Arts “Pioneering” Continues At 2nd Industrial Ball

What is it about old buildings, dilapidated streets and the faded memories of child workers that gets artists and designers so excited at ?

Cara Blaine, Green Design Studio Director, explains, “When I think of the Industrial Revolution, I think of billowing black smoke rising out of smoke stacks and pallid children never seeing the light of day. So to see an old space transformed by the brilliant artwork of our talented youth, and by the bling that we can’t help ourselves from creating wherever we go, reminds me how things are always changing.”

“It is a different world for kids today,” adds Executive Director Rebekah Speck, “yet kids today face enormous challenges too, not unlike the social factors that led so many to work in the mills. Most of our kids come to RiverzEdge because they need a job or because they are failing in school, but it helps all of us, teens included, to remember hard times passed and use those memories to transform life as we know it today."

"Of course,” adds Speck playfully, “we like to take the past, paint it, screenprint it, put something fluffy on it, and then sell it at auction for a better future!”

Hearkening to the entrepreneurial aspect of work at RiverzEdge is entirely to the point of the . The RiverzEdge crew believes that if the 19^th Century was the era of economic and technical advancement  through mass production and innovation in the mills, then the 21^st is portending an Artistic Revolution, where creativity, good design and thinking outside the box incubate new abilities to solve local and global problems. If the young artists at RiverzEdge had their way, every single youth who walks through the door would ultimately find a job in the creative sector and use art to make the world a better place.

Long time Program Director and well-known artist, Brad Fesmire, puts it in simple terms. “We like to have parties in big old industrial buildings, because we are in the arts and design industry. We help our clients and communities do things like distribute resources where needed, create better and more beautiful and appropriate places to live, and get access to healthy food. The Industrial Ball is just good, inventive fun for a cause. Where else are you going to find fighting marionettes and belt sander races but a big old mill? You think we could do what we do at a hotel?”  

For those who want to know more about RiverzEdge Arts Project, who want to meet the arts industry “pioneers” who work there, or who just want to have some really good industrial fun, the Industrial Ball is on Friday, October 14^th from 7 to 10 p.m. at the old Porino’s factory at 280 Rand Street in Central Falls. With “foodart” from Russell Morin Caterers, music from Extraordinary Rendition Band and DJ Unkle Thirsty, and the unique array of fun-for-all and all-for-fun activities that RiverzEdge provides, the good that comes from this event for teens is priceless. For $50 ($25 if you take a tour of RiverzEdge), you can help in the group's efforts to make a new world. Tickets can be purchased on-line at http://www.riverzedgearts.org/news/ball2011.html, and tours can be arranged by calling 401-767-2100. 

Sponsors for the event include Citizens Bank, National Grid, Veolia Water, Russell Morin Caterers, Urban Smart Growth, Providence Phoenix and GoLocalProv.

Press release written by Rebekah Greenwald Speck, Executive Director of RiverzEdge Arts Project with editing by Sandy Phaneuf.