About Us – Rhode Island State Council on the Arts

RISCA staff members assist in navigating the FY22 fall grant application process

September 27, 2021September 28, 2021fayezuckerman

View the video of the fall grant workshop

Get your questions to staff prior to 6 p.m. on deadline day– October. 1. The portal closes at 11:59 p.m.

Click here to sign up for open office hours on Oct. 1.

Our helpful and friendly RISCA staff can assist you with your grant application needs. In addition, we are available to meet with you about your grant ideas. We are offering grant writing and budgeting workshops, drop-in hours and one on one meetings during August and September so you can meet our Oct. 1 deadline.

In addition to open office hours on Oct. 1, the staff is available for schedule meetings throughout the open granting period.

How to schedule a one-on-one meeting

Arts Access Grant

Todd Trebour, Organizations Program Director, will be holding one-on-one virtual meetings for nonprofit organizations interested in Arts Access Grants organizations. He will answer any questions you have about the grant program. He can also help you with the budget forms; review any specific answers you’ve written; or any other assistance you need with your grant application.

You can sign up for either a 30 minute or 1-hour meeting slot. To schedule a meeting with Todd, click here.

If none of the dates or times listed works for you, email Todd at todd.trebour@arts.ri.gov for alternate date or time.

Project Grants in Education and Individuals in Education

Maggie Anderson, Director of Arts In Education, will be holding one-on-one meetings for nonprofit organizations, artists and schools interested in Project Grants in Education for Individual.

For more information and to schedule a meeting to assist you with your grant application, email Maggie Anderson at Maggie.Anderson@arts.ri.gov.

Fellowships

Mollie Flanagan, Individual Artists Program Director, will be holding one-on-one virtual meetings for artists interested in fellowships for individual artists. She will be answering any questions you have about the grant program.

You can sign up for drop-in hours with Mollie. Here is a listing of Mollie’s meetings. Please sign up in advance for the following drop-in hours.

For office hours for Fellowships, please sign up in advance by clicking here.

Folk Arts Fellowships and Apprenticeships

Elena Calderón Patiño, Community Arts Program Director, will hold meetings for artists and culture organizations interested in folk arts. The folk arts are defined as those artistic practices which are community or family-based and express that community’s aesthetic heritage and tradition.

For more information and to schedule a meeting, contact Elena.Patino@arts.ri.gov.

Project Grants in Healthcare

For more information on Project Grants in Healthcare, contact Randall.Rosenbaum@arts.ri.gov.

Call for Artists for TF Green Airport and Block Island Airport

September 26, 2021September 27, 2021fayezuckerman

The GREEN SPACE Gallery at T.F. Green Airport and the gallery at Block Island Airport are accepting applications for artists to exhibit in their 2022 exhibitions. The galleries are a partnership between the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) and RISCA. It promotes outstanding work by artists living and working in Rhode Island. The spaces will present art to an ever-changing audience of local, national and international travelers.

Works in all media will be considered. Note: GREEN SPACE includes several large walls and open spaces that are particularly suitable for large-scale works, while the Block Island Airport Gallery is best suited for modestly sized artworks.

Eligibility: All participating artists must be RI residents. No students please.
Entry Deadline: October 10, 2021, at 11:59 p.m.
Selection: Artists will be selected for the 2022 exhibitions by a review panel that will include practicing artists, arts professionals and community members. Artists included in the 2022 exhibitions will receive a $300 stipend for participating in the program.

Note: Artists are encouraged to apply to the gallery, even if they have applied in previous years and not been selected. Artists who have exhibited previously are ineligible for new consideration for a period of two years.

GREEN SPACE selects nine artists to exhibit in three group shows per year. Block Island Airport Gallery hosts one-artist exhibitions four times per year.

If selected, artists agree to suitably frame, wire or otherwise prepare their artwork for display at their own expense. Artwork is hung at the gallery coordinator’s discretion, and the coordinator reserves the right of final selection of artwork and approval of installation. Artwork is not insured by the galleries during exhibition; artists are encouraged to carry their own insurance. Artwork may be listed for sale if desired, and any sales are direct without commission to the galleries.

To apply: follow these links:
TF Green Greenspace Gallery: https://forms.gle/SdFoTKX9fJEELUDs8
Block Island Airport Gallery: https://forms.gle/R7dSmXyidSMaupip8

To learn more about this opportunity and view photos of the exhibition space, please visit: https://risca.online/resources/airport-galleries/ and the Public Art Archive. To view the Public Archive, search on Rhode Island State Council on the Arts after clicking here.

Address any questions to Jeff Foye .

State Arts Council announces longtime Executive Director to retire at year’s end

September 23, 2021September 23, 2021fayezuckerman

Randall Rosenbaum served as the state’s arts advocate for nearly 3 decades

After 27 years of service as the leader of the RI State Council on the Arts (RISCA), Executive Director Randall Rosenbaum announced his retirement. He will serve until the end of 2021.

Rosenbaum has led the State’s Arts Council under five governors and is widely credited with building support for an arts sector that now contributes over $2 billion annually to the Rhode Island economy.

In thanking Rosenbaum for his service, Governor Dan McKee said: “Randy is a true professional, a passionate advocate for artists and organizations, and a determined champion for Rhode Island’s arts and culture sector. We wish him the best as he embarks on his next adventure. On behalf of the State of Rhode Island, I thank him for his lengthy service, especially during the pandemic, when Randy’s devotion and dedication to this important economic sector ensured that the hard-hit arts and cultural organizations and workers had the resources they needed to stay afloat.”

During his tenure, RISCA’s funding has increased by more than 800 percent. He expanded programs for individual artists, nonprofit arts organizations, schools and teaching artists and created the Cultural Facilities Grant program that received $30 million in bond support. He forged strong partnerships with federal, state and private entities, including the RI Department of Environmental Management, Department of Education, the State Department of Health and the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism. Nearly 70 works of public art were commissioned for state facilities during his time at RISCA.

In addition, he established public galleries in the state’s main Administration building, and TF Green International and Block Island airports, and programs honoring the cultural diversity of our state, all of which continue to this day. RISCA took charge of commissioning official portraits for all governors since Lincoln Almond, and acquired work by contemporary Rhode Island artists for display in state offices.

In 2004, Rosenbaum brought the Rhode Island Film and Television Office into the Arts Council and hired Steven Feinberg as its executive director. The Film Office has gone on to attract many world-class feature films and television productions to the Ocean State, adding to the excitement of life in Rhode Island, and contributing jobs and resources to communities throughout our state.

Following the passage of its most recent Strategic Plan, RISCA, under Rosenbaum’s leadership, has established values-based programming. The Plan ensures equity and inclusion for the arts and culture community through its funding and professional development programs.

Rosenbaum, reflecting on close to three decades as director of the State Arts Council, said that his proudest moments came when he was able to experience firsthand the remarkable talent of the Rhode Island arts community. “We are blessed with some of the greatest artistic talent in the world here in Rhode Island,” Rosenbaum said. “Traditional artists, master weavers, painters, theater artists, writers, photographers, musicians, dancers, and so on — Rhode Island has it all. It has been an honor to support their work over these past 27 years.”

Rosenbaum came to Rhode Island in 1995 after 10 years as Deputy Director of Pennsylvania State Council on the Arts. Before that he managed orchestras in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Cleveland, Ohio.

The Arts Council board will be announcing the search for a new executive director shortly.