WaterFire Providence

Providence is dying. You know that I'm the first to be a champion for Providence, but love means being honest, especially when it's hard. As thrilling as it feels to have coverage in Vogue, it's a thin veneer on the reality that the people and organizations who have made it newsworthy are either struggling, or wiped away. While marketing boasts Providence as "The Creative Capital" it's a title that is less and less earned by the day. These are not feelings, these are facts demonstrated by (in)action. WaterFire Providence, the reason I moved to Providence, is being undervalued and undercut by those who have leveraged its magic to draw people in as highlighted in the recent Boston Globe Media article. Rhode Island Monthly highlighted how the RI House Finance Committee made an active choice to not fund a proposed RI Creative Futures Fund for arts and culture nonprofits that would provide direct support. Maria Tocco and the Providence Flea's visionary idea of turning green space near the destination worthy pedestrian bridge into a community centered open-air pavilion was pushed aside for (yet another) luxury housing unit. Adam E. Anderson's inspiring field of 10,000 Suns was halted years ago to make room for (yet another) luxury housing unit that hasn't even started construction, leaving us with a vacant field. The list goes on. The reality is that in a capitalist focused society, progress is determined by power, and in this case money = power. And when those in power don't see value in art and community, we feel stuck on the sidelines and watch things crumble away. I don't have a solution. But we need one. So many, including myself, dedicate their time, energy, and spirit to working within the system to make magic real. But it's clear that it's not enough. Something needs to change before Providence seals its fate as another soulless Anytown, USA.

First the pandemic, then the Washington Bridge and the perception that crime is rampant on Providence's empty streets (which is NOT true BTW but people's perception is their reality) is hurting small businesses downtown as reported in this piece. My organization, WaterFire Providence, recently was an integral part of 2 bills before the RI General Assembly that would have increased the State's annual investment in our event. That would have allowed us to increase the number of lightings we could produce this year and actually help sustain us during these very challenging times. Both of these initiatives failed but not for the lack of the sector putting its heart and soul into trying or the great public support. In a typical pre-pandemic year, approximately 1,000,000 visitors come to Providence to experience WaterFire with 60% coming from out of state and more than 20% coming from outside the USA. About 15% of our visitors come specifically to experience WaterFire. All of these visitors engage in activities that creates over $150,000,000 in economic output each year which generates over $12,000,000 in direct tax revenue for the State of RI and supports more than 1,300 jobs in local businesses for community residents. Over the past 29 years, WaterFire has a proven track record of being a significant net revenue generator for the State of RI producing returns that even Warren Buffett would blush at. For transparency's sake, WaterFire receives a RI State Designated grant of $400,000 which has been the same for about a decade during a time when cumulative inflation has been recorded at 33%. Over this same period, RI's economy has been stagnant and the business climate moribund so WaterFire's primary source of revenue has been in steady decline. With respect to the linked article, if WaterFire Providence had received additional State funding to sustain us we could have increased the number of events we could do this year and that would have drawn hundreds of thousands of additional visitors to downtown Providence who would have stayed in our hotels, eaten in our restaurants (like Circe Providence in this article), shopped in our shops and boosted our important tourism economy in many other ways. At some point, hopefully before it's too late, Rhode Island's elected officials will understand that WaterFire, and lots of the other arts and culture assets in the Creative Capital and across the Ocean State, creates #Art4Impact that helps drive the economy. While supporting art for arts sake is absolutely worthy in and of itself, we know better than to advance that as a reason for investment. But many other States and communities get that #ArtMeansBusiness. Sadly, RI and Providence do not. Nobody should be surprised when the sun sets on the Creative Capital.

🌟 Exciting Event Alert! 🌟 Join us on W, April 24th for FountainHead RI's inaugural in-person event of the year - the first-ever Rhode Island Climate Stocktake! FHRI's Climate Stocktake will be held at the beautiful WaterFire Arts Center, located in Providence, RI. This event promises insightful evening sessions delving into #global and #local #energy transition discussions, covering #entrepreneurship, #venturecapital, #infrastructure #investing, and post-COP28 insights. Learn from RI's remarkable progress in clean energy and connect with leaders in #decarbonization. Our esteemed lineup of speakers includes RI Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi, Energy Commissioner, Chris Kearns, Kerry Constabile, Chair of Gold Standard's Energy Advisory Committee, and former Head of Sustainability Strategy for Google. Guiding the discussions will be key moderator Paul Ellis from the Sustainable Finance Podcast, along with insights from Pete Schork on major trends emerging across the VC landscape and areas of prioritization, along with Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management RIDEM's Terry Gray. Recently added speakers also will include State of RI General Assembly's Deputy Majority Leader, Lauren Carson, Steven M. Rothstein, Managing Director at Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, and Scott Donachie, CEO of Companies For Net Zero. Thank you to our incredible sponsors for helping to make this event possible: - 2024 Year-long Silver Level Partner, Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP - 2024 Year-long Bronze Level Partners, The Washington Trust Company and BankNewport - Special Event Sponsors, Grain Ecosystem, Colossal, LLC, Constellation, HyperStrong, Powermers Smart Industries, Inc., and EV Connect Don't miss this opportunity to engage with industry experts and contribute to RI's sustainable future! Rhode Island Commerce Melissa Travis Jason E. Dodier David Almonte, CPA, CGMA 1BusinessWorld Stelios Hatzakis Jonathan Ter Meer Schneider Electric Tuni Schartner Siu-Li Khoe Benjamin Sorkin Danny Warshay Department of Administration State of Rhode Island Rhode Island Foundation Oscar Mejias RHODE ISLAND HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Bryant University Brown University Sabina Matos https://lnkd.in/eC37CsEJ