About the Festival

In the Press

Pawtucket celebrates its artists

By Natalie Myers, Providence Business News, 9/4/07

To a large part of the public, the most memorable events of the three-week-long Pawtucket Arts Festival may be the kickoff concert at McCoy Stadium or the “Taste of Pawtucket,” with its smorgasbord of food offerings.

But for the 80 artists who open their studios to the public as part of the festival, as well as for the happening’s organizers, the event is another piece in Pawtucket’s continuing efforts to grow the creative economy in the city and thus sow the seeds of further economic development.

“This whole thing is to support the small business community,” said Herb Weiss, economic and cultural affairs officer for the city and chairman of the festival. “This is an opportunity where we can market them. … They would not have the marketing dollars to do the marketing we do.”

Organizers of the festival encouraged local printers to donate 215,000 pieces of marketing materials, in addition to working with local media outlets to promote the event.

About 150 companies are sponsors this year, Weiss said. Last year businesses donated $69,000. This year they have contributed $85,000 to the festival’s $118,000 budget. The city provided $22,000 and the rest is provided for through in-kind donations and organizations such as the Pawtucket Teachers’ Alliance.

This year’s budget is about eight times the $15,000 budget the festival had when it started 9 years ago. Weiss attributes the growth of the festival to city’s aggressive efforts to attract more artists, creative businesses and development in recent years.

Some of those developments are being showcased as part of the festival this year.

The Grant at 250 Main St., a collaborative space that includes graphic designers, interior designers, an architecture firm, Web designers, an advertising firm, retailers and an art gallery, will host an open house Sept. 8 as part of the festival.
Hope Artiste Village, a $40 million mixed-use mill development at 1005 Main St. owned by Los Angeles-based Urban Smart Growth, is hosting a concert and open house Sept. 14. [Editor’s note: PBN’s Managing Editor Marion Davis co-owns The Blackstone, a tenant of the mill and a participant in that event.]

Machines with Magnets, an analog and digital recording studio plus gallery/performance space plus live/work space at 400 Main St., will host an open house Sept. 8 with live music from the bands the studio has recorded.

All three are the “new kids on the block,” Weiss said. Owners of Machines with Magnets purchased their 12,000-square-foot building a few years ago, but moved into the building last August. The Grant opened in January. Hope Artiste Village received a certificate of occupancy for its first eight tenants in December.

Lauren Holt, co-owner and business manager of Machines with Magnets, said the studio was in East Providence before, but “we wanted to own our own space.”

Providence real estate was too expensive, she said, while Pawtucket “seemed to have this whole arts campaign and arts initiative. [The city] has enormous potential. People just need to come here and actually [develop] it.”

Peter Roux chose to rent a studio in Pawtucket after moving from Boston because he needed a bigger space to paint and store his paintings as his business continued to grow.

“I got a space twice as large as my last one for just slightly more money,” he said. “The rates in Pawtucket are much better than in Boston.”

Roux also has been active in the 560 Mineral Spring Ave. mill’s open studios during the past year and a half and has seen much success as a result of his participation.

At last year’s open studios, he sold about $6,000 worth of paintings and got two commissions. At this year’s open studios, taking place this Saturday and Sunday, he expects the same kind of business opportunity.

Roux’s experience is exactly what organizers of the festival hope comes out of the three-week arts festival, which kicked off Aug. 24 with a concert featuring Counting Crows, Live and Collective Soul at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket.

About 40,000 to 50,000 people have attended the festival each year for the past couple years, Weiss said. Though he could not calculate an actual dollar amount that the festival contributes to the local economy, if each person spent $25, it would be more than $1 million.

Results of an Americans for the Arts study, released in May, suggested a typical attendee of arts and cultural events spends an average of $27.79 per person.

“Each year we do a look back and see how we can do better,” Weiss said.

This year, for example, organizers added the “Taste of Pawtucket” from 6 to 8 p.m. during the Festival Gala on Sept. 7.
The event will allow 18 local restaurants to set up food stations in Slater Mill’s courtyard. People will be able to pay $10 to taste food from each of the local restaurants while listening to a local Celtic band, The Gnomes. Later they will hear C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band, which organizers flew in from out of state.

Weiss said the idea for a “Taste of Pawtucket” stemmed from last year’s gala, which also was catered by local restaurants, but with no way for attendees to distinguish where each dish came from.

“The restaurants didn’t get the exposure,” he said. That’s why this year it’s different. Each restaurant will have a tent and signage.

Weiss said the reason so many businesses participate is because business owners understand that “when things happen in Pawtucket, they are more apt to see their properties increase in value.”

He added: “The festival benefits companies that own buildings and property and it benefits the employees of companies because it gives them an event to attend. … The festival shows that Pawtucket is a happening place.”

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