401Gives campaign arrives March 31-April 3.
Please support our curated contemporary art exhibitions & public programs.
The Providence Biennial for Contemporary Art is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Individual donations are a major source of funding and are fully tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Your generosity propels and sustains our work.
Click on the 401Gives logo to donate between March 31-April 3.
Provoking new ways of seeing,
thinking and engaging with others.
The mission of the Providence Biennial for Contemporary Art is to generate curated exhibitions of contemporary art in Rhode Island that expose individuals and communities to transformative experiences, provoking new ways of seeing, thinking and engaging with others. As an effort to strengthen curatorial practices, experienced board members mentor emerging curators and artists in realizing ambitious, creatively conceived, frequently social and environmental justice themed exhibitions, installations or interventions.
Statement of Purpose The core program proceeds from understanding art’s capacity to disrupt and transform conventions of perception and experience. Through close mentoring, opportunities are developed for the realization of distinctive and provocative curated projects. The guided collaboration identifies a network of resources to help curators initiate creative and strategic partnerships, while aligning with the context of varied host venues—whether institutional, nascent, or alternative spaces.
New in 2022: Providence Curates
Providence Curates: Cultivating a Transformative Experiment

Image: Heeseop Yoon installing her Still Life #31, 2005, 1/4-inch black masking tape on mylar, for 'Nuanced,' Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, MA
The emerging curators of our program are individuals experienced with engaging diversity across race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, culture, ability and class. They are convinced of the specific ability of visual art to examine issues of social and environmental justice unlike any other form of creative expression, and through their inclusive, "counter-hegemonic" values (to quote art historian Linda Nochlin) eager to practice curatorial activism.
Opening this Summer
CURATING COMMEMORATION
_____________________
POIESIS
by Melaine Ferdinand-King
REMEDY
by Joel Rosario Tapia
_____________________
WaterFire Arts Center
Providence, Rhode Island
July 13 - August 20, 2023

Fall, 2021 Podcast: ACT's PVDFest Ideas 2021
EXPAND - IGNITE - INVITE
What Does a More Inclusive Art World Look Like?
Trending Globally partnered with the Providence Biennial to explore this question.
Listen to the complete podcast here.
These conversations are sponsored by PVDFest Ideas 2021 & 2022 an Arts and Ideas festival in Providence, RI. We are most grateful to the Providence Department of Art, Culture & Tourism (ACT) for its continuing support.
Additional funding was provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through the Rhode Island Culture, Humanities, and Arts Recovery Grant (RI CHARG) program, made possible thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts, via funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
A sincerest thank you to our latest Sponsors and funders

.jpg)




Providence Biennial for Contemporary Art Board of Directors
Roya Amigh | Judith Tolnick Champa | Spencer Evans | Jeffrey Foye | Pamela Markham Heller |
Lisa Scull | Jonny Skye | Neal T Walsh