The Rhode Island Coalition for Arts & Preservation launched its campaign for voter approval of a $10 million bond that state lawmakers placed on the 2024 state ballot to fund state arts and culture.
If passed, the funds will be used to match grants from the Cultural Arts and the Economy Grant Program administered by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts for capital improvement, preservation and renovation projects for public and non-profit artistic centers and cultural art centers located throughout the state.
The bond is allocated for improvements and renovations to the Tomaquag Museum, the Newport Contemporary Ballet and the Trinity Repertory Company.
The bond would be funding through borrowing an approximate total of $16 million, including interest rates, from Rhode Island taxpayers. If passed, each of the selected establishments would receive $2 million. RISCA would distribute the remaining $4 million by matching grants for arts-related capital improvement projects, like renovations and historic preservation, around the state.
Newport Contemporary Ballet is a non-profit professional ballet company working toward establishing a permanent home in Newport to accommodate the company’s dance education needs and meet the area’s growing demand.
The NCB plans to use their allocated funds to build new studios and flex-performance space on land that it acquired in Newport, a space that would allow them to accommodate more classes and students than their current location, according to the “Yes on 5” campaign.
Trinity Rep. was established in 1963 as a not-for-profit regional theater company and welcomes over 100,000 patrons annually at their Providence location. The company’s Lederer Theater Center houses two more of their theaters, which these allocated funds would expand and upgrade. This would include improving accessibility for patrons by building a 12,000-square-foot addition with seating and stage changes.
One of the smaller theaters will also be remodeled to include a flat floor and moveable seating risers. An elevator replacement and office space consolidation would also be part of what Trinity’s executive director Kate Liberman called “a major renovation, not just a facelift,” strengthening the identity of Trinity Rep. from the street’s view.
In addition, the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum located in Exeter has plans to open a new museum on 18 acres of land, owned by the University of Rhode Island later this year. Along with partnering with URI, the Tomaquag Museum has been working with the Rhode Island School of Design and the Frank Karpowicz Architects firm on landscaping and designing the four buildings of the new museum.
The Tomaquag Museum has been preparing for the new museum by establishing overarching themes, designing new exhibits and organizing ways to properly honor and continue the education and preservation of Indigenous culture in Rhode Island, according to the museum’s website.
If the bond is passed, it offers the opportunity to increase contributions to not only the cultural and educational life in the state, but the economic life as well. In 2014 and 2021, voters passed arts-related bond legislation that allocated funds to almost 70 construction and renovation efforts across the state that totaled in more than $105 million spent by local companies and provided jobs to local workers, according to the ballot issue’s official campaign.
This article was produced in conjunction with the University of Rhode Island’s public affairs reporting class under the journalism and public relations department.