2026 Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities: The Artist and the Revolution

Join ACT for our annual Pell Lecture on the Arts & Humanities, THE ARTIST AND THE REVOLUTION, as we underscore the need for all of us to participate in changemaking spaces. National Book Award longlisted poet, writer and former political strategist Camonghne Felix, author of Let The Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom (2026) will center our conversation with a keynote lecture interrogating how poetics and its politics can serve as utilities for resistance, strategy, and survival, followed by dialogue with April Brown, co-director of the Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading.

In addition to Camonghne Felix, the evening will feature poetry engagements by Sussy Santana and Justice Ameer; drumming by Yoruba 2; remarks from Mayor Brett P. Smiley, and community reflections from City of Providence Chief of Staff Emily Ward Crowell, youth leaders from the Providence Student Union, and Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading co-director Kai Cameron.

Whether you are an organizer, civil servant, artist, creative, government leader, educator, disruptor, diplomat, or have yet to find your path in shaping our world, we hope you join us for this galvanizing one-night event.

This project is supported in part by a grant from the Rhode Island Semiquincentennial Commission (RI250).

This event is made possible through partnerships with local businesses Symposium Books and Suya Joint. Camonghne Felix’s Let The Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom will be available to purchase through Symposium Books at this event.

The 2026 Pell Lecture on the Arts & Humanities will be held Wednesday, April 22, 2026 from 5:30-8:30 PM at The Pavilion at Grace, 300 Westminster Street, Providence, RI.

Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided and registration is required.

Register here: https://forms.office.com/g/Cyu3x6qtrr