Who Are We Now? Downcity Portraits

This project is a work in progress. It's about conversation, the unfinished conversation -- conversation that continues to grow regardless of intent. It's about discourse -- the flow, shaping and development of ideas between, amongst and across groups of people. It's about Providence. It's about us.

Over the past decade, Providence's downtown, downcity neighborhood has undergone a radical transformation. Once the State's center of retail, financial and government business, the neighborhood declined in the 1970s -- resulting in abandoned streets, empty stores and a flight of corporations and government offices to cheaper suburban areas. In the 1980s city leaders took steps to reverse the trend and, by the mid-1990s Downcity began to grow in new ways. Today, Downcity stands as a new neighborhood -- mixing its vibrant, revived retail history with a new residential purpose. Johnson &Wales University and Rhode Island School of Design have brought students into the neighborhood. New businesses are growing along the streetscape. Cultural events bring people from across Rhode Island to the neighborhood with regularity. It continues to be a crossroads for Rhode Island.

Historically, the neighborhood has been a meeting place for the people of Rhode Island -- providing services and serving as a transportation hub regardless of economic class, family history or social status. In the words of theater producer, Oskar Eustice, Downcity was Rhode Island's crucible of democracy.

Is this still true? Are we today interested in meeting our neighbors? Is Downcity still a place where people of different experience might encounter one another and engage in dialogue? Is Downcity still a democratic commons for the people of Rhode Island? Or has it become a private neighborhood? Is it something that we cannot yet name?

City Portraits, City Stories
This project is about asking who we are today. If Downcity is the symbolic public commons of Rhode Island should it not reflect the character of the State? Might we not learn something about Rhode Island by stopping, looking and listening? Might we not create some new understanding by conversing across difference?

This project is about seeing and being heard. How does the presence of diverse people build a robust community? Who is it that we see in the community? Who is it that we listen to? How do looking and listening across difference help us to better understand the complexity of our world?

This project is about building dialogue. Those who use, work, live and hang out Downcity have opinions about what's happening here and perspectives about the past and the future. By seeing a reflection of who we are and what we think, this project believes that new dialogue may emerge.

Making Portraits, Listening to Stories
Over the next year, RISD's Office of Public Engagement will sponsor the creation of portraits across the Greater Downcity Area. Working with community groups, like Youth Pride, Inc. and New Urban Arts, RISD students and faculty will engage those who live work and visit Downcity in a conversation -- asking for a portrait and a story from each person with whom we speak.

As we collect these portraits, we will begin to seek permission to install the work where others might be able to see, read and listen to a reflection of the vibrant character of the neighborhood and the city today. In addition to public exhibition, these portraits and stories will be digitally archived.

To become involved with this project, contact the Office of Public Engagement – phocking@risd.edu