Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities
Each spring the City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture and Tourism hosts the annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities to honor the late Claiborne Pell (1918-2009), who represented the State of Rhode Island in the United States Senate from 1961-1997. Senator Pell was a lead sponsor of the “Basic Educational Opportunity Grants” program in 1973, renamed Pell Grants in 1980; they have been critical mechanisms for providing financial aid to college students in the United States. He also played a pivotal role in the founding of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.
Established in 2009, the Pell Lecture seeds critical conversations that build from Senator Pell’s vision for our nation, inviting the community to come together to celebrate art, culture, and creativity as we invite a guest from outside Rhode Island who is working on big ideas for our sector. Though the venue, themes, and form of the event change every year the galvanizing impact of these crucial conversations remains.
Past Pell Lectures
2026: The Artist and the Revolution brought poet and former politico Camonghne Felix as she launched the publication of her new book, Let the Poets Govern.
2025: Commemoration and the Power of the Temporary welcomed Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and public art scholar Dr. Salamishah Tillet to support the ongoing project of Commemoration, particularly as ACT was in the midst of a multi-year project called The Providence Commemoration Lab.
2024: From Renaissance City to the Creative Capital: Making Good on a Promise let the City reflect on 20 years of ACT alongside past Department Director Lynn McCormack, Harold Steward of the NE Foundation for the Arts, Scott Hutcheson (Director of E Pluribus Unum, former Director of the New Orleans Office of Cultural Economy) and ACT Director, Joe Wilson, Jr.
2023: A full day symposium that launched ACT’s second Cultural Plan, Launching PVDx2031 featured a keynote from Bay Area-based cultural strategist Vanessa Whang along with break out groups that supported the Providence community in beginning the process of taking on this next 10-year plan.
2022:
2021:
2020:
2019: A conversation called I Love The Night Life: Culture, Politics, and Policy After Dark featuring guest speaker Dr. Shain Shapiro followed by a community response panel.
2018: A conversation called Planning is Not Enough with a keynote by Nina Sanchez of Enrich Chicago followed by a community response panel.
2017: A conversation on Cultural Justice with a keynote by Carlton Turner followed by a community response panel. Read the recap here.
2016:
2015: Patrice Walker Powell, retired Deputy Chairman for Grants and Awards at the NEA; Jeffreen Hayes of bridge/arts; Clyde Valentin from Meadows School of the Arts; and Raymond Two Hawks Watson, of the Eastern Medicine Singers/Providence Cultural Equity Initiative discussed the challenges involved in developing a more equitable arts ecosystem.
2014: Three visionary Providence artists, Holly Ewald, Sokeo Ros, and Erik Ehn, examined the ways in which artists’ skills and capacities are essential to a sustainable future with keynote speaker Arlene Goldbard, activist and author of books including 2013’s The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future and The Wave.
2013: Tyler Denmead, founder of New Urban Arts, moderated a conversation on arts education and 21st century workforce development with teams from The Bronx, Boston, and Hartford.
2012: The Kresge Foundation’s Maria Rosario-Jackson, ASU’s Jason Schupbach (formerly of the NEA), publisher Manya Rubenstein of Outpost Journal, and Colin Kane of Rhode Island’s 195 Commission discussed the national creative placemaking movement and its implications for Providence’s creative workforce and businesses.
2011: Audience development expert Donna Walker Kuhne presented on her work diversifying cultural participation on Broadway and beyond.
2010: Musician and author David Byrne was joined by Brown University professor of American Studies, Sandy Zipp, former City of Providence Director of Planning + Development, Thomas Deller, and bicycle advocate Barry Schiller for a discussion of creative solutions to complex urban issues.
2009: Jeremy Nowak examined the social and economic benefits associated with making space for arts and culture in real estate development.