Dear Friends,
For 18 months our building has been undergoing an extraordinary transformation. For almost that long we’ve been planning a series of events to welcome everyone back for PPL’s grand reopening. Everything would have started Monday. This message would have been an invitation to gather with us at the Library to celebrate a new beginning.
Instead, we’re not at the Library. Monday won’t be our reopening day. Gathering is not an option. But after these few dazed, anxious weeks, I’m starting to understand that what we’re all living through right now
is
a new beginning -- it’s just not the one we planned for. And because it’s not the one we planned for, we’re uncertain about what we can expect -- in any realm of our lives, whether health, safety, relationships, housing, finances, work, even recreation. And we are all dealing with various degrees of uncertainty, and we each tolerate uncertainty differently.
Over the past couple of weeks, PPL’s new Events Coordinator
Janaya Kizzie
(who recently wrapped up her tenure as the Rhode Island Arts and Culture Research Fellow) and I have been checking in with one another to share what we’ve been reading and hearing about the ways people across our community and within the wider world are dealing with this crisis. We noticed an immediate pouring forth of online resources, opportunities to connect virtually, and new ways to think about the inventories already at our disposal -- everything from using the pantry staples we have at home before going to the store, to assessing our specialized skills and offering them to those in need.
We also noticed deep anxieties about living with a combination of relentless uncertainty, intermittent productivity, and great potential loss of creativity due to isolation.
So as we considered how PPL might re-imagine our programming to both reflect and work within the perimeters of this new reality, we inventoried the assets we already have, and thought about how best to share them. Among PPL’s great resources is our cadre of
Creative Fellows
, six artists and creators who have each worked on a long-term, original project within our Special Collections, generating new meanings for these collections and bringing them to new audiences. As we thought about the Fellows, we realized that artists and creators are not only comfortable with uncertainty, but often seek it, and that most of them spend at least part of their creative process in periods of solitude and reflection, during which no “product” immediately results. We decided to ask them to teach us about their practice, and were thrilled when they all said yes.
So during the month of April we’ll be featuring presentations by
Laura Brown-Lavoie
,
Becci Davis
,
Kelly Eriksen
,
Keri King
,
Walker Mettling
, and
Micah Salkind
that focus on how uncertainty, solitude, reflection, and fluctuations of productivity function within their creative processes. We can't change what's happening in this period of instability, but maybe with the help of some creative practitioners we can gain new ways to respond to its challenges. The presentation formats and exact schedule are in process, so we don't have details yet. But in the most hopeful spirit of possibility in this charged moment, we look forward to the beginning of a new month, with new offerings - despite our uncertainty about the specifics. We’ll keep you posted.
Thank you for reading, please be well - and don’t forget to wash your hands.
Christina Bevilacqua
Programs & Exhibitions Director
P.S. While PPL’s building is not open, there is activity galore in every department of the Library - read all about our host of resources, opportunities, and suggestions for activities, no matter your age or area of interest,
here.
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