We’ll cut right to the chase.
We need your help today more than ever.
WaterFire Providence not only survived the pandemic but thrived during extraordinarily challenging conditions thanks in large part to government support. We strategically managed our resources and redirected our focus and activities over the past few years with an objective of coming out of the pandemic with our talented and dedicated team intact and ready to act when health conditions permitted.
After a very successful, abbreviated WaterFire season in 2021, we came back with gusto in 2022 for a total of eighteen lightings that drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to Providence to experience public art outside in the setting of an urban park and city streets that would otherwise be dark, empty and potentially dangerous. WaterFire continues to fill Providence’s hotels and restaurants and creates a vibrant downtown that most city leaders dream of.
Our impact extends well beyond downtown and into the Valley neighborhood at the WaterFire Arts Center. Over the past few years, we had an extraordinary run of events that presented fine and performing arts during some of the darkest days of the pandemic. We are particularly proud of the new initiatives that we launched during this period including WaterFire Accelerate, a professional development program for artists under 30; ArtLab, a high school paid internship program that provides under-resourced youth an opportunity to develop skills and experience working in a cultural institution; and lastly a reentry employment program for the formerly incarcerated.
Our organization has grown and diversified significantly over the past decade thanks to your support. But as government pandemic support that was crucial to our survival over the past few years goes away, we need your help more than ever.
Please consider making an end of year gift to WaterFire. Your contribution this year will help us sustain and grow our impacts from the WaterFire event downtown and through programming at the WaterFire Arts Center in the Valley neighborhood. Your support makes a real difference!
Sincerely,
Peter Mello
Managing Director/co-CEO
Barnaby Evans
Artistic Director/co-CEO
