In The News | The Arts Exchange

Picture Brightens for Artists and Pawtucket

Art can pave the way to economic success.

That's the driving principle behind this former manufacturing city's eight-year-old effort to attract artists and arts organizations, and the initiative has had remarkable results. [28KB / 2 pages]

February 7, 2007

By Sacha Pfeiffer, The Boston Globe

On a Comeback

The once-proud industrial town is making a cultural rebound.

Poor Pawtucket. It was the proud home of the nation's first commercially successful water-powered cotton-spinning mill, making it the official birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution . But the city has yet to fully recover from the collapse of the textile industry that once anchored its economy.
[40KB / 2 pages]

February 7, 2007

By Sacha Pfeiffer, The Boston Globe

Thousands Awarded to Save State's Heritage

More than $300,000 in state aid is headed for historical preservation projects in northern Rhode Island, bound for old buildings both big and small, from the one-room Belknap School in Johnston to the castle-style armory in Pawtucket. [37KB / 3 pages]

December 7, 2006

By Mark Reynolds, The Providence Journal

Act I set for arts high school in Pawtucket

The Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing and Visual Arts will open tomorrow with a temporary location and only $30,000 for supplies and materials, but with 34 students eager and full of dreams. [more]

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

By Deepa Ranganathan, The Providence Journal

Birth of a school: Pawtucket is starting a statewide school for the arts like the one in Fame!

Pawtucket, R.I. - Donna Jeffrey bustles over the water-stained wood of the city's Armory building. She's a ball of energy in this quiet, dead space -- and if she's worried about falling through the floor, she doesn't show it. [more]

January 23, 2005

By Deepa Ranganathan, The Providence Journal

Artistic Enclave Gets Its Footing in Rhode Island

PAWTUCKET, R.I., Aug. 5 — When James Doyle was elected mayor of this gritty mill city on the Blackstone River, its abandoned textile mills seemed to have all the appeal of an open grave. [more]

August 10, 2004

The New York Times

School Committee OKs signing lease for new arts high school

The School Department became the second major tenant to commit to the Pawtucket Armory complex this week when the School Committee voted unanimously to sign a lease for its new arts high school. [ 40KB / 2 pages]

June 25, 2004

reported by: Joel Furfari (PawtucketTimes.com)

Arts center awarded $300,000

A $300,000 appropriation by Congress has put a nonprofit group a little closer to its goal of transforming the Pawtucket Armory building into a performing arts center. [8KB / 1 page]

April 8th, 2004

reported by: John Castellucci (Journal Staff Writer)

Armory group hires full-time boss

After years of moving a $6.5 million project along without benefit of a full-time chief, the Pawtucket Armory Arts Exchange is bringing in the former development head of WaterFire Providence to be its first executive director.

[17KB / 2 pages]

March 26, 2004

reported by: Douglas Hadden (PawtucketTimes.com)