Athenaeum Programs and Events

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.

To receive our free weekly email calendar of events, email your name and email address to Christina Bevilacqua at:

Non-members are welcome to receive our electronic newsletter, The Universal Penman. For our most recent newsletter, click here.

• Parking Reminder: 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.
• We advise you to call ahead before programs to avoid disappointment in the case of a change or cancellation.
• For information on programs for children, call Children's Librarian Lindsay Shaw at 421-6970 x17. For other programs call Director of Member Services and Programs Christina Bevilacqua at 421-6970 x28.

Calendar of Events

For a day-by-day listing of Athenaeum programs, events, and special hours, click on the calendar picture.

October Programs

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Part One: Phil Goldman, host of Live Bait, the monthly storytelling series at Perishable Theatre, on "True Stories from Real People."

Friday, 10/2, 5-7pm

Technology allows us to share our stories with people everywhere, yet its global reach can make us long in compensation for the singular voice. At Live Bait: True Stories from Real People, an award-winning, participatory, adult storytelling series, people sign up to tell stories based on pre-determined, purposely vague themes (such as “Under the Influence,” and “A Stupid Thing to Do”).

Stories must be true and told in six minutes or less, no script or notes. Goldman will discuss the tale well-told; Salon attendees can jump in, and are also encouraged to attend Live Bait that night at Perishable (95 Empire Street), admission fee will be waived for Salon attendees.

More on Perishable and Live Bait: perishable.org., or visit the “Live Bait: True Stories from Real People” page on Facebook. For Athenaeum members and their guests.

(Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz)

Living Literature Presents: Taking Literature from Page to Stage: a Literacy Workshop for Educators

Monday, 10/5, 6-8:30pm

Participants read aloud, interact collaboratively, and recreate a work of non-dramatic writing through performance. Artistic Director Barry Press provides a supportive process for exploring the written word in voice and body.

Call 437-2297 to reserve and mail nonrefundable $5 check to: Living Literature, 120 Riverside Dr., Riverside, RI 02915.

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Part Two, co-presented with 5 Traverse Gallery: Collectors on Collecting - Tales of Collecting Contemporary Art.

Friday, 10/9, 5-7pm

What attracts a person to contemporary art and then fuels a passion to collect? What is the relationship between a collector and the works that he or she collects? What does an internationally renowned collector have in common – or not – with a young collector on a shoestring budget? Join us for a conversation with several very different contemporary art collectors and find out! More on 5 Traverse: 5traverse.com.

(Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz)

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Part Three, Bass-Baritone Frank Ward on researching and singing the African-American songbook and other works along life’s way.

Friday, 10/16, 5-7pm

In addition to the standard classical and operatic repertoire, Ward has sung the works of African-American composers of art songs and spirituals, and researched and brought to life vaudeville, minstrel, and musical theater songs, circa 1900. Songs define their times and pass on stories from one era and one culture to another, letting us travel through time and space. Join us for a conversation about Ward’s musical itineraries. For Athenaeum members and their guests.

(Sponsor: Jodi L. Glass, Doctor of Audiology, 401-575-9951, jlglass53@aol.com)

The Legendary Pub Quiz!

Friday, 10/16, 7:30pm

Call 421-6970 to reserve a spot. $5 for Athenaeum members; $10 for non-members.

SALON - Preservation Society of Newport County Architectural Historian John Tschirch on Arcadian Visions: Providence Landscapes of the American Renaissance

Presented as part of Providence Preservation Society’s seminar, The American Renaissance and Providence: A Golden Age in Architecture and the Arts.

Friday, 10/23, 5-7pm

Fostered by a revival of interest in gardens from the Renaissance through Neo-Classical eras, late 19th and early 20th century landscape designers created public parks and private estates based on classical design principles.

Edith Wharton, Charles Adams Platt, and Pierre de Nohlac, among others, popularized the classical landscape through their writings and luminous photographs of great gardens from the Medici villas of Tuscany to Versailles. Tschirch will examine European garden precedents, influential designers and tastemakers, and how Providence was influenced by the American Renaissance vision of classical landscapes both in large park commissions and smaller scale urban spaces.

More on PPS and the symposium: ppsri.org. For Athenaeum members and symposium attendees, and their guests.

(Sponsor: Providence Preservation Society)

Poet Brett Rutherford’s Annual Hallowe’en Lunchtime Homage to the Eerily Inexplicable!

Friday, 10/30, noon

Poet Brett Rutherford’s Annual Hallowe’en Lunchtime Homage to the Eerily Inexplicable! Bring a bag lunch and a fevered imagination and thrill to Brett’s readings for the season! Free and open to the public!

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Part Four, Actor Stephen Thorne on Poe as Muse.

Friday, 10/30, 5-7pm

Long a Poe fan, Trinity Rep’s Thorne began researching the writer’s life with the desire to develop an original piece for the stage. The work-in-progress meditates on Poe’s death, his vision of death, and death itself, using three Poe stories as a frame for these themes within his life and work. Thorne’s goal is not to adapt Poe’s stories for the stage, but to create the experience of a Poe story. Join us for a brief performance and then conversation about how Poe’s life led to the specific choices made in creating the piece. Free and open to the public!

(Sponsor: Green and Cleaner, greenandcleaner.com)