PVDFest Returns to the Creative Capital for 2019

PVDFest brings four days of art, culture, music, entertainment and much more to the streets of Providence, June 6-9, 2019

PROVIDENCE, RI – The City of Providence announced that PVDFest, the City’s signature arts festival, will return for a fifth year June 6-9, 2019. As it has in the past, PVDFest will transform downtown Providence into a global celebration of art, music, food, performance and more.

“All around downtown, entertainers performed, artists sold their crafts and various groups hosted interactive activities for kids,” wrote the Providence Journal as they recapped last year’s festival. They went on to quote festival attendee Christina Price, of Warwick, “It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, it’s pretty inclusive. There’s something for the old, the young, black, white, everybody.”

Building on the success of the past four festivals, PVDFest will continue to connect the city’s rich local arts community with talent from all over the world. The festival will turn downtown Providence into a hub of creativity where hundreds of thousands of visitors participate actively in making the experience. As in years past, PVDFest is an opportunity for Providence to celebrate the varied cultural communities that drive innovation in the Creative Capital.

“There’s nothing like this,” said Matt Schwetz, of Attleborough told NBC10 News (WJAR). “You don’t get this everywhere. If you go to New York City, or someplace huge, you’re not gonna get this.”

For the past two years, the festival has opened with the PVDFest: Ideas Conference, an event that brings together scholars, artists, and designers to ask big questions that will shape the future of the creative sector. In year one conference attendees focused on the concept of “making” and the maker movement and last year devoted their attention to the idea of the “smart city.” The theme of PVDFest: Ideas 2019 will be announced in the coming months.

Following the opening ideas conference, PVDFest works with a variety of local curators who showcase a wide range of visual art, food, live music, and cultural presentations. Attendees can always expect to find events and activities of all genres suitable for all ages.

Each year the festival presents immersive signature works, like 2017’s #PVDPublicCanvas Project with Oakland’s BANDALOOP dancers and local spoken word artist Christopher Johnson, who descended from the roof of a building and danced on its facade. Other memorable spectacles produced by founding creative partner FirstWorks have featured enormous dinosaur puppets roaming the streets, a parade of double-decker human-powered bicycles, and a participatory LED-umbrella dance party. The festival’s first year included the transformation of Providence’s iconic Industrial Trust “Superman” building into a monumental musical instrument with William Close and the Earth Harp Collective.

While these unforgettable spectacles anchor PVDFest each year, over a dozen PVDFest stages, temporary public art and dance parties host local performers, artisan vendors and an international food village make it a celebration of the Creative Capital. Participating local artist, Joel Tapia, described the festival to NBC10 News WJAR as “a platform for culture, and art and creativity.”

All are welcome to connect with festival staff to express interest in performing, creating, and selling at PVDFest. The Request for Qualifications for PVDFest public art is now open as well as submissions for food vending. Musicians, artists, vendors and creative minds of all kinds are encouraged to visit www.pvdfest.com for more information leading up to the festival.