(bright energetic music) (bright energetic music fades) - Good evening, and welcome to "Generation Rising."

I'm Anaridis Rodriguez.

Tonight, we're excited to dive into the rich world of Providence's art scene with The Avenue Concept and their new executive director, Tracy Jonsson-Laboy.

Joining her is TAC Board Chair Jamie Coelho.

And Kendel Joseph, a local artist, who is also part of The Avenue Concept team.

Tracy, Jamie, Kendel, thank you so much for being here with us.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for having us.

- Tracy, you're relatively new to the team.

You were appointed executive director not too long ago.

Tell us about this new transition for you, because you were living overseas.

- That's correct, yeah.

Super exciting to be back in Rhode Island.

I did spend the last three years in Sweden, where I grew up, and I'm half Swedish.

So previous to that, I did live in Rhode Island, both in Providence and in Newport.

And it's been an exciting time to be back.

The Avenue Concept actually invited me back to Rhode Island, and I have just been here for about three months now.

So my transition has been pretty lovely.

And we're just diving into the nitty gritty of the work that The Avenue Concept really focuses on, so.

- What drew you back to Rhode Island?

- Well, I was previously running another nonprofit, an arts nonprofit, and I've been an artist participating in the community of Providence in particular previous to this.

So it was really a return home for me.

Rhode Island has an amazing community of artists and arts organizations that are all kind of building towards the same thing for the state and for the community.

So it was a no brainer to come back when I was invited, so.

- Jamie, you've been part of the organization for quite some time, and you were part of the search team in looking for a transition in the organization.

Tell us about that process, why you chose Tracy, and tell us a little bit also about The Avenue Concept.

- Sure, so I first learned about The Avenue Concept through my regular job as editor of "Rhode Island Monthly" magazine.

So in the beginning, I started writing about all the beautiful public art murals and sculptures throughout the city.

And I really got to know the former executive director, Yarrow Thorne, who is a visionary.

This was his idea, to bring public art to Providence and to paint the walls of the city to make it more of a landmark visually for both our residents and also for people who come to the city and enjoy it.

And now I feel like all of these murals are just synonymous with the landscape of Providence.

So initially, I started writing about it, interviewing artists, being really involved in arts and culture in the city, that eventually I posted enough Instagram pictures where they were like, "Okay, would you be interested in joining our board?"

And that was 2020, and it was right before the pandemic hit.

It was my first board position.

And I was asked by Yarrow and the former board chair, and I said yes right away.

I didn't know what it involved, but basically I was already doing it by being a promoter of this beautiful work that they have done.

So I became the board chair two years ago about, and that was about 2023.

And during that time, Yarrow was still very involved, Yarrow Thorne, but about a year into my position as board chair, he began to tell us that he really was thinking it was time for him to transition out of that role and to bring in some new talent.

So we began an executive search committee and worked with an outside consulting company to find candidates who would be the best fit for that role.

And Tracy was one of those candidates who applied.

And right away, we were so impressed by her involvement in Newport's art scene and in historic preservation.

And all of those things came hand-in-hand with her talents and her passion.

And when we met her in person, it was just like a great fit right off the bat.

We knew she could, if anyone could replace Yarrow, he's irreplaceable, but Tracy was definitely the best fit to bring it to the next level.

- Yeah, those are big shoes to fill.

- [Tracy] Yes.

(laughs) - This year alone, TAC, as it's known, has worked to unveil five murals in Rhode Island, adding to, as you said, the public art that just seems to be everywhere nowadays and brings a smile to my face as someone who lives in Providence.

Kendel, you're part of the team who collaborates with the artists that are creating these public works of art.

How do you envision public art and its intersection with fostering community engagement?

Why is it important to you to have that accessible to others?

- Well, I think it really does sort of build that foundational element for youth, for, you know, underserviced communities that we do have in Providence.

Being someone who was born and raised here, I've also gone through the rungs of climbing to create large-scale murals.

And I think, you know, the way that we engage with international, local artists creates that pipeline between the two different communities, right, which I benefited from myself.

- Yeah, what do you think about that, Tracy, and what's your intention when trying to foster a connection between the community and public art?

- Well, public art always serves communities in the way that it creates nodes for communities to gather around and converse.

It's in our mission to create dialogue, and we're in a critical time where both dialogue and tolerance are big topics.

So of course, increasing public art opportunities and, let's say, moments for people to converse, that is the role of public art and artists that create those pieces.

As it relates to the actual need for it in our community, Providence-wise, we have an incredibly rich community of artists who are practicing many different mediums.

And as Kendel just mentioned, we are trying to connect them to these international opportunities to showcase their works.

But, you know, we're also creating local events around the pieces that are, we call them activations, where we're also inviting in local performance artists, poets, other types of mediums that, you know, aren't that that time-based, that we can have up all the time, and invite them to kind of create these collaborative moments for the whole community to gather around these pieces.

So we also have our other programming at our headquarters that invite community members to explore their own process.

We call them Can Jams.

Kendel can maybe speak a little bit more to that point.

It's a wonderful program that we have, as well as we're creating other more tangible ways to create this, what we call a pipeline, from being an artist practitioner in the community to really foster the skill sets that it takes to become a business person in the art world.

Because these large-scale murals are actually a very tangible way that artists are creating visibility for, both in their topics and the actual subjects of the work, creating visibility for underserved communities, you know, countering erasure, you know, depicting inclusionary, like, you know, just all the things that we need to talk about are coming up in the pieces that we're producing.

And so just to underline that The Avenue Concept is really proud of facilitating the artist's work of underlining, emphasizing, bringing forward, in joy, these topics that are tough for society to talk about, and then we can gather around those and have dialogue around it.

That's how I like to see it, and that's how I like to interpret the role of the artist as a very important member of society.

So that's a long answer, but I'm sticking to it.

(laughs) - No, no, we appreciate long answers here.

- [Tracy] Okay, awesome.

- We want the context.

I wanna get to how you find the artists first, but I know your particular role is working with them, Kendel.

How do you collab, tell us about your process of collaborating with them and making sure they understand the community that they're coming to, you know, create something in.

- Yeah, I mean, there are many different ways to go about it.

A large portion of the work is from the artist.

We wanna have that very authentic voice and where we only inform them on the material and content that will fill that mural, right.

So, you know, I really think it's with research into the history of where you're going is like the true importance.

And you can see it in pieces like Lauren YS's "Empire Rising," where she touches base on, you know, how Chinatown was in downtown and then erased.

And, you know, there's so many pieces of theater and, you know, belonging in this way, that pieces like that speak on.

Same with Gaia's "Still Here," it touches on Tomaquag Museum and the history of the Indigenous folks that are, you know, once lived here and still do, and how do we elevate those folks, right?

- Recently, we had on the executive director of the Tomaquag Museum, and we told them that you were coming on, and they were like, "Oh, I love the mural."

And in the portrait is the founder of the Tomaquag Museum, which I didn't even know, and I drive by that mural all the time.

And it's one of the long-standing murals here in Providence.

It's very celebrated and adored.

Jamie, can you tell us a little bit about the process on how you find the artist?

- Well, what's interesting right now is we are doing more open calls.

So before, there would be an application process, and The Avenue Concept would go through all the applications and choose, but now people can go on and actually apply to have their own art and maybe not have as extensive history of murals or public art.

The program is called Ripples.

And we can now have 50 utility boxes that artists can go onto the website and apply to have their own work cited.

- [Anaridis] That's wonderful.

- But there is an international process, also, 'cause we bring artists here from all over the world, not just locally.

And we're happy to be a part of all of that.

- Are people wanting to be a part?

I'm assuming they've heard how successful the program is, and they're reaching out to you saying, "Hey, I would like to work with you."

Does that happen?

- Yes, it does.

I mean, as an embedded artist in the community, I can speak to our process a little bit more, if you don't mind.

So we have always been really conscious about selecting artists for the bigger murals who are representative of a diverse group of people.

So we're conscious of, like, gender representation, you know, diversity across different cultures, so, and national, international, and regional artists as well in our portfolio.

So the way that we have previously selected some of our artists at least have been through a semi-curatorial process just to ensure that equity is there.

And then now we're really excited to be able to announce this very open process for a large-scale mural that's coming up in the city, and then 50 utility boxes that are gonna be hopefully painted and celebrated by local artists that are from emerging to very experienced artists.

- [Anaridis] Yeah.

- So, yeah.

- That's wonderful.

Kendel, how did you come across The Avenue Concept?

What brought you to this organization, and how have you grown as an artist since joining?

- Good question.

Honestly, through word of mouth.

You know, I actively have done art throughout my life.

My dad is a oil painter himself, so I've always kind of seen art happening around me.

And then through high school, I did a lot of graffiti, spray painting, and that sort of culmination of those two ideas, you know, brought me to our Legal Wall, which I now manage, along with the spray paint shop that we have at The Avenue Concept's HQ.

And through visiting the Legal Wall, you know, kind of scaling up and learning how to use spray paint to create large scale portraiture, et cetera, I turned into an assistant on some of our larger works.

And then through that, just being around constantly, transformed into my position as the Paintbar and installation specialist now.

- And I wanna get to the Paintbar, because I think that's such a cool, unique idea, but tell us about the work that you've done in the city.

I was searching through the background for the organization, and I came across some of your work, and I'm like, I've seen that before.

I've walked by it before.

and it's amazing to me that you do that with spray paint.

- Mm-hmm, yeah, so, you know, I'm really just going after it as a artist.

I really love this thing, right?

I love making art.

I love making large-scale pieces or murals that highlight the diversity of our community.

And I think that's really like a powerful thing.

So, you know, I spend a lot of my mural-making time highlighting other artists and really kind of delving into sort of that social aspect of it, right?

And not just that, I think I've touched on a lot of like random sort of political things, being that, you know, my mural-making started, you know, at the time of the pandemic.

During the George Floyd protests and riots is when, you know, I really kind of delved into that activism aspect of it.

You know, this is something huge that's gonna be in front of a lot of people, so I wanna talk about something that's important, especially during the times.

- Yeah, I came across, I think it was an ode, and please, an "Ode to Artist in Spraypaint."

- [Kendel] Yeah, yeah.

- Tell us about that piece.

- Of course.

- And I find it really interesting that you find opportunities to showcase other artists, and you learn a little bit more about the people who kind of paved the way in Rhode Island to be where we are today.

- Yeah, so "Ode to Artist in Spraypaint" was a residency held with The Avenue Concept before my working there.

It's the Weybosset front side open call, which I currently curate myself.

So the content in that really touches on Black and brown artists, and folks who inspire me.

So the artists that were depicted was Spocka, who runs publicnotprivate, Umberto Crenca, who's the founder of AS220, Shey Rivera, who's just, like, the best-of artist, in my opinion, you know, Dana Heng, who is a teacher at New Urban Arts and also an artist themself.

And I feel like I'm missing AGONZA, who you can't miss, who is, you know, really the voice, in my opinion, of the mural-making community as of now, who's done amazing work themselves, yeah.

- What is it like creating a mural, I mean, in the northeast, in these challenging weather conditions?

Tell our viewers a little bit of what that process is like.

- It's just like you say, it's a challenge, right, one that Nick, our mural program manager, handles so eloquently that a lot of folks don't realize how much goes into it in the back end of this work, right?

You have to find funding.

You have to be able to bandage the wall, prep, prime paint, so on and so forth, and then the artist comes, right?

And then they create this beauty.

And, you know, folks like Nick offer so much insight into that.

Even the content alone, he's doing the research along with the artist.

Does that make sense?

So, you know, there's so much that goes into it that goes unsung, you know?

- Yeah.

- The coolest thing to see is when they project it on the walls, too, and- - Before they get started?

- Yeah, that's one of my favorite parts, seeing that come together.

- I love that.

- Some artists do freehand.

Like, Lauren YS had a small, (chuckles) a small sketch of this wonderful mural and free-handed it onto this large scale.

So what I really enjoy about this work is seeing the diversity of skillset and experience, you know, that we encounter with the various artists that we work with, and so some...

There's a different process for each of them, of course.

But one of the things that we really do provide as our mission is to excellently produce public art with artists and communities that inspire joy, dialogue, and belonging.

So, really, our goal is to facilitate the process of an artist really being able to just arrive and execute their work, and really be, you know, be met with the, you know, be met with the love and support of a facilitator who will be there with the lifts, with all the paints that they've decided that they want to use, with a prepped wall, you know, with the site secured.

That's often the thing that takes the longest is actually just finding the wall that's appropriate with an owner who wants to participate in this with us.

And the reason that could be seen as a little difficult, you might say, "Oh, well, everyone wants a mural on their wall," and that's true, but we are artists first, so we only work with owners who will allow us not to do basically a commission.

So that's really exciting because that puts us on the side of the artist and their process, and it poses a little bit of an exciting, like, moment there, where the mural wall owner will have to take a step back in the service of the greater good and the public art piece.

- I love that.

- Because it's very easy to make a mural that is commercial feeling or in some way inauthentic, and that'll happen when an artist is just kind of doing an interaction, like a commercial interaction for commission.

And so we really like to be on the cutting edge of that process by really putting the artists and their vision and their ideas first, because that's what I believe is the most important part of this, their skillset in like creating emotional connections, historical, political, all of these intersections.

And then you, as a pedestrian, get to experience that, interpret that, and discuss it with your friends and, you know, your babies or whoever you're with.

- That's my favorite part of coming across these public works of art is that it really does engage us in a conversation oftentimes that is much needed and not being had.

- Exactly.

- Right?

- I can sit here and talk to you guys forever, but we only have eight minutes left, and I wanna get to how you engage the public.

Because I think that that's also something that's so special about The Avenue Concept, with the Avenue Paintbar.

I mean, literally, it's like an alley that's gated, you give people a code, and you're just like, show up and do what you wanna do.

How important is it to have a creative outlet like that for young artists in the city?

- Yeah, I think I'm really a product of that thing, right?

At The Avenue Concept, we have 340 square feet of Legal Wall wrapped around the back end of our building, and that's really a place where people can come and practice scaling up, practice the skill of making public art, right, without being in public, being judged by the public eye.

Yeah, so I think it's the most important aspect, in my opinion, is just to give people some form of space, including myself, right?

- Yeah, and I love the Instagram account, too.

You just put it all up there and invite people to come.

- Absolutely, yeah, so the Paintbar Instagram page is separated from The Avenue Concept one.

We have two different ones.

And that one is really meant for local artists.

When they follow that one, they'll get the code to the back part of the Legal Wall, and they have their own specific access.

So that's very exciting.

And one of the things that we really are proud of is that The Avenue Concept is able to provide these Legal Walls, provide these opportunities for capacity growing, education for interacting with the public, but also that we're paying them.

You know, I always say we gotta pay our artists.

And The Avenue Concept has been able to compensate 166 partners, creatives, and artists, since 2021, over $300,000.

- Wow.

- So we're really, you know, when it comes down to, you know, hitting the rubber, we're dealing with a community that needs to be elevated, that needs to be reified, understood, and funded.

So we're really excited that we're able to do that.

And so when we connect and create these events, we also want to bring in other folks.

So we're always partnering with other organizations.

- There's so many collaborations.

- Yeah, the collaborations, and just creating, you know, there's an economy around culture that we're participating in with partners who are interested in that.

And then we keep the artists in the center here and, like, really focus on their practice and their needs, and growing, meeting those needs as well as it relates to other things.

That's really what I would... That's really what I'm focusing on.

- Yeah, that's wonderful.

And talk to us about what's next.

You mentioned all of these collaborations.

I know you have a walking tour that's happening right now, and I feel like The Avenue Concept has really put Providence on the map.

- It has, like I said- - As far as, like- - It's part of the landscape now when you think of Providence, so there is- - It's a destination, right?

- It is, and I think when people show a picture of the cityscape, everyone thinks of Gaia's "Still Here," that beautiful mural that someone said, "Is that the one you can see from Hemenway's?"

And it's so visible during WaterFire, and during every time Providence is on the news, I feel like that's what's shown, so it's very important.

And the public can come see all of these murals for Gallery Night, as you mentioned.

There's going to be some free trolley and walking tours going on.

I believe it's December 5th, I will be leading one of those tours- - Wonderful.

- on behalf of The Avenue Concept, And basically they have trolleys that take people around to the galleries.

And that night, many of the public art murals and sculptures will be illuminated.

And there will also be a projection on Garden of Journey's beautiful mural.

And that is something to see.

They did it over PVDFest for the first time, and it was a really a beautiful digital presentation on the mural, activating all of those areas.

And I hope that the public will come out to see that.

And then we have Lumina coming up in February, 2025, too.

So that's another partnership with the city- - That's wonderful.

- and to get people outside in February to see public art and sculptures.

- That's wonderful.

- And then throughout the summer, we host Graff Jams, I wanna say five of them, where we invite local graffiti artists to beautify our building.

We have Can Jams, where we take people through mark-making experiences.

You know, there's a lot.

There's a lot of stuff.

- Yeah, and then this coming year, an exciting collaboration that we have is with the city of Providence and the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism.

Kudos to them funding public art and artists- - Spending money towards it.

- that would love to see that.

So we are in the process of having open call for a mural, which, one of the large-scale ones.

We actually haven't done that before.

So it's really exciting to see who will respond and how we can get some excitement around that.

We also have a call for walls.

So because of this funding, we're able to have a city-subsidized mural, so that's free to the owners of the wall.

So that's really exciting.

So we have that on our website right now, and then these 50 utility boxes that are in collaboration with New Urban Arts, an arts organization that focuses on youth in our neighborhood.

They will be painting 15 boxes, and we have an open call for 15 additional ones, all funded, all supplied so that artists can come out and just really paint the city (laughs) with wonderful public art.

- I love that.

- Yeah, so we're very excited about the upcoming year.

And then we're also looking at ways to increase the impact of everything that we're doing.

So we've also created a new program management position within the organization so that we can really meet community needs and interesting collaborations with a program manager, who can really tie it into long-term impacts.

Because public art is an amazing arena, and it is also slightly political.

It is interesting.

It is, public space is, you know, disputed in America.

And so it's a really exciting place to sit and think critically about art today and public art and artists, and race and economies.

All of these things come together in these places.

And so having someone who is thinking critically about the impacts of public art and how we do it well and how we do it fairly is an exciting place that we're moving towards in the next year.

- I love that, and I love that it's happening out of Providence- - Yes.

- that you guys are pushing the envelope.

Thank you so much for everything you're doing, and congratulations.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Happy to have you.

(group chuckling) - We have run out of time.

I would like to thank tonight's guests, Tracy, Jamie, and Kendel.

You can watch this episode and all our past episodes anytime at ripbs.org/generationrising.

And be sure to follow us on these social platforms for the latest updates.

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