ART! Arts Day at the RI State House

Arts and culture community meet up and event at the State House, May 8

Free and open to public

Arts Day will be held at the State House, an afternoon event focusing on the arts and culture community in Rhode Island. The event will be on Thursday, May 8, 2:30 p.m., at the R.I. State House, 82 Smith St., Providence.

Schedule for the day

• 2:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.: Live performance by members of the Newport String Project in the State Room, 2nd floor of the State House.
• 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Speaking program featuring elected officials; Todd Trebour, Executive Director of RISCA; and keynote speaker Harold Steward, Executive Director of the New England Foundation for the Arts.
• Also, a poetry reading by R.I.’s State Poetry Out Loud Champion, Emmanuel Obisanye, a senior at Classical High School.
• 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.: Tabling event around the second-floor rotunda featuring artists and organizations showcasing how their work contributes to community vitality. Arts and cultural areas represented at the tables will be arts and health, arts education, career and technical education and artists as small businesses. There will also be representatives from local arts agencies and local arts commissions, who will discuss their catalytic work.
• 4 p.m.: Before the bell goes off to signify the start of the session for the R.I. House and Senate, attendees can visit their legislators in the House and Senate chambers. After the bell, you can sit in the third-floor galleries of either the House of the Senate and view the reading of resolutions declaring May 8 Arts Day in Rhode Island. 

Space is limited in the State Room. RSVP for the event: Arts Day at the State House Tickets, Thu, May 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM | Eventbrite.