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Please excuse our transition look while our new web site is being completed: www.ricitizensforarts.org coming in 2010!

VOTE for the ARTS Rhode Island!

With a major election season underway, the result means significant changes in leadership for Rhode Island. How will the next wave of elected officials support and advance the arts and creative sector in our state? Get information on our policy platform for the candidates in the 2010 elections here and find out how you can participate! More Information »

We Did It!

The budget is done and it is now official: We saved funding for the arts in RI! Thank you for all your work and support in helping us make this happen. On June 3 and 4, the Finance Committee's proposed budget was debated in the full Assembly. The cuts proposed by Governor Carcieri earlier this year - 1% for the Arts public art program, the Film Tax credit, and $700,000 in grant dollars through RI State Council on the Arts - have been restored in the Assembly's budget!
Check out the highlights on this legislative success »

Join the Creative Corps and We'll Give You Dog Tags

Help us Reach 2,000 Strong!

By joining the Creative Corps, you become part of a movement working to affect positive change for this significant sector in RI. Through this, the creative sector will have the power to influence changes needed to grow the industry with economic development incentives, educate our children with creative thinking skills, and provide a culturally rich environment to live in.

We need to grow our core of advocates and harness the power of the creative sector in Rhode Island to do this work. Join us Today!

SPECIAL: RI Foundation is helping us grow this core by matching all new memberships through Summer 2010, so long as we reach $7,500! That means your membership is DOUBLED! Help us get there!

Curious what we'll work on? Check out our policy agenda.

The Creative Corps is on the road and will be in Jamestown on August 10. Join the Jamestown Gallery, members of the Jamestown Arts Center and RI CFA for an evening of celebrating advocacy in the creative sector and become part of the Creative Corps, a member of RI CFA. Check out details here »

Candidates Speak Out on the Arts

As the election season is upon us, RI CFA will be working with candidates and pursuing policy initatives favorable to the arts and creative sector. To warm up the conversation, we did video interviews with the candidates, in collaboration with the Arts & Business Council of RI and GoLocalProv.com. Candidates for Governor, Congress, and Mayor of Providence shared their views on the arts and creative sector with us.

Video 1 1st Congressional District Candidates David Cicilline, William Lynch and John Loughlin share their views on the arts and creative sector. Watch the video »
Video 2 Mayoral - Part 1 Candidates Angel Tavares, John Lombardi, Daniel Harrop and Carrie Marsh share their views on the arts and creative sector. Watch the video »
Video 3 Mayoral - Part 2 Candidates Angel Tavares, John Lombardi, Daniel Harrop and Carrie Marsh share their views on the arts and creative sector. Watch the video »
Video 4 2nd Congressional District Candidate Betsy Dennigan shares her views on the arts and creative sector. She was the only one who joined us for this taping. Watch the video »
Video 5 Gubernatorial - Part 1 Candidates Ken Block, Frank Caprio, Lincoln Chafee, Patrick Lynch, Victor Moffit and John Robitaille share their views on the arts and creative sector. Watch the video »
Video 6 Gubernatorial - Part 2 Candidates Ken Block, Frank Caprio, Lincoln Chafee, Patrick Lynch, Victor Moffit and John Robitaille share their views on the arts and creative sector. Watch the video »

RI, China and the Arts

Written by RI CFA Executive Director, this piece ran in the Providence Journal on May 15. Here's an excerpt: "China's focus on creativity and design acts as an affirmation for Rhode Island. China's aggressive push to become a nation that embodies creativity, imagination and entrepreneurship gives us - here in little Rhode Island - an opportunity to nod. Yes, have that. Yes, done that."

The piece ends with a call to action to seize the opportunity we have here in Rhode Island. Read the full OpEd »

IBM 2010 Global CEO Study

IBM released the results of their 2010 Global CEO Study, known to be the largest sample of one-on-one CEO interviews, with over 1,500 corporate and public sector leaders across 60 nations and 33 industries.

And the winner of the most important leadership quality for CEOs is...

...why, creativity of course! Read the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study »

ADVOCACY TOOLKIT

Visit our Advocacy Toolkit page to download all the tools you need to talk with your legislators and advocate to preserve arts funding and promote positive change in the arts, design and creative sector in Rhode Island.

Our Strategy in Advancing the Arts for RI

RI CFA has a guiding document for our work. Check out the Sustaining the Arts in Rhode Island: A 5-Year Plan to see what we are working on. While a comprehensive document here, we will have status on specific initiatives outlined on our new site in a couple of months. In the meantime, be sure to let us know what you think and if there are specific initiatives you want to take part in.

Rhode Island's Creative Community Video

In our statewide advocacy for the arts, there are few key messages we share. Check out this video to get a sense of what we often share to legislators, decision-makers and the like.