Seeking Cultural Strategists to Join Two Providence Department of Planning and Development Projects
The City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture and Tourism (ACT) is proud to announce two separate calls for Cultural Strategists to join two different projects being undertaken by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD): a redesign of Cathedral Square and a study to redesign two Downtown Alleyways.
Read more about the specific calls and apply here.
Watch the August 19 info-session here.
Per our 2025 Art in City Life plan addendum, ACT will engage Cultural Strategists where possible in order to support process-based, durational work rather than the development of pre-specified public art products such as murals. Cultural Strategists will work with governmental and nongovernmental agencies to shift ways of thinking, solve problems, and engage communities to advance mission-driven initiatives and priorities.
Though we often commission artists to create pieces of art — sculpture, murals, performances, etc — by employing Cultural Strategists we infuse planning and design with artistic process and imagination. The Cultural Strategists will not be creating permanent art for Cathedral Square or the Downtown Alleyways but embedding in these projects and using their skills as creative thinkers, community-builders and futurists to support the more permanent plans to come.
The two Cultural Strategists or Cultural Strategy teams will be engaged simultaneously (Nov 1, 2026-Oct 31, 2027), but their projects will be very different and require different skillsets as artists and project organizers.
Cathedral Square
DPD began studying Cathedral Square’s redesign nearly two years ago with an architect and design firm already-engaged. After a year of study and community work, the team will spend the next 12 months largely away from the site while they finalize their designs. The Cultural Strategists at Cathedral Square will be folded into that team with a strong emphasis on continuing the community relationships with the ability to try low-lift collaborative programming in order to better-realize how the space can ultimately be made most inviting to the people who currently use it. You can read more about some of the current exploration on the Providence Preservation Society’s blog here.
The City has a strong commitment to Cathedral Square eventually having space for public art, and so the Cultural Strategists will be crucial in studying the possibilities and offering recommendations backed up by sound data and community feedback. You can read more and apply for the Cultural Strategist Cathedral Square position here.
Downtown Alleyways
This fall DPD will initiate a study of how and if to revitalize two Downtown Alleyways (Clemence St and Middle St) by engaging an engineering firm. The Cultural Strategists for the Downtown Alleyways will ideally begin at the same time, allowing these teams to collaborate from the start. The two Alleyways are currently in use primarily by dumpsters and parked cars which block the narrow passageways. This initiative will explore how to support the Downtown Alleyways in becoming more pedestrian-friendly via lighting, seating, art, and activity without completely displacing or alienating the current users.
The Cultural Strategist will be integral in building connections with the current users and potentially co-designing solutions that may be implemented in the future. We envision that they will try things in public, study the results and offer recommendations backed up by sound data and community feedback. You can read more and apply for the Cultural Strategist Alleyways position here.
With these inaugural positions, ACT and the City of Providence join other cities such as Cambridge, MA , Oakland, CA (now defunct), and New York who have been integrating artists into various non-arts-specific municipal initiatives for years.
The Cultural Strategists will be in ongoing communication with ACT, DPD and its subcontractors as well as the Department of Housing and Human Services.