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Events and Programs 2008
The Providence Athenaeum is committed to cultural programming and events for adults and children that accentuate and expand the strengths of the collections and mission of the institution.
Exhibits are open to the public.
Programs are free unless otherwise noted. Click below to view the archived list of programs & events from Fall 2007! MAY Fri, 5/2, 5-7pm: SALON – Romance novelist Laura Moore on Romance Writing 101—It’s Not All About Sex! Join Laura Moore, a recent arrival to Providence, for an ardent conversation about the many twists and turns in the plot that led her from a career in art history and teaching to writing romance fiction. She will spill her secrets about the genre and business of romance writing and the newest trends in this billion-dollar publishing industry, plus answer the biggest page-turner of all: has she at last discovered happiness? Join us to find out! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 5/2, 7:30pm: The Legendary Pub Quiz! Call 421-6970 to reserve a spot. $5 for Athenaeum members; $10 for non-members. Fri. 5/9: PLEASE NOTE that there will be no salon on this Friday. We are perparing for the Philbrick Poetry Award presentation later in the evening. Fri, 5/9, 7pm: The Tenth Annual Philbrick Poetry Award is presented to winner John Brush by poet judge Forrest Gander! Poet judge Forrest Gander selected John Brush as the Tenth Annual Philbrick Poetry Award winner for his manuscript Chrysalis, to be published as a chapbook by the Athenaeum. Copies will be available for purchase at the event, which will also feature both poets reading from their work. Join us for an evening of exciting new verse! The Philbrick Poetry Award was established to honor Charles and Deborah Philbrick by promoting the art of poetry in New England. Professor Philbrick taught at Brown University and published several books of poetry; Deborah Philbrick contributed her talents throughout her lifetime to help charitable organizations and mentor many of Providence’s aspiring young poets. Free and open to the public! (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 5/16, 5-7pm: SALON – Meanwhile, At That Same Moment… part 7: Historian Scott Molloy on the labor movement, circa 1838. Rhode Island workers organized themselves into a primitive labor union in 1789, a year before the establishment of Slater’s Mill. By the 1830s the local Mechanics Association was already agitating for a ten-hour workday, better working conditions, and the right to vote for ordinary citizens. The Union, led by the state’s first notable working class leader, Seth Luther, rallied, petitioned, and lobbied for their demands. By 1838 these skilled workers took the lead in setting the stage for the Dorr Rebellion in 1842 with its host of constitutional changes and democratic initiatives. Although their effort failed to some extent, these tradesmen did manage to enlarge the suffrage and ensure inclusion of their voices in future political debates. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 5/23, 5-7pm: SALON – Journalist Robert Whitcomb on his 2007 book, Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound, written with Wendy Williams. A spirited account of the plutocracy’s attempts to quash an alternative energy initiative that would plant wind turbines on Nantucket Sound, Cape Wind is more relevant than ever as Governor Carcieri seeks developers’ bids for an offshore wind farm intended to generate at least 15% of Rhode Island’s electricity. Join Providence Journal editorial page editor Whitcomb for a conversation about the many vested interests still battling it out in Massachusetts, and a look at the future of wind farms in Rhode Island. Books will be available for sale and signing, thanks to Borders! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: John Chiafalo of Your Computer Concierge, yourcomputerconcierge@gmail.com) Fri, 5/30, 5-6:45pm: SALON – Musician Bertrand Laurence on his life and love of jazz and blues music, among other things. Bertrand has had 25 years of “exile” in the US as a Frenchman, performance artist, advocate for the homeless, sandwich man, mime, artist’s nude model, tarot card reader, busker, and boulevardier... making his way with wit and elegance from one to another in what he calls a “pin-ball“ life that lead him to Providence. Join him and his guitar for a musical conversation about all that and more. We will end this last Salon of the season a bit early in order to follow Bertrand over to the Carriage House Stage for the 7pm show of Friday Night Live, where he plays each week! Friday Night Live is composed of interactive scenes and on-the-spot musicals featuring improvised song, dance, and skits for audiences of all ages; the diverse cast includes veteran Everett Dance Theatre artists, young up-and-coming performers, and Bertrand, of course! For more on Bertrand: http://www.bertrandlaurence.com/; For more on Friday Night Live: http://www.everettdancetheatre.org/fridaynightlive.html For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) APRIL Fri, 4/4, 5-7pm: SALON – Gay Paris and the Politics of the Personal, Trinity Rep’s Artistic Director Curt Columbus on his original play, Paris By Night. A musical set in 1960s movie Paris (that is, not the real Paris, but the one of our collective, Hollywood-ized imagination) with a true cool jazz score, Paris By Night has at its center a gay, interracial love story, yet it’s structured as a traditional musical: boy meets boy, boy loses boy, will boy get boy back? How do we move away from the polemical plays of personal politics of the last two decades and into a new era of playmaking that poses such questions within the personal story structure? Paris By Night runs 4/25 – 6/1 at Trinity Rep, more info: trinityrep.com/on_stage/current_season/PBN.php. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Jillian Siqueland of Residential Properties, 401-274-6740) Thurs, 4/10, 7pm: Illustrator Mary Jane Begin launches Willow Buds, the Tale of Toad and Badger, the first in her story series about The Wind in the Willows characters when they were young animal buds. Kenneth Grahame’s classic The Wind in the Willows celebrates its centenary this year! Join us to commemorate this classic and introduce its latest iteration in Begin’s newest work. Acclaimed for earlier books including The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and R Is for Rhode Island Red among many others, Begin will talk about the publication history of The Wind in the Willows and how it inspired her own new series, The Willow Buds, and discuss her creative process as an illustrator. We will also feature a beautiful display of various editions of The Wind in the Willows, including rare copies from the collections of the Athenaeum and the illustrator. Co-presented with the RISD Alumni Association, this program is free and open to the public, recommended for ages 12 to adult. (For information on a companion program for younger children on Saturday, April 12th, please go to: providenceathenaeum.org/kids/calendar.php or call Children’s Librarian Lindsay Shaw at 421-6970 x17) For more on Mary Jane’s work: maryjanebegin.com. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 4/11, 5-7pm: SALON – Meanwhile, At That Same Moment… part 6: historian Jane Lancaster on the slave narrative, circa 1838. In 1838, Elleanor Eldridge, a Rhode Islander of African American and Native American descent left Providence on a book tour. She was selling her Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge, an “As Told To” memoir, incidentally one of America’s first memoirs of a free black woman. Join us to hear what Lancaster discovered about the women - black and white – behind this ground-breaking narrative and its publication and distribution, and discuss what Eldridge’s story tells us about the trajectory of race relations, abolitionism, and feminism in Rhode Island, from 1838 to today. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Jodi L. Glass, Doctor of Audiology, 401-575-9951, jlglass53@aol.com) Fri, 4/18, 5-7pm: SALON – Artist Anne Tait on her residency at Grace Church Cemetery in South Providence, which opened in 1834. Have you ever wondered, while strolling through a cemetery, about the images and symbols you see on the headstones? Anne Tait, Assistant Professor of Art at Roger Williams University, decided to investigate them. Now artist-in-residence at Grace Church Cemetery, she researches the sources and imagery of 19th century marble headstones in order to try to understand people’s attempts to memorialize the dead, and uses these investigations in creating her own artwork. Join her for a look at these images and a conversation about her discoveries of their origins, and how these discoveries have inspired her as an artist. This Salon serves as a prequel to Anne’s Open Studio, to be held the following week at the cemetery keeper’s house, giving visitors a chance to view her art and the cemetery setting first hand. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Figments, figmentsdesign.com) MARCH Sun., 3/2, 3pm: Annual Meeting - Join us for a year-end review of FY 2006/07. The agenda will include the President’s report, greetings from the Executive Director, the Treasurer’s report including financials, Board elections, and other committee reports. Free and open to the public. Fri, 3/7, 5-7pm: SALON – The Grimke Address/Meanwhile, At That Same Moment… part 5: Athenaeum Program Director Christina Bevilacqua on Edgar Allan Poe, circa 1838. Poe’s only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, was published in 1838. While starting out with familiar Poe themes of claustrophobia and hallucinatory terror tipping into madness, it soon opens out to the high seas, piracy, shipwreck, cannibalism, polar exploration, theories of hollow earth, war with malevolent “natives” and other agoraphobia-inducing and increasingly fantastical incidents. In an era when Westerners were making their way into formerly unfamiliar areas of the globe, how does Poe’s fevered travelogue fit into the literary and navigational accounts of the day? For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Studio Hop, 810 Hope Street, 401-621-2262) Fri, 3/14, 5-7pm: SALON – Poetry Aloud! Bring a poem you’ve written! Bring a poem you’ve read! Bring a poem you think everyone would be the better for hearing! Fall under the spell of the muse and stand and declaim as she dictates, right from your chair! Or browse our poetry shelves for a new discovery that night. Salon attendees will be the presenters at this annual favorite evening of poetry read aloud. Poet and Salon stalwart Stuart Blazer will be on hand to keep the proceedings meandering lyrically along. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 3/14, 7:30pm: The Legendary Pub Quiz! Call 421-6970 to reserve a spot. $5 for Athenaeum members; $10 for non-members. Thurs, 3/20, 7pm: : Inspired by the Athenaeum – The John Hay Library’s Holly Synder on John Hay’s investigations and inspirations at the Atheneaeum. In 1858 the twenty-year-old John Hay graduated from Brown. Two years later, aged 22, he moved to the White House to serve as President Lincoln’s assistant private secretary. As 2008 is the 150th anniversary of his graduation, Hay’s life at Brown and beyond is being celebrated with the exhibit John Hay’s Lincoln, and Lincoln’s John Hay: Shaping Identity and Public Memory in 19th Century America, on view now through March 6th at the John Hay Library. The Hay’s North American History Librarian (and Athenaeum member) Holly Snyder was inspired by the concept of the show to think about Hay in his early years as a Brown student, and discovered that before his rise to the national scene as Lincoln’s private secretary and long before his ascension to household-word status as Secretary of State, he was a humble member of the Providence Athenaeum. Come explore with us how John Hay found his inspiration (among other things) in the stacks of the Athenaeum. Free and open to the public! For more on the Hay Library exhibit: http://dl.lib.brown.edu/libweb/exhibits/index.php (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 3/21, 5-7pm: SALON – Independent filmmaker Don Mays on his in-progress documentary, Deeds of Desperate Valor and the 230th anniversary of the RI First Black Regiment and the Battle of Rhode Island. “A third time the enemy with desperate courage and increased strength, attempted to assail the redoubt, and would have carried it but for the timely aid of two Continental battalions dispatched by Sullivan to support his almost exhausted troops. It was in repelling these furious onsets, that the newly formed black regiment, under Col. Greene, distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor,” wrote Samuel Greene Arnold in 1860. Deeds of Desperate Valor will be a full-length documentary chronicling the unique and important contributions to the history of RI and the United States made by the RI First Black Regiment during their five-year service fighting in the Revolutionary War. Join us for a discussion of the regiment and the film, to be screened at the week-long celebration taking place in Newport August 24-30, 2008 in recognition of the 230th anniversary of the legendary Battle of Rhode Island. (Note: for another view of Mays’s talents, don’t miss his production of The Bluest Eye, Lydia Diamond’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s classic novel, on stage at Providence Black Rep February 2 through March 9, more info at blackrep.org) For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) Fri, 3/28, 5-7pm: SALON – The Aurea Ensemble presents From the Bard to the Beats, an evening of poetry, improvisation, and chamber music connecting the inspirational threads of David Amram, celebrated American composer, jazz musician, writer, educator, and first composer-in-residence for the NY Philharmonic. Amram, closely identified with Kerouac and the Beat poets of the ‘50s and ‘60s, was also honored recently at Lincoln Center for his early musical collaborations with Joseph Papp’s first Shakespearean productions at NYC’s Public Theatre. Author of 3 books, at 77 he is one of the most highly sought-after American composers. From April 14 – 20 a week-long celebration of Amram’s work will take place during his Fitts Residency at Brown, with Aurea as participants. Join Aurea members Consuelo Sherba, Nigel Gore, and Chris Turner for this sneak preview of the events, plus a look into the working process of Aurea and their inimitable, intuitive, and inventive combining of words and music. More on Aurea: aureaensemble.org. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz) FEBRUARY Tues, 2/5, 7pm: The John Russell Bartlett Society presents Brandeis University Professor Laura Miller on her 2007 book, Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. Bookselling has evolved from independent shops to chain stores, yet is expected to be “above” questions of profit. Miller investigates what drives this belief and how it is affected by the changing retail environment, exploring as well the way that consumers’ inevitably political choices have consequences for communities and commercial institutions. More on the JRBS: bartlettsociety.8m.net. Free and open to the public! Fri, 2/8, 5-7pm: SALON - Historian Gordon Wood on presidents Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, from his 2006 book Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different. In homage to Presidents’ Day later in the month, Brown University professor and Pulitzer honoree Wood will discuss our first four presidents and how their ideals and values give us a sense of who we are and what we believe in: liberty, equality, constitutionalism, self-government, and the well-being of the common man. Books available for sale and signing. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Benefit Street Antiques, 401-751-9109) Mon, 2/11, 6-8:30pm: Taking Literature from Page to Stage: a Literacy Workshop for Educators offered by Living Literature at the Athenaeum. Participants collaborate through read-aloud performance of a written piece to improve their analytical thinking, interpersonal communication, decision making, and group interaction. Open to the public, reservation required at 401-437-2297. Mail nonrefundable $5 reservation check to: Living Literature, 120 Riverside Dr., Riverside, RI 02915. (Made possible by a legislative grant from the State of RI and Providence Plantations.) Fri, 2/15, 5-7pm: SALON - It’s the 10th Annual Providence French Film Festival – Vive le Cinema! Last spring we neglected to schedule a Salon on the FFF – and heard wailing and lamentation from those who had loved the one in 2006. So it’s back! Join festival organizers and film historians for a discussion of this year’s line-up, scheduled to include new works by Assayas, Chabrol, Rivette, Schroeder, and Techine among others, and running 2/21 through 3/2 at the Cable Car Cinema. Salon attendees can purchase festival passes at a 10% discount that evening. A bientôt! More on the FFF: provfrenchfilm.com. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: risdworks, risdworks.com) Fri, 2/22, 5-7pm: SALON - Composers Forum with the composers of Community MusicWorks’ 2007-08 Listen Local project. This year CMW is presenting work by local composers at concerts by the Providence String Quartet and Community MusicWorks Players. Join us for a lively conversation with composers Mitchell Clark, Marilyn Currier, Anthony Green, Garrison Hull, Steven Jobe, Michael Kelley, Forrest Larson, Jessie Montgomery, and Alec K. Redfearn. More on the composers: communitymusicworks.org/profiles.htm#local. For Athenaeum members and their guests, plus guests of CMW. (Sponsor: The Curatorium, thecuratorium.com) Mon, 2/25, 5:30-7pm: New Members’ Reception. Hear the history, tour the building and collections, meet other members and staff! For new Athenaeum members and their guests. Fri, 2/29, 5-7pm: SALON - Meanwhile, At That Same Moment… part 4: Roger Williams University architectural historian Rick Greenwood on transportation, circa 1838. At his 1832 inauguration Providence’s first mayor Samuel Bridgham urged inhabitants of the new city to match the spirit of their age, in which “Every thing physical, intellectual and moral in our country … is marching on with steam-boat and railroad speed upon the highway of improvement.” The citizenry responded to this metaphoric challenge quite literally, embracing steam transportation along with the associated rhetoric of progress through technology. By 1838 the steamboat and the railroad had become integral parts of city life and potent symbols of Providence’s eagerness to secure a prosperous future through industrial growth and innovation. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Yankee Travel, yankeetravel.com) JANUARY
Thurs, 1/31, 7pm: PSQ at the Athenaeum, part 1: the Providence String Quartet plays Dvorak’s “American” string quartet (opus 96) and quintet (opus 97). Dvorak spent 1892-95 as director of the now forgotten National Conservatory of Music in NYC while trying to forge a musical identity for the “New World.” The National Conservatory was an extremely progressive, influential institution whose values and curriculum still reverberate throughout American conservatories today. The evening will include discussion of the NCM as well as Spillville, Iowa, where Dvorak composed the “American” String quartet and quintet in 1893. (Series Part 2, Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, plays here May 15th.) More on PSQ: communitymusicworks.org. To maintain the intimate, salon-style atmosphere of this special series, audience is limited to 65 seats at each performance. Tickets to each performance must be purchased in advance, and every PSQ event at the Athenaeum has sold out - so order early! $30 for Athenaeum members, $35 for non-members; call 401-421-6970. PLEASE REMEMBER: When parking in the Atheneaum lot, please use ONLY the first five parking spots, which are marked. All other spots belong to our good friends and neighbors in Athenaeum Row – please help us be good neighbors, too! Thank you. For more information call Christina Bevilacqua, Director of Member Services and Programs, at 401-421-6970, x28 or check the program listing on our website: www.providenceathenaeum.org THE PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM 251 Benefit Street Providence, Rhode Island 02903 For more information call Christina Bevilacqua, Director of Member Services and Programs, at 401-421-6970, x28 or check the program listing on our website: www.providenceathenaeum.org THE PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM 251 Benefit Street Providence, Rhode Island 02903 To receive our free WEEKLY CALENDAR OF EVENTS, email Christina Bevilacqua with your name and email address. Non-members are welcome to receive our electronic newsletter. |
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