WaterFire Full Circle | River to the Valley | Episode 4

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - WaterFire going on nearly 30 years, right?

And in 2017, we really transformed as an organization 'cause we diversified our mission and our revenue streams with the addition of the WaterFire Arts Center.

- I'm glad to say that WaterFire coming to us to look at this building and this facility initially to store their boats and whatnot, and then transforming it into an art center, was brilliant.

(gentle music continues) - I think this building works as a beacon for the arts.

There's so much that goes on in this building.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - WaterFire Arts Center, first of all, is part of a whole movement in that neighborhood.

And you also have this really cool development going on in what they call the Valley, whether it's Industrious Spirit or Farm Fresh.

So it's very much of that redevelopment project, so that makes it very exciting.

But it's also an arts incubator.

- Just do whatever's comfortable for you.

If you're comfortable being on your knees like this, that's fine.

- Wilbury's our new neighbor, so they're, like, literally right below us right here.

- When I first saw the space, I was excited at how raw it was and the potential that there was to make really exciting theatrical experiences happen here.

- Good evening, everyone.

My name is Josh Short, and I am the artistic director of the Wilbury Theater Group.

Welcome to the world premier of "Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight".

- The amazing thing about this theater group is that they have the ability to do plays that are very familiar, plays that have been on Broadway like "The Humans" or "Indecent", but they're also able to do things by Rhode Island artists.

- My husband is king, my everything.

♪ La-de-da ♪ - [All] And Palmera, do you respect, honor, esteem, adore, praise, admire, and enjoy him?

- Uh-huh.

- La-de-da, sunshine, goodbye - The relationship between WaterFire and the Wilbury Theater Group is really a wonderful marriage of two creative entities that are so important to the creative health of Providence and of this Olneyville, Valley Street neighborhood.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - People are familiar with WaterFire, so they see WaterFire Arts Center and they're like, "Okay, I feel comfortable, like, going to WaterFire.

I like going to WaterFire".

But maybe they wouldn't necessarily go into a gallery, but it gets them inside our doors, and it gets them, like, you know, engaging with us in a different way if they're able then to see something that they wouldn't necessarily see.

- You're in a safe space.

My name is Daniel Bernard Roumain, DBR.

Welcome to your WaterFire Arts Center.

(audience applauding) And this is "The Telling", and we are FirstWorks, right?

♪ Heard this before ♪ ♪ Reaching for his wallet ♪ ♪ We've heard this before ♪ - Now, I think a really thrilling aspect to what we are doing with "The Telling" and having been here all this week with artists and music and all of that is that this space has amazing opportunities.

And I know many of them have occurred and there've been wonderful things, but you know, it just ignites the possibility of more.

(gentle music) - What I love about the space is it's chameleon-like, it adjusts for every show.

So people keep coming in and saying, "This is such a great show, but it's a perfect place for this show."

But they say that for every show.

So it indicates that the space, I think it's something about the lightness of it and the architecture, it can get out of the way but complement things in a great way.

And we're really excited about having more live music here.

♪ We've heard this before ♪ ♪ We've seen this before ♪ - I think that we have percolating other ideas, and one of my- - You've done some already, actually, yeah.

- Yes, yes.

One of my litmus tests is if we've been circling an idea, FirstWorks, us together for a number of years, then that's a sign that it's really ready to happen.

- And there's some... You came to us with some ideas that I'm still excited about.

- I know.

I just wrote someone about it today.

(laughs) Taiwanese giant robot.

- Exactly, exactly.

Well, this is a performance piece for a robot that weighs, what, six tons?

- Tons, yeah.

Tons.

- Six tons.

And you know, our floor's 24 inches solid concrete, so we're ready.

(gentle music) - [Speaker] We've certainly been a catalyst for economic development in that neighborhood, and we've drawn people into the neighborhood that hadn't been in it before, especially with these galas and the events that we have there.

- FireBall 2022, you look good!

- FireBall's our annual gala.

I believe we're on our seventh year this year.

There's really no party like it in Providence.

♪ Hey ♪ (upbeat music) - [Nicole] So you don't know what you're gonna get when you walk in.

It's full of color, it's full of fun, but also we're raising money to keep, you know, WaterFire going, so we can continue doing lighting downtown, we can continue to program this building, and we can continue doing it for free.

- We're here not only to celebrate arts in our amazing state and city, but both WaterFire and stay silent have this unique ability of bringing all people together.

Harry Bravas on the sax, ladies and gentlemen.

- So, really excited, super excited to have y'all part of this program.

- So you've got all these great training programs like the Accelerate Program that works with the youth.

So it really embodies that creative capital.

- The WaterFire Accelerate is a professional development cohort program for artists under 30.

So, utilizing our resources through our connections with WaterFire, we kind of help artists, emerging artists in the community find pathways to, you know, excel in their careers.

- We're trying to design something that really meets the needs of you as young creatives, and so we expect these sessions to have ongoing discussions and we make decisions together.

- So I'm just really excited to, like, finally have like a community of other people that do similar things to what I do.

- Safe to say, I've only been an actual artist, fully embodying it, for only about a year and a half.

And that brings me to meet you all, so it's a pleasure to be here.

- During the year, they come to the WaterFire Arts Center for monthly meetings.

We introduce them to artists who have been successful in their careers.

We introduce them to collectors like Dr. Joe Chazan.

(upbeat music) (guests chattering) - Roses.

Every exhibition has roses.

- Oh my gosh!

- There you are.

You can't have an exhibition opening without roses, guys.

- Thank you so much.

- Of course.

- So every single thing that's playing is a different part of the song.

- [Speaker] This is their combination exhibition, six interdisciplined artists.

It's called "If These Walls Could Talk".

It is a very diverse and very fluid exhibition with many different, like I said, disciplines.

So we have painters, film photographers, we have print makers, jewelry makers.

- So it was an exhilarating experience, honestly, 'because before coming into this program, I really wanted to connect with a sense of community.

- On three, ready?

One, two, three.

- Way cool.

- Come on.

- I'm not a traditional artist.

I go to RISD for architecture.

Well, first I'm a portrait artist.

I mainly document African American artists, people of color.

And each painting that I do is a combination of an interview, what I like to say a conversation, and it's basically they come to my studio, we sit down, we have a conversation about whatever.

Those conversations get very deep, very quickly.

Sometimes even therapeutic.

- It's been an interesting journey so far, and you know, we're just getting started of, you know, how we get people into this space.

- Well, I've seen other things start from nothing, from the ashes, if you will, and become an event and a phenomenon.

So, WaterFire is one of a number of great programs and resources in the community.

It's pretty incredible.

Started with a few fires in the water 27 years ago, and now this building is beyond belief.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues)

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