.
About the Show
A Rhode Island PBS Original, ART inc. is a digital-first series plus a half-hour magazine-style broadcast exploring the art around us, from the traditional and iconic – music, performance, visual arts – to unexpected discoveries: the art of crafting reef to table sea salt, of the Chinese tea ceremony, of creating a prosthetic eye.
Through dynamic footage and narrative storytelling, ART inc. explores the full possibility of the arts: the diversity of who creates it and why, where art can take us, and why it takes us there.
The style of each story reflects the artist, art form, or subject. The tone can be playful or serious, but it will always be visually exquisite; a show about the arts should, in itself, be art. Use of narration will be limited, letting the art and artist’s voice speak instead. Whenever possible, local musicians provide the soundtrack.
About the Producer
Tracy MacDonald is an Emmy award-winning writer and producer who has produced broadcast and digital content for PBS from coast to coast. She’s thrilled to be back in her home state, working at Rhode Island PBS. Tracy loves creating documentary style content – especially about all things art! Driven by curiosity, warmth, and a desire to connect to the world around her, Tracy invites viewers to immerse themselves and experience the world of ART inc.
Event Times
April 24, 2024 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
WaterFire Providence
24apr4:30 p.m.9:15 p.m.FountainHead RI’s Climate StocktakePresented by FountainHead RI
Event Details
Event Details
Scheduled for April 24th at the WaterFire Arts Center, the FountainHead RI Climate Stocktake Event stands as a pivotal moment for energy transition leaders. Expecting approximately 200 attendees, including out-of-state delegates, the event offers a platform to delve into Rhode Island’s pioneering strategies in climate action and sustainability.
Tailored for professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors driving climate innovation, the event is a prime opportunity to network, gain insights, and actively engage in Rhode Island’s burgeoning role in global climate initiatives. Don’t miss your chance to connect with like-minded visionaries and contribute to Rhode Island’s impactful journey toward a sustainable future.
Event Times
April 24, 2024 4:30 p.m. - 9:15 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
FountainHead RI
Event Details
WaterFire Symposium:
Event Details
A WaterFire Symposium, New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting with author and visual artist Robert Zeller
Join us with our partners at Symposium Books for the first WaterFire Symposium of 2024 in the gallery at the WaterFire Arts Center on Thursday, April 25 starting at 6:30 p.m. with critically acclaimed author and visual artist, Robert Zeller as he discusses his newest book, New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The book offers a sweeping exposition of both historical Surrealism and its legacy in the world of contemporary art. It demonstrates the many ways in which the most significant art movement of the last century continues to be relevant today, featuring an international selection of contemporary artists whose compositions and studio practice reveal its influence.
The book begins with a study of the origins, leadership, participating artists, and major milestones of historical Surrealism. Zeller uses a timeline-centric approach, starting the narrative just before the beginning of the movement at the end of World War I and the birth of Dada. The most important players and events emerge as they came up in the timeline of events, through World War II, including Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Leonora Carrington and many others, up until the death of its leader Andre Breton in 1966.
Zeller then explores how elements of New Surrealism are being put into practice throughout the contemporary art world. Section Two offers a survey of twenty-nine contemporary artists who engage in New Surrealism’s seemingly unlimited variations of the movement’s original themes, including Rosa Loy, Glenn Brown, and Arghavan Khosravi. Section Three features fourteen artists who speak to Surrealism’s influence on their studio practice and detail how they create a composition, in their own voice from start to finish, including contributions by Inka Essenhigh, Ginny Casey and Anna Weyant.
Many of the modalities of historical Surrealism that still maintain contemporary currency: presenting the familiar as unfamiliar and uncanny, the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated imagery and the use of absurdity to critique political or social issues, as well as the use of erotic imagery in an irrational, non-linear context. Not all the artists brought together in this book self-identify as Surrealist per se, but each uses some variation of it in a personal manner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Zeller is a visual artist, writer and curator who received a BFA from a joint program of the Boston Museum School and Tufts University and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. He maintains a studio practice in Brooklyn, where he creates Surrealist-inspired work. He is the recipient of two Posey Fellowships and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. He has curated group exhibitions in New York City, and his art has been exhibited and collected in the United States, Europe and Mexico. He has written two books for Monacelli Press, an imprint of Phaidon International, The Figurative Artist’s Handbook (2017), and New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting (2023). He contributed a chapter to Photography: Real and Imagined (2023), profiling the permanent collection of Surrealist photography of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, and has also written for The Brooklyn Rail and other influential art periodicals and blogs. In 2009, he founded The Teaching Studios of Art, an in-person and online art school devoted to instruction in figurative art.
In the promotion of New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting (2023) Zeller has recently given lectures, held artist-panel discussions and book-signings at Gagosian, Lyles & King, Rizzoli Bookstore and other prominent venues.
PRESS
In this wide-ranging NYTimes feature, reporter Nina Siegal discusses the Centennial of Surrealism (1924-2024), which is the theme of several new exhibitions in both Paris and Brussels, and also concurrent exhibitions in the US. It is a very comprehensive article with quotes from many important industry players. I was interviewed and quoted a few times in a (mostly) historical context regarding those topics and in relation to my book, New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting.
The New York Times
Robert Zeller invites a new generation of readers to explore the evolution of surrealism, offering insights into its contemporary manifestations and enduring relevance.
…in New Surrealism, Zeller has successfully brought some of the most prominent artists of vivid contemporary imaginative realism to the attention of an international audience, and what ties them to the surrealist past is that they all make “what might be” their subject, rather than “what is”, creating excellent, technical paintings of potential, and these are deeply satisfying to the new 21st-century audience of Millennials and Gen Z, a cohort hungry for honest metaphysics, feeling for their cultural foundations, and welcoming an open-minded tradition of inventive exploration.
Highly recommended! This is an important and beautiful book of spectacular work created by some of the best imaginative realists of our time. Fantastic!
MutualArt
Michael Pearce
ABOUT WATERFIRE SYMPOSIUM
WaterFire is pleased to partner with Symposium Books to host and co-curate this series of public dialogues that are presented for free and are open to all.
The WaterFire Symposium is a series of public lectures, readings and conversations about vital and timely issues from the arts to the sciences, from history to the climate crisis. WaterFire’s mission is to inspire our community. Bringing us all together in cordial discussion about the issues impacting our community helps us better understand the issues of the day.
**The views and opinions expressed by speakers/presenters at the WaterFire Arts Center are those of the speakers/authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of WaterFire Providence or any of our partners, sponsors, or supporters.**
Event Times
April 25, 2024 6:30 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
WaterFire Providence
Event Details
The Association for Learning Environments New England Chapter is excited to announce that we are hosting a Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment
Event Details
The Association for Learning Environments New England Chapter is excited to announce that we are hosting a Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment Showcase at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence, RI! The event is free for attendees, and Learning Environments looks forward to seeing you on May 1.
The event serves as an opportunity for district administrators, educators, students, and community members to engage with vendors serving 21st-century educational facilities and learn about research into solutions for students. Vendors providing a variety of FFE will be on-site to allow attendees the opportunity to try products and inform future decision-making.
Over the last few years, Rhode Island’s leaders and citizens have made significant investments in educational facilities for students.
Interested in Being a Vendor or Sponsor?
If you have any questions or would like to participate as a vendor/sponsor, please reach out to Kate Jessup ([email protected]) or Julie Fried ([email protected]) and we will be happy to assist with any of your questions.
Event Times
May 1, 2024 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
Association for Learning Environments
02may5:30 p.m.8:30 p.m.2024 Women of Wisdom CelebrationPresented by Sophia Academy
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Your
Event Details
Your participation helps Sophia Academy eliminate the economic barriers to a quality education. It’s a gift to each girl, to her family, and a gift to Providence.
HONORING HILINA D. AJAKAIYE AND JUNIA JANVIER ‘15
Event Times
May 2, 2024 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
Sophia Academy
Event Details
Afie
Event Details
Sculpting Silent Narratives: My Love Letters is a month-long solo exhibition by Janice Lardey in the gallery at the WaterFire Arts Center. This exhibition is a tribute to the resilience of generations of women in Lardey’s family, exploring themes of identity and belonging through art influenced by West African textile and print culture. Each piece serves as a love letter, celebrating imperfection and inviting viewers into the tender vulnerability of womanhood. Through interactive elements and collaborative storytelling, this exhibition sparks conversations about gender roles, empowerment, and unity.
The exhibition is on view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Thursday, May 2 through Sunday, May 26, 2024 with an opening reception on Thursday, May 2 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. An artist talk will take place on Thursday, May 23 starting at 6pm.
The third Thursday of the month, May 16, is Gallery Night Providence, the WFAC gallery as well as other art spaces in the city are open late and trolley tours are available.
The WaterFire Arts Center store + gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to all, donations encouraged.
A statement from the artist,
My interest in surfaces, color, patterns, and textures has been pivotal in shaping my artistic practice and research into textiles and print cultures. Growing up surrounded by various fabrics and textiles has cultivated my appreciation for color, symbols, patterns, and textures. It mirrors my profound interest in the rich history and symbolic significance of fabrics, particularly, West African textiles from Ghana and Nigeria.
My practice is rooted in the world of these textiles, exploring the methods of their creation and the potent symbols they bear. I am captivated by symbols and basic geometric forms as a communicative tool which hold immense cultural importance in African traditions. Through each brushstroke and intricately designed textile piece, I embark on a journey of self-reclamation, striving to challenge prevailing narratives about gender roles and societal expectations in our contemporary world.
Concurrently, my work probes themes of patriarchy, sustainability, domesticity, self, and everyday life. Central to my creative process is the development of a visual vocabulary of symbols and patterns, reflecting my deep connection to these subjects and interests. My research focuses not only on reconstructing and recontextualizing the significance of materials to create new narratives that challenge these status quos but also on creating utopic experiences that I can thrive in.
Through process, experimentation, and repetition, materials are staged to communicate with one another. This involves deliberate layering of gestures and an embrace of chance. I employ diverse techniques, such as painting, printmaking, papermaking, dyeing, and an expanding vocabulary of experimental processes. I work with natural and synthetic dyes, acrylic paints, printmaking inks and thrifted fabrics. By embracing these diverse range of techniques, I strive to push the boundaries of traditional art forms and explore new horizons in my work.
My artistic journey is not limited to conventional art tools; rather, it is entangled with discovering and utilizing found tools. Ordinary objects like spatulas, food mashers, and cutlery, take on new life as printing stamps in my works. This experimental and fluid approach to work also allows me to incorporate and explore sculptural and dimensional forms. I aspire to breathe new life and meaning into the familiar while working with the hidden identities and charged histories of the materials I work with. My art serves as a catalyst for challenging traditional norms, empowering myself, and other women around me to embrace their identities and forge their paths.
This project was made possible in part through support from the Interlace Grant Fund, a regranting partner of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
About the Artist
Janice Lardey is an experimental artist from Ghana and a recent graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), USA, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Sculpture from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Lardey’s profound interest in surfaces, color, patterns, and textures has been pivotal in shaping her artistic practice and her research into textiles and print cultures. Her works explore various media, including printmaking, painting, drawing, applique, dyeing, sewing, and papermaking. Her work examines themes such as societal gender roles, patriarchy, the everyday, sustainability, domesticity, loss, the transient nature of life, and material effects.
Lardey’s art serves as a catalyst for challenging traditional norms, empowering herself, and other women around her to embrace their identities and forge their paths. Currently, she teaches Design at the Experimental and Foundations Department at Rhode Island School of Design, USA, while also contributing to the work of Rhode Island Black Storytellers in Providence.
Lardey’s work has been featured in exhibitions, both solo and group exhibitions and recognized through grants and funding. These include exhibitions like the 8th Collegiate Paper Art Traveling Exhibition Triennial spanning 2022 to 2024, the group show “Traversing Terrain” in Providence (2023), RISD’s Graduate Thesis Show (2023), “A Moment That Lasts Beyond Now” (2023), “Planet Earth, The Environment and Our Future” (2022) at the WaterFire Art Center, and “The Black Biennial” (2022), which celebrated the Black artist community in Providence. She was the winner of the juried paper show during the 8th Collegiate Paper Art Triennial. Additionally, she was a recipient of Society of Presidential Fellowship at RISD, the 2024 Interlace Project Fund, the West Bay View Foundation Thesis Material Award (2023), RISD Graduate Student Commons Grant Award (2022), and the Baden-Württemberg Stipendium, Germany in 2018.
(@jlardey)
Event Times
May 2, 2024 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
WaterFire Providence
01jun5:00 p.m.8:00 p.m.Beethoven & Bronfman GalaPresented by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra
Event Details
Event Details
Join RIPO&MS Executive Director David Beauchesne, Board President Susan Chung, guest conductor Tito Muñoz, and soloist Yefim Bronfman for our 2024 Beethoven & Bronfman Gala on June 1st. The evening kicks off with a 5PM Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra concert at The VETS and continues with a post-concert celebration at the WaterFire Arts Center.
The concert features Piano Concertos by Beethoven and Schumann, a work by former Providence resident Jessie Montgomery, as well as a collaboration between Bronfman and students from the RI Philharmonic Music School. The post-concert celebration will include cocktails, dinner, a Fund-a-Dream (FAD) auction and presentation of the 2024 John Hazen White, Sr. Leadership in the Arts Award. Proceeds support the Orchestra and School, and their collective education and community engagement programs.
Event Times
June 1, 2024 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School
08jun11:00 a.m.5:00 p.m.Girl Gang Providence Craft FairBy Girl Gang Craft
Event Details
Event Details
Come shop and support 80+ local fem, trans, non-binary + gender expansive creatives, makers, small biz owners, artists + healers
Girl Gang Craft, a fem forward community for makers is back in PVD at the WaterFire Arts Center from 11-5 June 8. $5 presale | $10 at the door with timed entries from 11-2 and 2-5.
>>Kids 12 and under are free!<<
Event Times
June 8, 2024 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
Girl Gang Craft
15jun12:00 p.m.4:00 p.m.Super Dog Adoption DayPresented by Always Adopt
Event Details
Event Details
Join Always Adopt for SUPER DOG ADOPTION DAY on Saturday, June 15th from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Early entry with Golden Ticket at 10:00 am!
Always Adopt has helped place over 7,000 dogs into forever homes in the last 10 years! With 10+ local shelters and rescues in attendance there will be over 300 adoptable pups waiting to meet you!
Want exclusive early entry at 10:00 am? On May 1st Always Adopt will open their Early Entry Signup, make sure to grab your Golden Ticket then!
GOLDEN TICKET SIGNUP (starting May 1st)
Make sure to check out their website for ALL the information you will need to adopt a dog the day of the event. Please note that adoptions are not first come first served, rescues will screen each family to make sure they are a good fit for the dog and the dog a good fit for the family.
All the info you need is here.
Keep an eye on their Facebook page as they will be sharing tons of info leading up to the event, as well as giving you a sneak peek at some of the dogs that will be joining!
Event Times
June 15, 2024 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.(GMT-04:00)
Organizer
Always Adopt
WaterFire Lightings Downtown
4 North Main Street | Providence, RI 02903 | 401.273.1155
WaterFire, an award-winning sculpture by Barnaby Evans installed on the three rivers of downtown Providence, has been praised by Rhode Island residents and international visitors alike as a powerful work of art and a moving symbol of Providence’s renaissance. WaterFire’s over eighty sparkling bonfires, the fragrant scent of aromatic wood smoke, the flickering firelight on the arched bridges, the silhouettes of the fire tenders passing by the flames, the torch-lit vessels traveling down the river, and the enchanting music from around the world engage all the senses and emotions of those who stroll the paths of Waterplace Park.
Go behind the scenes on a WaterFire Walking Tour!
Upcoming WaterFire Lightings
Explore the WaterFire Arts Center
Events & Exhibitions Calendar
Community and Culture at the WaterFire Arts Center
Rent Our Spaces
Host your next event at the WaterFire Arts Center
Cityside at Wheeler
Interdisciplinary Learning for Tomorrow’s Citizen Stakeholders
Weddings
A beautiful, modern venue for your most important day.
Explore WaterFire
WaterFire Event Schedule
Check out upcoming WaterFire events.
The Brazier Society
You’re invited to be a part of the magic!
Volunteering
For the community, by the community.
Starry, Starry Night
Step into a world of wonder and wishes.
