This growing festival, now in its 4th year, brings over 100 vendors to Westminster Street selling handmade jewelry, paper goods, ceramics, photography, clothing, baby gifts, handbags, toys and more. Take your time browsing while you enjoy live music and food from local favorites.

We encourage you to take the bus or walk downtown, but if you’re driving, visit parkdowntownprovidence.com for ideas about where to park. Remember: meters are now fully enforced on Saturdays!

John describes downtown’s improvements as ‘a slow, quiet build’ instead of a ‘sudden burst,’ recognizing that despite economic challenges, new apartments, restaurants, and boutiques have breathed life into the neighborhood.

Highlights include: 

• The market for more residential projects. The Arcade will soon reopen with 48 micro-lofts on the second and third floors, and the old Providence Gas building on is undergoing a residential conversion.

• The economic impact of new companies. 38 Studios has brought 280 new employees to the area, and Hasbro is leasing space while it prepares for its move to 15 LaSalle Square. 

• The opening of a new restaurant, The Dorrance. People now have the chance to enjoy a beautiful historic space that was previously only open for private events.

• Greater Kennedy Plaza’s receipt of a $200,000 ‘Our Town’ grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. These funds will help to bring new programming to the park and create a central hub for activity. 

• Improvements to circulation patterns. Empire and Weybosset are now open to two-way traffic; a downtown wayfinding project is in the planning stages; and the area around the train station will be redesigned. 

• An enhanced parking experience. Visitors can follow new parking signage; they have different payment options at meters; and they can use the new website, parkdowntownprovidence.com, that provides information about on-street spaces and private lots.

While John writes that “downtown boasts plenty of amenities, with more on the way,” he acknowledges that many people still don’t know what’s happening here. With this article, downtown can no longer be considered a well-kept secret. Now read the article, support downtown businesses, and help us spread the word!

Best known for his celebrated hit, Don’t Worry, Be Happy, the ten-time Grammy Award winner has sold over twenty million albums. With his skill for playfully sparking audience participation, McFerrin has carved out a unique place in contemporary vocal performance. 

The Los Angeles Times writes, “Bobby McFerrin’s greatest gift to his audience may be changing them from spectators into celebrants and transforming a concert hall into a playground, a village center, a joyous space.”

With a comedian’s sense of timing, an unrestrained zany streak, and an infectious love of every genre of music, McFerrin creates a new kind of concert—not a “performance” but a communal sharing and celebration of music. For his FirstWorks concert, Bobby invites special guests bassist Jeff Carney and pianist Dan Nagel to the stage. 

FirstWorks is a non‐profit arts organization committed to the power of firsts in the arts to transform community. Beginning with an unprecedented collaboration with Providence’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, FirstWorks has produced 22 groundbreaking arts festivals, attracted more than 98,000 participants, presented over 345 international artists and innovators, engaged more than 100 nonprofit community organizations and schools, and grown into a multidimensional arts organization recognized with 13 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants.

The Wickford Junction Train Station, located at 1011 Ten Rod Road in North Kingstown, was designed and built through a public/private partnership between RIDOT and the developers. Construction started in September 2010, and the project was completed in March through a $25 million contract with Manafort Brothers, Inc. The station now has a coffee shop, an indoor waiting area, and heated bathrooms, along with seating and covered areas along the 848-foot platform. The 4-story parking garage can accommodate 1,100 cars and has 10 charging stations for electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Parking will cost $4 per day, and monthly rates are available. 

The facility extends commuter rail service using the MBTA Providence-Stoughton line and is also linked to Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) bus service. As one of the key components of the South County Commuter Rail expansion, the new service should help to alleviate peak hour congestion by getting vehicles off the highway, specifically the Route 4/I-95 corridor. MBTA now offers commuters 20 trips per day, Monday through Friday, including 4 peak morning trains through Providence into Boston. Seven trains return from Boston to Wickford Junction each day, including four after 4 PM. Travel time from Wickford to Warwick will be about 15 minutes, Wickford to Providence is about 35 minutes, and it’s less than two hours from Wickford to Boston’s South Station. For a complete schedule, visit the MBTA website. You may download a pdf here.

Fares vary according to destination. The cost of travel between Wickford Junction and Providence, an Interzone 3 fare, will cost $2.50 each way ($3.25 starting July 1st). Travel between Wickford Junction and Boston’s South Station, a Zone 10 fare, will cost $9 each way ($11 starting July 1st). Unlimited monthly passes are also available ranging from $89 ($109 starting July 1st) for travel between Wickford Junction and Providence, to $308 ($345 starting July 1st) for travel between Wickford Junction and South Station.

 Photo: courtesy of RIDOT.

Come to Providence, one of the 5 cities selected to hold open call auditions for Season Two! 

The X FACTOR is searching for the best new solo artists and vocal groups in the country. Auditions are open to ALL of America, ages 12 and up with no upper age limit (subject to full eligibility requirements). And now, artists with pre-existing management contracts can also audition. 

Registration in Providence will take place on Wednesday, May 9th at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Auditions will be held the next day, on Thursday, May 10th. Additional registration details and line-up procedures are to be announced. 

If you have undiscovered talent but you can’t make it to Providence, you can also audition online until April 27th. Visit the website for FAQs, registration and audition rules, and other forms. 

THE X FACTOR Season Two winner will receive a $5 million recording contract with Sony Music. Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid will return as judges to THE X FACTOR this fall on FOX. Additional judges are to be announced.

For up to date announcements from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, become a Facebook fan or follow on Twitter.

The Our Town grant supports an unprecedented collaboration between 17 arts and business partners to transform Greater Kennedy Plaza into a vibrant arts and cultural destination. According to the mayor, the goal is to “make Kennedy Plaza a more special place than it already it is. Great things are coming our way, and Kennedy Plaza is just one part of it.” As Senator Whitehouse said, “this could be one of the coolest places around.” He acknowledged that the plaza has always been a bit underutilized, and he encouraged everyone to imagine the park filled with kids, sculptures, tables, umbrellas, art shows, and bus activities.

After beginning to focus on the area in 2006, the Greater Kennedy Plaza working group expanded in 2008, with RIPTA, the city, the education department, and the police department taking active roles. Nonprofit planning organization Project for Public Spaces led a community workshop, encouraging the group to think about programming, design and linkages. That summer, Deb Dormody was hired as the first Kennedy Plaza program manager. 

Since then, the group has made tremendous progress, bringing high quality public programming to the park and adding new amenities such as cafe tables, benches and plantings. They have fostered events like the Bolivian festival and the street painting festival and have worked with artists on special site-specific programs like a month-long tape art installation. They have also created their own programs like Noon Tunes and the Beer Garden Music Series, and introduced transformative children’s programs like weekly storytelling. Kennedy Plaza has also been home to the downtown farmers’ market for several years, and it’s become a major destination for food trucks. 

The Greater Kennedy Plaza Coalition now has an executive director, Cliff Wood, along with a board of directors. Since last summer, the coalition has worked with the City of Providence Department of Art Culture + Tourism and FirstWorks to lay the groundwork for the 2012 season. The NEA grant will allow the group to bring in larger cultural partners and to focus on design and community engagement. 

More details on programming will be announced soon. Public art projects will begin this spring, the summer music and family programming will kick off in late June, and a fall festival will follow in September.

The Our Town partners are: AS220; Citizens Bank; CityArts for Youth; Coalition for Community Development; City of Providence, Department of Parks and Recreation; Department of Planning and Development; Department of Art, Culture + Tourism; Downtown Improvement District; FirstWorks; Festival Ballet; Greater Kennedy Plaza; National Endowment for the Arts; Project for Public Spaces; Providence Foundation; Rhode Island School of Design; Rhode Island Public Transit Authority; The Steel Yard; Trinity Repertory Company and WaterFire. 

For more information, visit: kennedyplaza.org. 

• Saturday, May 26th
• Saturday, June 9th
• Saturday, June 23rd*
• Saturday, July 21st*
• Saturday, August 18th*
• Saturday, September 15th*
• Saturday, September 29th

Basin fires are also planned for Saturday, April 21st; Monday, May 21st; and Friday, June 1st. On those nights, a circle of 20 braziers in the Waterplace Park will be lit, along with 5 braziers leading up to Providence Place.

Since the mid-1990s, WaterFire has inspired more than ten million visitors by combining sparking bonfires with the sound of enchanting music and the scent of wood smoke. Just honored with the 2012 New England Travel Readers’ Choice Award for Best New England Festival or Event, WaterFire truly brings the Providence waterfront to life. Experience it for yourself!

*On these dates, the plaza at the intersection of Westminster and Weybosset will be filled with musicians and dancers. Get ready to dance at the TD Bank Ballroom in front of the Turks Head Building!

Prefer your food with a spicy kick? You’ll have plenty of tacos to pick from. Mijos Tacos and Poco Loco food trucks will be on site, while Gracie’s and tazza caffe will be cooking outdoors. Just a block away, Aspire Seasonal Kitchen will have a special Cinco de Mayo menu in its gorgeous courtyard at the Hotel Providence.

Don’t fret when the party ends. Westminster Street has plenty of festivities planned throughout the summer including the Providence Art Festival on June 2nd. More details will follow soon!

From April 1st-10th, you may vote for the People’s Choice award on the Providence Place website. You may “Like” one of the sculptures that will be posted on Facebook, or you can e-mail your vote (along with your name and age). One of the voters will be randomly selected to win a $100 mall gift card, so you’ll definitely want to participate!

The sculptures will remain on display for two weeks until their “de-canstruction.” On April 14th, more than 20,000 canned goods will be delivered to the The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which serves more than 60,000 people each month. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Schiff has said, ”This impressive project serves as a reminder that the problem of hunger is close to home, affecting every community in Rhode Island.”

This is the fourth Canstruction®RI event, initiated by the American Institute of Architects, Rhode Island Chapter (AIAri) as part of the Society of Design Administration’s international Canstruction® community service project. Providence-based competitors include Dimeo Construction Co.; Vision 3 Architects; Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels, Inc.; GTECH; Gilbane; Shawmut Construction Co.; Michael Warner Architect; and the Young Constructors Forum of the RI Associated General Contractors. Awards will be presented at a gala event on Thursday April 12th for categories including Jurors’ Favorite, Best Use of Labels, Structural Ingenuity, Best Meal, Honorable Mentions, and of course, the People’s Choice. Photos of the winning sculptures will be submitted for the international Canstruction® competition.

There are plenty of ways to get involved. Watch the Canstruction® in action, vote for your favorite, and help to solve the growing hunger epidemic by supporting the food bank in other ways.

 Photo: castle created for 2010 competition.

Experience Gallery Night, a free introduction to the city’s cutting edge arts scene! From March through November on the third Thursday, 25 Providence galleries, museums and historic sites stay open from 5-9 pm. Walk, bike, or take the art bus for a guided tour, starting at Regency Plaza.

On March 15th, see what’s new at the participating downtown galleries:

• AIAri will show its 2011 Design Award winners at its Windows on Architecture gallery space. 158 Washington Street.
• BankRI Gallery will feature guitar music by Mark Armstrong at a reception from 5 to 8:30 pm. The current exhibit, “Photographs by Lyubov Boguk,” runs through April 4th. One Turks Head Place.
• Copacetic Rudely Elegant Jewelry carries jewelry and clocks from 120 different artists, including 30 who are local. 17 Peck Street.
• The RISD Museumof Art has plenty of offerings!  From 6-8 pm, ceate your own art in the ancient art galleries with the guidance
  of Museum Educator Paul Carpentier. From 6:30-8 pm, hear Pablo Helguera, the Director of Adult and Academic Programs at MoMA, share his experience with socially engaged art. And make sure to see internationally acclaimed artist Spencer Finch’s expansive, site-specific new installation—also titled Painting Air—that recalls his recent visit to Monet’s water garden in Giverny, France. 20 North Main Street.
• URI Feinstein Campus Gallery has a concert along with its show Madolin Maxey & Friends: The Landscape of Friendship Exhibit. On the first floor, you’ll see Madolin Maxey’s one person show of expansive landscapes, and on the second floor, she has curated a group show featuring new works by Ruth Dealy, Ida Schmulowitz, Paula Martiesian & Richard Harrington. 80 Washington Street.

For info about galleries in neighborhoods throughout the city, visit gallerynight.info or call (401) 490-2042. Future dates are April 19th, May 17th, June 21st, July 19th, August 16th, September 20th, October 18th, and November 15th.