Don't Forget to Register for IA National Gathering Site Visits for Saturday 10/21!

Dear all registered 2023 IA National Gathering participants, 

Registration is now open for the community site visits in Providence as part of the 2023 IA National Gathering. Community hosted site visits are extended workshops, activities, and discussions by local organizations in their own, or shared, community spaces. Read the descriptions below and register now at EventBrite by clicking the "Register Here" button.

VERY IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW: 

1. Site visit registration is now open through EventBrite (please do not email IA or site visit organizations to register).
2. Only registered IA Gathering participants are eligible to also register for a site visit.
3. Site visit capacity is limited and registration is available on a first come, first served basis. 
4. You may only register yourself for one site visit. 
5. All site visits take place on Saturday, October 21, from 3:00 - 5:30 PM. Round trip transportation is provided to the site visits from the Met School.

Site Visit Descriptions

all site visits happen on Saturday, October 21

 from 3:00 - 5:30 PM

Verde Visions at Southside Community Land Trust

Capacity 40 people

Location: Southside Community Land Trust (404 Broad St, Providence, RI 02907)

Verde Visions at Southside Community Landtrust



In this workshop led by Raffini at Southside Community Land Trust, we will explore ways of connecting to the elements, verbally and spiritually, through the gifts of Mother Earth. We will collaborate together by reflecting and sharing thoughts on: What feeds you? How do you get fed? How do you share? in relation to how a garden grows.

Organizers:

• Raffini, Youth Program Director at Southside Community Land Trust

NOTE: This site visit is outdoors.

Everett: Company, Stage & School - Parables from Prison

Capacity 40 people

Location: Everett: Company, Stage & School (9 Duncan Avenue, Providence RI 02906)

Parables from Prison



Everett artist Prince Nwankwo is an activist, teacher, actor, and director with direct experience of the juvenile justice system: He was incarcerated for most of his teenage years, from age 15 to 19. Everett met Prince when he was still in detention and since his release we have been collaborating on creating Parables from Prison - a series of short films intended to provoke and facilitate conversations about systems change related to juvenile justice, and support incarcerated youth in developing the social and emotional skills to heal trauma.

Co-organizers:

• Aaron Jungels, Co-Artistic and Executive Director, Everett
• Prince Nwankwo, Everett Artist

Stages of Freedom

Capacity 25 people

Location: Stages of Freedom (10 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903)

Stages of Freedom African American Museum



Tour the museum, attend a short walking tour of historic Black sites, and receive a free map of early Black Providence. Visit www.stagesoffreedom.org before the site visit to learn more. Be advised there is a slight incline on the walking tour. 

Organizer:

• Ray Rickman, Executive Director, Stages of Freedom

NOTE: This site visit involves walking outdoors.

Providence Art Club + Bannister Community Art Project

Capacity 20 people

Location: Providence Art Club (11 Thomas St, Providence, RI 02903)

Providence Art Club and Bannister Community Art Project

Join us as we take a look back to the 19th century and learn about the recent public art installation in Providence of artist, cultural visionary and abolitionist, Edward Mitchell Bannister.  The bronze sculpture located in Market Square overlooking the river was the vision of artist Gage Prentiss. On this site visit you will learn what made Bannister important during his day and why he remains relevant today. Prentiss will talk about his undeniable connection to this artist and the process to create this timely work of art. After viewing the sculpture in Market square, we will walk up the hill to the Providence Art Club for a tour from Gallery Manager Michael Rose. The site visit will conclude with a program in the studio. 

Co-organizers:

• Nancy Gaucher-Thomas, Bannister Community Art Project
• Betsy Zimmerman, Bannister Community Art Project
• Michael Rose, Providence Art Club

Community Music Works

Capacity 30 people

Location: Southside Cultural Center of Rhode Island (393 Broad Street, Providence RI 02907)

Collective Performance and Workshop with Phase II Youth and South African cellist and composer, TK Mhlambi



Join us for an exploration of this year’s theme of Radical Reckoning:Invoking the Elements for Collective Change through discussion, musical improvisation, and performance, inspired and co- led by the Phase II Teen group in collaboration with South African cellist and composer, TK Mhlambi. No instruments or prior musical experience necessary! 

Co-organizers:

• AlexisMarie Nelson, Program Coordinator at Community MusicWorks
• Chloe Kline, Education Director at Community MusicWorks
• Dr. Thokozani “TK” Mhlambi, Cellist and Composer
• Phase II Teen Group Students at Community MusicWorks

Soil Stories, Plant Stories

Capacity 14 people

Location: Movement Education Outdoors + The Emergent Forest (47 Harrison Street, Providence, RI 02907)

Soil Stories, Plant Stories



Soil steward and poet Laura Brown-Lavoie welcomes you for an afternoon of soil and plant stories among the medicine plants and fruit trees of the West End Raices Youth Garden, a 13-year-old community-dreamed green place in Providence. Laura will share the story of the genesis of the garden, and introduce some of the powerful plants who make their home there. We will have time for group sharing of plant stories and knowledges among the people who show up and we will also enjoy spiced apple cider warmed on the fire pit!

Organizer: 

• Laura Brown-Lavoie, Artist, Plant Person, Doula at the West End Raices Youth Garden

NOTE: This site visit is outdoors.

Culturally Informed, Community Minded Memorialization in Providence's City Cemeteries

Capacity 20 people

Location: North Burial Ground (5 Branch Ave, Providence, RI 02904)

Culturally Informed, Community Minded Memorialization in Providence's City Cemeteries



Visit North Burial Ground for a brief tour, and then work with the City Cemetery Director and others from Rhode Island Latino Arts and the Haffenreffer Museum to create wooden calaveras for their Dia de Los Muertos Program, while learning about DDLM and the partnership between the RILA, the HMA, and North Burial Ground. Help brainstorm while we work about other memorial programming and how community memorialization can be a pathway to healing from individual and collective grief. 

Organizer:

• Annalisa Heppner, City Cemetery Director, City of Providence Parks Department, North Burial Ground

NOTE: This site visit involves walking outdoors.

Tomaquag Museum

Capacity 25 people

Location: Tomaquag Museum (390A Summit Rd, Exeter, RI 02822)

Tomaquag Museum



Join us for a guided traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) tour, one of our most popular programs. Hike around the Tomaquag grounds and, as appropriate, the beautiful Arcadia Management Area abutting our property. In addition to a guided museum program, guests explore Indigenous plants and discover their medicinal, utilitarian, and nutritional uses in the traditional life ways of the Narragansett People.

Organizer: 

• Lorén Spears, Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum 

NOTE: This site visit involves walking outdoors.

The Youth Are the Truth

Capacity 25 people

Location: AS220 Black Box Theater (95 Empire Street, Providence RI 02903)

The Youth Are the Truth: Enacting Social Justice through Arts, Education, Civic Engagement, and Youth Development



Providence has been described as a “mecca” for youth programs. In one of our country’s smallest cities, there are at least a dozen high quality youth serving organizations that both champion and remix pedagogical approaches ranging from but certainly not limited to Social Justice, Creative and Hip Hop youth development models. The youth coming through our programs are not only participating, but more importantly leading peers, campaigns and local cultural events that make our city what it is. At the same time, youth programs in Providence face significant issues surrounding communicating impact and sustainability. This site visit will give a glimpse into the landscape of programming available to youth, how youth are navigating and transforming that landscape and also share challenges that make working within the Providence youth development scene, truly a creative endeavor. 

Co-organizers: 

• Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE)
• AS220 Youth
• New Urban Arts
• Youth In Action 

Nonviolence as a Practical Alternative to Violence

Capacity 25-30 people

Location: Nonviolence Institute (265 Oxford St, Providence RI, 02905)

Nonviolence as a Practical Alternative to Violence



Conference participants are invited to visit the Nonviolence Institute, located on Providence’s south side. NVI was founded in 2001 and is now widely known for its use of the principles and practices of nonviolence to respond to and prevent street and gang violence, support victims of violence, contribute to community resilience and advocate for policy and social change. NVI is inspired by a concrete and practical long-term vision of building the Beloved Community.

This visit will be hosted by Lisa Pina-Warren and Shane Lee, directors of Intervention Services and Nonviolence Training respectively. In addition to their professional roles, they are also students at College Unbound. They will begin by describing their work and reflecting on the values, meaning and ethics embedded in it. Guests will then participate in and reflect together on a nonviolence training module based on the principles and steps of Kingian nonviolence they use in their work.

Co-organizers:

• Shane Lee, Director of Nonviolence Training
• Lisa Pina-Warren, Director of Intervention Services

College Unbound - College Re-Imagined

Capacity 20 people

Location: MET High School, Black Box Theatre (325 Public Street, Providence RI, 02905)

College Unbound - College Re-Imagined



Come learn what a site based college for adult learners is all about. and join an interactive cohort. Participants will be the cohort members for the day and have an opportunity to hear from CU alums as they exhibit their CU core projects.

Co-organizers: 

• Jose Rodriguez, Assistant Vice President of Community and Belonging, College Unbound
• Karen Casper, Assistant Provost for Administration and Planning, College Unbound 

A Forgotten Neighborhood: The Resilient People of Smith Hill

Capacity 14 people

Location: Smith Hill Library (31 Candace St, Providence, RI 02908)

A Forgotten Neighborhood: The Resilient People of Smith Hill



All participants who attend this workshop will receive a high level breakdown of the incredible history of the Smith Hill neighborhood. From having the first African American settlement in Providence known as "Snowtown," to being a safe haven for Armenians and Lithuanians escaping genocide, to being the large mixing pot of ethnicities that live here today. Led by the Smith Hill Partners' Initiative (SHPI, participants will get an opportunity to meet leaders and hear legacy stories from one of Rhode Island's most forgotten neighborhoods.

Co-organizers: 

• Wole Akinbi, SHPI Co-Founder, half full llc.
• Alan Gunther, SHPI Co-Founder, Head Librarian at Smith Hill Library
• Keith Morton, Interim Executive Director, Nonviolence Institute

The Haus of Glitter

Capacity 25 people

Location: Esek Hopkins House + Park (also known as former home of The Haus of Glitter) (97 Admiral Street, Providence, RI 02908)

The Historical Intervention of The Former Home of Esek Hopkins, Commander of the slavery ship "Sally"



Whose history + herstory are we preserving? Whose humanity + wellness + care are we preserving? Join The Providence Preservation Society to learn about The Haus of Glitter Dance Company's ground-breaking creative historical intervention to heal + transform the racist national historic site dedicated to Esek Hopkins, commander of the slavery ship "Sally." Thanks to one-of-its-kind artist residency with the City of Providence, The Haus of Glitter lived in the former home of Esek Hopkins for 3 years as an endurance-based performance art piece; creative occupation; and embodied protest. Participants can expect to engage in the sites history and learn about The Haus of Glitter's work to pursue reparational + transformative justice through intersectional community-based creative wellness + cultural preservation programming; institutional advocacy + grassroots organizing; personal + familial + ancestral research and healing; and their now nationally touring mermaid activist dance opera!

Co-organizers: 

• The Haus of Glitter, Dance Company + Performance Lab + Preservation Society
• Providence Preservation Society

NOTE: This site visit is outdoors.

Radical Ris-ing: Risograph Poster Design Workshop

at Project Open Door Studio

Site Visit Full

Location: Project Open Door (POD) Studio (355 S. Water Street. Providence, RI)

Radical Ris-ing: Risograph Poster Design Workshop at Project Open Door Studio



What role has design, text, and image played in forming a MOVEMENT?Poster design and creation has a centuries-long history in organizing and activist spaces. Join RISD faculty member Courtnie Wolfgang (Teaching + Learning in Art + Design) for a workshop where participants will collaboratively draft and create a series of risograph prints articulating messages of protest, hope, and action. No previous experience in design or risograph printing is needed. Just curiosity and desire to create. 

Organizer:

• Courtnie N. Wolfgang, Associate Professor, Teaching + Learning in Art + Design, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

Site Visit is Full

Tigers and Portals

Capacity 25 people

Location: Joseph A Doorley Jr. Municipal Building (444 Westminster St, Providence, RI 02903)

Tigers and Portals

Many residents of Providence are surprised to learn that Empire Street was once the heart of Providence’s Chinatown, and that this familiar street was once a vibrant cultural center for Asian-American life. Seeing Providence Chinatown is part of a larger project led by Jeffrey Yoo Warren during his 2023 residency at the Library of Congress, which seeks to engage present day communities of color in re-connecting with histories of erased and destroyed enclaves through immersive and relational creative practices. Tigers & Portals seeks to create a warm, multisensory space of remembrance and connection with the community which made its home on Empire street between 1904-1914. In the spirit of “relational reconstruction,” we have worked with descendants of this community to integrate oral histories with archival research and VR reconstructions to create immersive experiences that reclaim space on the streets – outside of galleries, museums, and archives.

Co-organizers:

• Vic Xu - independent artist
• Vuthy Lay - handy person
• Jeffrey Yoo Warren - independent artist educator, Library of Congress Innovator in Residence

Reclaiming + Repatriating Land: Potumtuk

Capacity 25 people

Location: Potumtuk (Mt. Hope Farm) (250 Metacom Avenue Bristol, RI 02809)

Reclaiming + Repatriating Land: Potumtuk

Potumtuk is one of three sacred mountains for the Pokanoket Nation. “Potumtuk” translates to “lookout of the Pokanoket.” This location in modern-day Warren, Rhode Island is central to Pokanoket history, culture, and spirituality. It is the location of Metacom’s Seat (King Phillip’s Chair), from which generations of leaders presided. In 2017, the Pokanoket Nation reached an agreement with Brown University to transfer land back to the Nation, a process that is still underway today. This site-based presentation will be hosted by Sagamore Po Wauipi Neimpaug William Guy of the Pokanoket Nation, and Dr. Taino Palermo, legal director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples Rights, and will cover the history of the land, the various legal and policy disputes related to the repatriation process, and the development of the preservation land trust—all while walking on and embracing the ancestral lands of the Pokanoket. This site visit includes walking uneven ground outdoors as part of the experience and standing for portions of the presentation. 

Co-organizers:

• Sagamore Bill Guy, Pokanoket Nation
• Dr. Taino Palermo, Center for Indigenous Peoples Rights

NOTE: This site visit involves walking outdoors.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER: 

1. Site visit registration is now open through EventBrite (please do not email IA or site visit organizations to register).
2. Only registered IA Gathering participants are eligible to also register for a site visit.
3. Site visit capacity is limited and registration is available on a first come, first served basis. 
4. You may only register yourself for one site visit. 
5. All site visits take place on Saturday, October 21, from 3:00 - 5:30 PM. Round trip transportation is provided to the site visits from the Met School.

#IAGathering2023

The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world.

Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues.

By dreaming and building together in public, IA creates the conditions to shift culture and transform inequitable institutional and societal structures.