Loren Spears

Fri, 5/15, 5-7pm: SALON – Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum Executive Director Loren Spears on Eastern Native Arts. The Tomaquag Museum is Rhode Island's only museum entirely dedicated to telling the story of the state's original inhabitants, and the only museum operated by Native people over the last 52 years. Join us for a Native perspective on the collection of art, its history, meaning, and use. Images as well as actual pieces from the collections will be featured, as well as works from Native artists today. More on the museum: tomaquagmuseum.com. For Athenaeum members and their guests. Salon is presented in collaboration with The Rhode Island Foundation's Expansion Arts Program.

Tony Estrella

Fri 5/1, 5-7pm, SALON - Series: Gamm Theatre Artistic Director Tony Estrella on The Scarlet Letter, Phyllis Nagy's adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's dark tale, on stage at the Gamm 5/7-6/7. Hawthorne's exploration of sin, hypocrisy, and society is vividly re-imagined in this sexually charged, psychologically complex tale of obsession and revenge. Branded an adultress in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Hester Prynne is sentenced to wear the scarlet letter A on her dress. Refusing to name her lover, the father of her daughter, Pearl, she turns the mark of shame into a badge of beauty. Then Hester's long-lost husband unexpectedly reappears, and will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. Narrated by the spirited Pearl, this stripped-bare stage version of the "greatest American novel" makes us consider its power anew. More info: gammtheatre.org. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz)

Andrew Losowsky

Fri 4/24, 5-7pm, SALON - Series: The Once and Future Library, part 7: Why Books Matter. The digi-vangelists are ready to burn down the libraries and put everything online - or so the story goes. In fact, digital has an extremely complex relationship with the physical world, and a book is a lot more than just words on a page. Andrew Losowsky, Providence based author of The Doorbells of Florence, media expert, and journalist (The Guardian,The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London), will explain how technology has changed the purpose of books, reveal how to keep print relevant, and talk about the future of storytelling. Technophobes and technophiles alike will find plenty to talk about!

For Athenaeum members and their guests.
(Series Sponsor: Dan Siegel, M&S Rare Books)

Timothy S. Philbrick and Anthony Ramos

Fri 4/17/2009, 5-7pm: SALON – Artists Timothy S. Philbrick and Anthony Ramos on their upcoming Providence Art Club show, Native Sons. Lifelong friends, master furniture maker Philbrick and painter/video arist Ramos both grew up in RI and are finally showing their work together. It’s an RI first for Ramos, who lives in the south of France and has shown in Boston, Barcelona, Florence, and Paris among other locales. Philbrick’s furniture has been featured in many museum shows and permanent collections; his pieces are known for their sense of proportion, luxurious design, exquisite craftsmanship, and unique understanding of the materials (for more: timothyphilbrick.com). Ramos’s works engage and interpret the cultural, political, and social complexities of a global world. Providence Art Club show runs 4/19-5/8.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.
(Sponsor: Studio Hop, 810 Hope Street, 621-2262)

Aaron Jungels

Friday 4/10/2009, 5-7pm: SALON - Choreographer and multi-media artist Aaron Jungels of Everett Dance Theatre on his new, Silas the Teenager, on stage at the Carriage House Stage April 17-19 and 24-26. Inspired by his 16-year-old nephew Silas, who has autism, Jungels utilizes vivid imagery and evocative physicality in depicting the pleasures and challenges of interacting with Silas. Interweaving video projection, dialogue, choreography, and kinetic-sculptural stage props, Jungels reflects upon the way Silas perceives the world. A live score by Alec K. Redfearn and five musicians accompanies the performances. Jungels researched the latest studies on the autistic mind; new theories about how people with autism perceive and process information about the world, as well as their reports "from the inside," guided the development of his work. Jungels received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Capital's Multi-Arts Production Fund and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts to produce Silas the Teenager.

Free and open to the public! Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors

Valerie Tutson

Fri 11/28/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Storyteller Valerie Tutson on Once and Future Storytelling. In Senegal they say, "When an old person dies, a library is buried." Tutson explores storytelling, the work of Rhode Island Black Storytellers and its annual FUNDA FEST in January, and the relevance of this ancient oral art form in today's image-driven technical age; as she slyly puts it, storytelling is not a spectator sport! Co-presented with the RI Foundation. For Athenaeum members and their guests.

Karl Jacoby

Fri 11/21/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Karl Jacoby on the History of the Frontier and the Frontiers of History. Brown History Professor Jacoby's new book Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History details an 1871 massacre of Tucson-area Apaches by Anglos, Mexicans, and native tribes. In a nod to our last year's series on 1838 and this year's on the future of the library, his talk will trace 1830s policies and philosophies that led to increasing conflicts and violent resolutions as the frontier expanded lawlessly westward in the decades that followed, and he'll reflect on the changing role of the 21st century author in an increasingly on-line world. Do questions of ownership, citizenship, and nativism raised by 19th century geographical expansion connect to the idea of the borderless global world seemingly promised by today's electronic expansion of information? Books for sale and signing thanks to Borders! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Studio Hop, 810 Hope Street, 401-621-2262)

Anka Muhlstein

Fri 11/14, 5-7pm:

SALON - Proustfest! Celebrating the 95th anniversary of the publication of Proust's Swann's Way, first in his series In Search of Lost Time. Part 1: Literary historian Anka Muhlstein on Proust and His Publishers. Full publication (7 books in 15 volumes) of Proust's epic took 15 years; he did not live to see completion. Publication was interrupted by WWI and complicated by constant textual reworkings plus the author's illness, failing eyesight, and impossible schedule - he slept all day, worked at night. At his death, with 6 volumes to go and no reliable manuscript available, things looked dire. But miracles happen - the novel got published in full and the publisher did not go mad. Free and open to the public! (Sponsor: Kas DeCarvalho Business Law, kaslawllc.com)

Paul Polak

Fri 11/7, 5-7pm:
SALON - Paul Polak on his book Out of Poverty. For 25 years Polak has helped poor farmers develop practical ways to increase their income, moving 17 million people out of poverty. In 2006 his organization received $14 million from the Gates Foundation. How does he succeed when mainstream poverty programs consistently fail? More: paulpolak.com. Books for sale and signing thanks to Borders!

For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Kas DeCarvalho Business Law, kaslawllc.com)

Read about Paul Polak's business theories in the NYTimes from Nov 1: http://www.nytimes.com/

Rick Ring and Phoebe Simpson

Fri, 10/31, 5-7pm:

SALON - Series: The Once and Future Library, part 1: Reading Providence. Rick Ring, Special Collections Librarian of the Providence Public Library, and Phoebe Simpson, Printed Collection Librarian at the RI Historical Society Library, explore the changing landscape of the major private book collections and the city's libraries (including the Providence Athenaeum [1838]; its ancestor, the Providence Library Company [1753]; and the library of the RI Historical Society [1824]) from the mid-17th century to the 1878 formation of the Providence Public Library, our first free public library. Join us for a conversation about how the growth of the city was reflected in the growth of its library community and vice versa.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.
(Series Sponsor: Dan Siegel, M&S Rare Books, msrarebooks.com)

Jesse Holstein

Fri, 10/10/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Providence String Quartet violinist Jesse Holstein on Dmitry Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten, featured composers in PSQ’s spring series at the Athenaeum. Great admirers of one another’s music, Shostakovich and Britten stand as two giants of 20th century music. Britten’s 2nd quartet, written in 1945 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of composer Henry Purcell’s death, concludes with an immense baroque chaconne as a direct tribute. Shostakovich dedicated his powerful 8th quartet, “In memory of victims of fascism and war.” In the Dresden summer of 1960, writing the score for a film on WWII, Shostakovich, emotionally overcome by his subject matter and the city’s bombed-out condition, composed his pseudo-autobiographical quartet in a mere three days. Spring series dates: 2/19 (Shostakovich), 5/14 (Britten); buy your tickets at the Salon! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: The Curatorium, thecuratorium.com)

Janet Carlson

Fri, 10/3/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Janet Carlson on her new memoir, Quick, Before the Music Stops: How Ballroom Dancing Saved My Life.

A competitive ballroom dancer in her twenties, Carlson quit to raise a family and pursue a high-powered editing career. Twenty years later she "had it all" but was lost at heart. Then her husband gave her a gift of ballroom lessons, and in one spin around the floor she found her footing again. Her return to the ballroom let her end an unhappy marriage, put her heart back into work, find time for her children, and rediscover a sense of balance and grace. Join us for a conversation about the dance of life. Books available for sale and signing thanks to Borders!
For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Jillian Siqueland of Residential Properties, 401-274-6740)

Nancy Austin and Caroline Woolard

Fri, 9/26/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Historian Nancy Austin and artist Caroline Woolard update us on Albert J. Jones, forgotten founder of the RISD Museum of Art (RI's very first), in a preview of their 9/27 installation/performance about Jones (part of Cryptic Providence, an art/program series at North Burial Ground), and explain why RI almost didn't get the Museum (opening its new Chace Center on 9/27).

As a prequel to the Athenaeum's new program series, The Once and Future Library, Austin discusses the primacy of print over visual culture in 19th century Providence. Jones came of age in a city abrim with books and periodicals, joined the Athenaeum, and left for Europe with a notable personal library. Print culture lured future RISD founder Helen Rowe (Metcalf) to Providence, where with her brothers she opened a bookstore, established a global periodicals market, and wrote and published a widely circulated newspaper. Join us to talk about books, art, libraries, and museums, from the 19th century to now.

For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: risdworks, risdworks.com)

The Aurea Ensemble presents From the Bard to the Beats

The Aurea Ensemble presents From the Bard to the Beats, an evening of poetry, improvisation, and chamber music connecting the inspirational threads of David Amram, celebrated American composer, jazz musician, writer, educator, and first composer-in-residence for the NY Philharmonic. Amram, closely identified with Kerouac and the Beat poets of the ‘50s and ‘60s, was also honored recently at Lincoln Center for his early musical collaborations with Joseph Papp’s first Shakespearean productions at NYC’s Public Theatre. Author of 3 books, at 77 he is one of the most highly sought-after American composers. From April 14 – 20 a week-long celebration of Amram’s work will take place during his Fitts Residency at Brown, with Aurea as participants. Join Aurea members Consuelo Sherba, Nigel Gore, and Chris Turner for this sneak preview of the events, plus a look into the working process of Aurea and their inimitable, intuitive, and inventive combining of words and music.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.
Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors

Consuelo Sherba and Chris Turner