Read Our Stories

Arts and Culture

The Foundation focuses on ensuring the vitality of the arts sector and increasing participation in the arts.

Our principal target areas in arts and culture are:
  • Efforts that foster artistic and operational collaboration within the sector and result in efficiencies
  • Efforts to deepen, expand, and diversify audiences for artistic and cultural presentations
  • Programs that support art making with youth in public schools and community settings

Stories of two of our grantees – FirstWorks and Island Moving Company – capture our work in the arts at the ground level.

See a complete list of Arts & Culture grantees.

FirstWorks: “Boundary-breaking” strategy in action


How does an organization transition from being the sponsor of an annual, one-night festival to a producer of community-building, year-round arts programs?

In the case of FirstWorks, which traces its origin back to the 1985 launch of First Night Providence, it has been through planning, planning, and more planning.

 FirstWorks
Cirque Mechanics headlined the FirstWorks Festival 2009. Here, a performer works the German Wheel. FirstWorks enriched the lives of 875 students in Rhode Island schools in 2009 through innovative performances like this one. Photo credit: Frank Mullin
“At the start of the millennium, we asked ourselves how we could move toward spreading out our work throughout the year. It was a big period of evaluation and conversation,” recalls Kathleen Pletcher, executive artistic director of FirstWorks and previous artistic director of First Night Providence.

FirstWorks was launched in 2004 in collaboration with Providence’s Department of Arts, Culture & Tourism “as a vehicle to build community, reach underserved audiences, and present extraordinary arts programs that elevate Providence’s national profile.”

The evaluation and conversation about the organization’s work continued and, in 2007, leaders at FirstWorks began a formal strategic planning process. With support from the Foundation each of the past three years, FirstWorks has strengthened its fundraising capacity, extended its reach statewide, and moved to a year-round format

“For us, having a strategic plan – and support for our strategic plan – means we don’t have to be as reactive as some organizations may need to be. We’re much more proactive.” - Lydia Breckon, development director, FirstWorks


“Our strategic planning has changed how we think, how we approach things, and how we learn from other organizations. Partnerships underlie everything we do. These are relationships, not transactions,” states Pletcher, noting FirstWorks’ connection with the Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium (VMA) Foundation, which has provided a new venue for FirstWorks.

“For us, having a strategic plan – and support for our strategic plan – means we don’t have to be as reactive as some organizations may need to be. We’re much more proactive,” says Lydia Breckon, FirstWorks’ development director.

FirstWorks
Angkor Dance Troupe's June 2009 performance at RISD's Chace Center Michael P. Metcalf Auditorium was part of FirstWorks' annual arts programming. Here, dancers perform "Swva Pol," the Cambodian Monkey Dance. Photo credit: Frank Mullin
“We’re very focused on where we’re going and in providing first experiences of one kind or another,” Pletcher agrees. FirstWorks defines “first experiences” in three ways: premiering significant new performance works, providing first experiences for children, and developing new audiences.

Last year, FirstWorks connected art with audiences through 54 unique arts events, enabled nearly 300 performers to take to the stage in 25 “boundary-breaking and genre-redefining” performances, and expanded its arts learning program to reach 875 students in schools throughout the state.

It also was a year for increased community partnerships, both locally and internationally, the latter with the Taiwan Cultural Council, which partnered with FirstWorks for the New England premiere of HORSE, Taiwan’s first all-male dance troupe.

Pletcher notes the importance of building bridges – with partner organizations, with diverse audiences, with a myriad of supporters. With one bridge already taking the group to Taiwan, one can only imagine where the strategic plan will take them next!

Daniel Kertzner, grant programs officer at the Foundation, adds, “One of the arts sector priorities is fostering collaboration. By building robust partnerships, FirstWorks is demonstrating the exciting programmatic and organizational benefits that collaborative efforts provide.”
For more information, www.first-works.org.


Island Moving Company: Engaging students through dance


Visualize “wildly galloping.” Now add a class of third graders to the picture.

What do you have? An innovative classroom program offered by Island Moving Company with support from the Foundation.

Dominique Alfandre, the dance company’s executive director, explains that parts of speech are just one example of what can be taught to schoolchildren through dance. “This is a different kind of learning, and the students don’t even know they’re learning. There’s a certain relaxation that comes with this,” she explains.

“We create movement – both literal and abstract – that expresses the phrases the students have written. There are so many ways to engage students. These activities become a real creative conversation,” continues Miki Ohlsen, the dance company’s artistic director.

 Island Moving Company
 Boys hold first position in an Island Moving Company class in Newport. The Company's school programs, "embrace diverse learning styles and foster creative thinking in young people," according to Foundation Grant Programs Officer Daniel Kertzner.
Island Moving Company, Newport County’s only resident professional performing company, has worked in the schools for 15 years.

Alfandre cites numerous ways the programs meet challenges in the elementary schools: Dance and movement are powerful tools in the fight against obesity; teachers can utilize dance to underscore curricular themes and teach to educational standards; the company’s dancers are caring adults filling a gap in some students’ lives; and the programs are inclusive, allowing every child to participate regardless of ability.

Working through schools’ physical education classes, Island Moving Company’s creative movement classes explore choreographic elements, including rhythm, patterns, and levels.

“Out of this a very remarkable thing happened. One of the little boys said to us, ‘How do you do this? I really want to do this,’” Alfandre shares.

The boy’s inquiry led to the development of a class – currently comprised of six boys and four girls – that meets Fridays after school, with the students walking from the nearby Cranston Calvert School to Island Moving Company’s studio on Charles Street, Newport.

The company’s 2010 school program includes second, third, and/or fourth grade classes in all six communities in Newport County, as well as at Moses Brown and St. Michael’s School.

In addition to funding from both the Foundation and the Foundation’s Newport County Fund, Island Moving Company’s school programs are supported by Citizens Bank Foundation, North Family Trust, Ocean State Charities Trust, and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.

Students who have participated in the programs offer these reflections:

“I liked this dance class because you had to memorize things, and were very physical and unique. And because we had to use our brain.” – Richard, 2nd grade


“Thank you for showing me your creative show…I did not like ballet before but you changed my mind.” – Shawn, 3rd grade


Daniel Kertzner, grant programs officer, conveys, “These responses show how programs like this really embrace diverse learning styles and foster creative thinking in young people – something corporate leaders have identified as important for the future of our workforce. By providing early arts learning experiences to students around the state, this program also increases access to the arts by establishing an important foundation for future involvement with the arts among participating students and aligns with the sector priority of art making for youth.”

For more information, www.islandmovingco.org