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.

February 2010 Programs

 

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

Mon 2/1, 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.

 

Annual fundraising event, GALApagos: A Celebration of Exploration!

Fri 2/5, 7pm:

Annual fundraising event, GALApagos: A Celebration of Exploration! The board and staff of the Providence Athenaeum request the pleasure of your company at our annual fundraising event, a gala evening highlighting the unique pleasures of the Athenaeum:  our special collections, our signature programming, and our spectacularly beautiful building! From its inception, the Athenaeum collected accounts of the newest discoveries in travel and exploration. Fittingly, Charles Darwin’s most important notebook dates from 1838, the year the Athenaeum opened on Benefit Street. This year’s gala features the performance of an original work that interweaves period music with Darwin’s accounts of his groundbreaking travels, produced by the Aurea Ensemble especially for this event and generously donated by them; an exhibit from our 19th century collections on the discoveries of Darwin and his contemporaries, plus photographs of the Galapagos taken in 2009 by our member Jim Scott; and festive food by Blackstone Caterers with wines generously donated by Campus Fine Wines (including a cocktail created expressly for the evening!), all served throughout the building. An auction of singular items and opportunities will feature as well. Proceeds benefit the Providence Athenaeum.

Tickets are $125 per person and only 125 will be sold. To purchase tickets call 401-421-6970 or go to providenceathenaeum.org.

 

SALON Series: So, What’s the Story? part seven: RISD Curator Laurie Brewer

 

Fri 2/12, 5-7pm

RISD Museum Costume and Textiles Assistant Curator Laurie Brewer on the exhibit Queen of the Insects: The Art of the Butterfly, running December 11, 2009 through May 9, 2010. Ephemeral, otherworldly, and transformative, the iridescent and fragile beauty of the butterfly has enchanted designers and artisans around the world for centuries. The human desire to preserve this resplendent and potent image of metamorphosis and rebirth has made it a universal—if variously invoked—design icon. Whereas Western design often presents the motif as purely decorative, in Asian art the butterfly is a traditional symbol, a design inspiration, and a material in itself. Always fashionable, the butterfly motif has adorned a wide variety of design objects, from porcelain to prints to jewelry. RISD Museum Costume and Textiles Assistant Curator Laurie Brewer, whose specialty is ecological fashion history, got her inspiration for this show from the Victorian use of butterfly wings in jewelry design. Among topics she will discuss at her Salon are Victorian era exotic, naturalist, and historical representations of the butterfly; ecology and the use of animal materials in fashion history; the romance of the butterfly in western and eastern design; the butterfly in art and literature; the feminine quality of butterflies, from Psyche to Madame Butterfly to Louie Fuller; and the journeys enfolded in the history of the exhibit, from the journey a collector would take to capture a specimen, to the travel a book takes to enter a collection. This latter is significant because Laurie took a journey of her own in curating the show, crossing Benefit Street to work with Athenaeum Collections Librarian Kate Wodehouse to find images and quotes from our rare and special collections for the exhibit. Come hear about all this and more, and be sure to see the dazzling show! More on the Museum: risdmuseum.org.

Free and open to the public! 

Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz

 

SALON Series: So, What’s the Story? part eight: Dan McCarthy and Carol Shelton on the Camino de Santiago

Fri 2/19, 5-7pm

Dan McCarthy retired as the Associate Director for Community Mental Health at the RI Department of MHRH in 2002 and began taking daily walks. In walking he discovered a sense of freedom, but was soon bored with local neighborhoods. Then he recalled that when in the seminary as a young man he had learned about El Camino de Santiago, the 500 mile pilgrimage route in Northern Spain to the shrine of the Apostle St James in the City of Santiago. He began training. In spring of 2004, at age 68, he walked the route for the first time. He has walked it every year since. While his reasons are many, not all can be put into words. While there is no formal “spiritual” component of the Camino, he experiences the exquisite simplicity  - carrying on his back all that he needs - of the five-week walk, the physically exhausting 12 to 15-mile daily walks, and the camaraderie of the evening meal with other pilgrims, as a sort of “walking monastery,” where he finds peace. Until this year he had gone alone, each year meeting people from all over the world (more than 100,000 people walk the Camino every year). In 2009 for the first time he was joined on the walk, by long-time friend Dr. Carol Shelton, a recently retired professor of nursing and public health at Rhode Island College. Join Dan and Carol for a conversation about the journey in all its meanings, and the incomparable experiences they found along the “Way.”

For Athenaeum members and their guests.

Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz

 

New Members' Reception

Mon 2/22, 5:30-7pm

Join us for a tour of the building, refreshments, and a chance to meet other members as well as the staff.

For new Athenaeum members and their guests.

 

SALON Series: So, What’s the Story? part nine: Rhody Food Tours founder Mike Ritz

Fri 2/26, 5-7pm

Rhody Food Tours founder Mike Ritz and special guests tell the stories behind Mike’s tour, “Immigrant Cuisines of Providence.” Join Mike, his culimulate your mind annary guides, and select immigrant restauranteurs for a night of discussion that promises to stid palate. Learn about the incredible people behind the amazing array of ethnic food in Providence, and take a bite or two of what they have to offer. Food samples included on-site at Salon followed by an optional discounted meal in the featured chefs’ restaurants. More on Rhody Food Tours: rhodyfoodtours.com.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.

Sponsor: Kas DeCarvalho Business Law, kaslawllc.com