Featured in the Celebration is the presentation of the Honorary Chairs Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities, given by RICH’s Honorary Chairs, Senator Jack Reed and Senator Lincoln D. Chafee. This year they are proud to honor Senator Claiborne Pell. Also, taking place that evening will be the presentation of the fourth annual Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities, to the Everett Dance Theatre (photos available upon request). Tickets prices can be purchased by calling 273-2250.Senator Claiborne Pell, of Newport, Rhode Island, served in the U.S. Senate from 1961 to 1997, the longest serving Senator in Rhode Island history. During his tenure, he held the posts of Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations; Chairman of the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities; and Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration.
During his time in the Senate, Pell gained a reputation for serving the cause of peace and creating educational opportunities for all Americans. He made historic contributions in international relations, higher education, environmental protection and global resource preservation and government support of the arts and humanities, libraries and museums.
Senator Pell was the driving force behind creating legislation to establish the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). President Johnson signed the legislation into law and two independent agencies were formed in 1965. Forty years later, these agencies continue to provide grants for high-quality arts and humanities projects for all people across America. RICH, whose mission is “to inspire and support intellectual curiosity and imagination in all Rhode Islanders through lifelong learning in the humanities” is an independent affiliate of NEH. RICH shares the belief of the NEH that “democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens.” For over thirty years, RICH has provided public service to the citizens of Rhode Island by investing in local organizations and individuals through grant making and public programs.
According to Senator Jack Reed, Senator Pell's favorite motto, “Translate ideas into actions that help people,” is a philosophy that guided all of Pell’s work in the Senate, whether it was supporting civil rights legislation during the 1960's, crafting the Pell Grant that provides funds for low and middle-income students seeking higher education in the 1970’s, or drafting education reform legislation in the 1990's. He is also known for his energy and unflagging devotion to his job. Senator Reed wrote, “Despite the long hours, late night Senate sessions, and weekends working in Rhode Island, Rhode Island's senior Senator never wavered in his dogged determination to make life better for all Americans.”
Senator Lincoln D. Chafee, who along with Senator Reed will present the Lifetime Achievement award, recently said, "Claiborne Pell is a person with a remarkable, special soul - a very gentle person who nevertheless has a will of steel. During his long and distinguished career, Senator Pell was a giant in his support of the arts and education. He was a great Senator for Rhode Island; independent, creative and respected on both sides of the aisle."
RICH is also proud to announce that this year’s Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities will be awarded to the Everett Dance Theatre. The Everett Dance Theatre was founded in 1986 and quickly gained national recognition for its theme-based evening length concert works. These original works use dance, theater, and video to explore themes ranging from science to labor to family. Works include Home Movies (2004), Somewhere in the Dream (1999), Body of Work (1996), and The Science Project (1992). Everett’s concerts have toured to sites such as Dance Theater Workshop, New York; Spoleto Dance Festival, South Carolina; and Walker Arts Center, Minnesota, along with more non-traditional locales: hospitals, prisons and senior centers.
Christina Bevilacqua, RICH Board Member and Director of Programs at the Providence Athenaeum, had this to say about the award-winning artistic and founding director of Everett Dance Theatre, Dorothy Jungels - “In creating each piece Dorothy works with company members improvising movement inspired by their research into the subject of inquiry. Company members read history, philosophy, biography and literature. They conduct oral histories and search for visual images of the issues being explored. In developing scripts, they write out family and neighborhood history. The music is composed and mixed with spoken poetry and literature which becomes integral to the work being created.”
“Her work makes clear that the most exciting and important thing is to start with a question, and then seek in every way to answer it – you will eventually discover more answers than you can imagine…and these will inevitably lead you down more paths of inquiry. It is this quality of her work that I think makes her a perfect answer to the question, “Why the humanities?” In creating her work she creates ongoing, sustaining, interesting full lives – for herself, for the collaborators who work with her, for her audience, for her community.”
Everett also develops educational programs, based on concepts researched for their concert works. Their programs integrating science principles and the arts have been heavily utilized in schools, museums, and community centers, at tour destinations and at home including at the American Museum of Natural History, New York; Liberty Science Center, New Jersey; Museum of Natural History, Ohio; and the North Carolina Arts and Science Museum.
In 1990, Everett incorporated and founded the Carriage House Stage and School that offers ongoing classes in the performing arts to inner-city youth. The Carriage House School received the City of Providence Citizens Citation for Outstanding Youth Program (1995) and was recognized four times by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Coming Up Taller Awards.
The Tom Roberts Prize Endowment Fund was established in 2001 by two RICH board alumni to honor and celebrate the Council’s founding director, Tom Roberts. The Prize is awarded annually to an individual or group whose work is distinguished by inventive, imaginative, and original inquiry in the humanities. This prize creates an opportunity to gather humanists and leaders in the community together to celebrate the impact of the humanities in our community. Past award recipients include Marc Joel Levitt, Rhode Island storyteller, writer, and educator and host of Action Speaks, Al Klyberg, former Director of the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Heritage Harbor Museum effort; and Marilyn Meardon, actor, storyteller, and independent historian, who has brought history and literature to life through programs like Queen Elizabeth I in Her Own Words, and Rhode Island Legacy.
The venue for this year’s celebration is the internationally renowned Culinary Archives & Museum which has become the premier institution dedicated to preserving the history of the culinary and hospitality trade. RICH chose this venue as the site for its annual celebration for several reasons; because the museum is a past recipient of several major grants from RICH; the original venue (Roger Williams Park Casino) turned out to be too small a venue for the anticipated crowd; and most importantly, the museum houses a fascinating collection of books, menus, art works, autographs and artifacts that help illustrate the value of the study of humanities in our lives.
Presenting sponsors for this event are the Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University; NBC-10; Nortek, Inc.; and the John and Happy White Foundation. Other sponsors include Brown University; Bryant University; Citizens Bank; Community College of Rhode Island – Charles Sullivan Fund; Johnson & Wales University; Providence College; The Providence Journal; Rhode Island College; Rhode Island School of Design; Roger Williams University; Salve Regina University; University of Rhode Island; and Judy Vilmain, Inc.
Included in the festivities for the evening will be a wine, cheese, and chocolate tasting to enrich the palate. Purveyors of fine wines, and chocolates have generously agreed to provide their seriously considered products in support of RICH. Greg Matta of Campus Fine Wines is donating his expertise and wines for the tasting. Andrew Garrison Shotts and his wife Tina Wright of Garrison’s Confections, a local Rhode Island enterprise, are donating their amazing chocolates.
For more information about RICH please check their website at www.rihumanities.org
