AS220

THANK YOU, PROVIDENCE! You made our PVD Fest PVDFest the best one ever. Thank you to all of the performers who graced our stage with their talents, thank you to all of our vendors, our staff, interns, volunteers, and members of the community who came out to support. Special thanks to Genia ♱ GENIA ♱ for closing out the night and ending our stage with a brilliant set 🔥🔥🔥

AS220 will be representing at Climate Week NYC climateweeknyc on Thursday! At the invitation of One Square World One Square World (1SW) Executive Director, Vatic Kuumba Vatic Kuumba (pictured left) AS220’s Artistic Director, Anjel Newmann a a s h a r i x أَشْعَرِيّ (pictured right) will be attending 1SW’s and ACE’s Creative Liberation Party in Brooklyn on September 24th at Bric BRIC . It’s an honor to be asked to attend this event and engage with housings and climate leaders from across the country. Swipe for more info, and come say hi!

The AS220 x RI Fashion Week RHODE ISLAND FASHION WEEK stage at PVD FEST PVDFest is THE PLACE TO BE on Saturday, September 19th! Join us in the lot at the corner of Washington and Snow Street in downtown Providence (next to our Mercantile Block bldg) for DRIP: fashion.music.culture featuring performances by AS220 Youth K.A.E. ☆ Jay Lew Off The Rip💥 Tye Cooper DJ LADYRUCK and Can’t Break The Label⛓️‍💥 J.O.E (Gorilla House) special guest ♱ GENIA ♱ of Def Jam Recordings ! It all goes down 12 - 6 PM!

The AS220 x RI Fashion Week RHODE ISLAND FASHION WEEK stage at PVD FEST PVDFest is THE PLACE TO BE on Saturday, September 19th! Join us in the lot at the corner of Washington and Snow Street in downtown Providence (next to our Mercantile Block bldg) for DRIP: fashion.music.culture featuring performances by AS220 Youth K.A.E. ☆ Jay Lew Off The Rip💥 Tye Cooper DJ LADYRUCK Can’t Break The Label⛓️‍💥 J.O.E (Gorilla House) and special guest ♱ GENIA ♱ of Def Jam Recordings ! It all goes down 12 - 6 PM!

VOTE TODAY! As a 501(c)(3), we are not allowed to endorse candidates, but we are allowed to endorse issues.

If you follow AS220, you probably know where we stand. If you’re unsure, here’s a little reminder of the issues we care about and the kind of community we want to see:

Affordable housing — creating and preserving housing that people can afford now and into the future, while protecting residents from being priced out of the communities they call home.

Juvenile justice - supporting young people and investing in restorative approaches rather than criminalizing youth.

Creative education - ensuring young people have access to arts, creativity, and opportunities to develop their voices and skills.

Out-of-school time (OST) - safe, meaningful spaces for young people to learn, create, connect, and grow beyond the school day.

Racial Justice - addressing inequity and building systems and communities where everyone can thrive.

Workforce development for youth and adults - real pathways to employment, economic opportunity, and sustainable careers.

Funding for the arts - recognizing the arts as essential to a healthy, vibrant, and connected city.

City parking - a system that works for residents, workers, businesses, artists, and visitors.

A clean, safe, accessible city - clean public spaces, accessible public restrooms, and public infrastructure that supports people with dignity. We believe in supporting people and addressing the conditions that create hardship—not criminalizing people for experiencing it.

These issues affect all of us. So as you vote, take the time to learn where candidates stand - not just on their names or party, but on the issues that impact our communities.

Go Vote!

Our Summer Jobs program for youth, which just recently wrapped up, was a inspiration to witness! You can read more about it at the link in bio, or just enjoy the photos and quotes here! Thanks to all of our staff, instructors, and youth for making this a summer to remember!

📸:
1. Jaheim works on the new mural, August 2026

2. Jaheim, Kendel, Edger, Jaz, and Phoenix plot the new mural, July 2026

4. Jaydon makes letterpress prints while Kash and Sin Seven watch, July 2026

5. Jyshoun, Renee, Jaydon, Kash, Melody, Heaven, Carlos, and Marley work the sewing machines, July 2026

7. Jaz shows off her hair designs, August 2026

8. Elizabeth shows Davina, Laura, and Yara the art of nail decoration, July 2026

10. Carlos keeps the beat going on the electronic drum set, August 2026

11. Keyira, Rodney, and Denzel practice on the wheels of steel while DJ Franchise supervises, July 2026

12. Slick shows Trent how to make beats, July 2026

14. Hasier, On-esty, and Zakai navigate a DAW to make their music, August 2026

Live the life of an artist in your very own studio at AS220’s Dreyfus building in beautiful downtown Providence. Deadline is this Sunday, August 16th, at 11:59 PM! Link in comments.

Running a restaurant isn’t easy. AS220 has offered a variety of food options since the ‘90s, from a cafe counter to a sit-down eatery. In alignment with the values of our youth program, our kitchen also offered entry-level jobs and training to young people. Even in the best of times, it was hard to make the numbers work – but the pandemic and changes to downtown office occupancy and foot traffic were the last straws. After a period of dormancy, we’re now remixing and rethinking what our kitchen can be.

The kitchen at AS220 has been cooking at full throttle since July, not as a commercial business, but as an educational space. The Cooking Crew, a group of young people taking part in AS220’s Summer Jobs program, are being introduced to the culinary arts under the watchful eye of Chef Adena "Bean" Marcelino, who has years of professional experience with running restaurants and catering operations.

Bean's goal is to teach her students hands-on skills in the kitchen that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

"When they go into adulthood, they’ll have a base of knowledge of how to cook affordably, easily, and in a way that they'll actually enjoy the food that they eat."

When I stopped by to see what was being whipped up, it was a whirlwind of activity: puff pastries, whipped cream, and sweet potato filling, all made from scratch, for sweet potato hand pies. I had already missed a busy morning session.

“They made a sticky chicken sauce from scratch, they learned how to fry chicken wings, how to glaze a sticky chicken sauce, and how to bake chicken to make sticky chicken wings. They also made fried rice using that sauce.”

If that sounds like a high-pressure production schedule, Cooking Crew member Fenelys says it’s anything but.

“I enjoy how creative we can get. Everybody can be themselves in the kitchen, and if somebody messes up, that’s OK. You can just redo it. It’s a work in progress.”

Food made with love and care nourishes the soul as well as the body, as AS220 Artistic Director Anjel Newmann explains.

“We wanted young people to experience the kitchen as more than a place to prepare meals. We wanted it to become a space where they could express creativity, learn practical skills, collaborate with one another, and care for their community.”

While downtown offices and workers may not be at pre-COVID numbers, our neighborhood has become home to numerous schools and after-school programs and the hundreds of students who attend them. Despite this, the landscape is not designed to accommodate these young people once the bell rings.

Newmann hopes to change that.

“My hope is that AS220’s kitchen becomes the foundation for a youth-centered café that is designed for and operated by young people, and rooted in creativity, hospitality, and community. A place where students can stop after school to grab an affordable meal or drink, charge their phones, work on homework, read a book, meet friends, or simply spend time in a space where they feel welcomed and valued. This summer’s Cooking Crew is the first step toward that larger vision.”

TWO THINGS | Mathew Brennan Matthew Brennan

“My artistic practice operates at the intersection of relational aesthetics, pop iconography, and traditional painting. It sucks that those are three intersections instead of two, BUT that captures a lot of it. For eleven years, my ongoing project, Two Thangs, has functioned as a single, monumental art project that documents human identity through collaborative artmaking. The process begins with a face-to-face invitation: a participant provides two elements of the external world, and together we conceptualize an original acrylic mashup painting. By excluding purely autobiographical subjects (such as relatives or personal property), participants must distill their identities, tastes, and histories into shared cultural signifiers. The resulting paintings function as psychological portraits, capturing a person and a moment in time without relying on physical representation while also sending a flare that is seen and resonates with others.”

115 Empire Street, Providence, RI

🗓 On view throughout August, beginning Saturday, August 1 Opening Reception: 5-7pm

Gallery Hours:
Thursday & Friday: 1–6 PM
Saturday: 12–5 PM

Free and open to the public.

Link in comments! AS220 is accepting applications for a live/work studio available on September 1st, 2026 in the Mercantile Block at 131 Washington St in downtown Providence. The unit is 785 square feet and rents for $1,520. The security deposit is $1,520 as well. This studio is one of AS220’s few market-rate units; unlike most of our studios it is not part of a government affordable housing program and there is no need to submit documentation of your income in order to apply.

Applications are due by 11:59pm on Friday, July 17th. Interviews will be conducted during the week of August 3rd.

Email your complete application [email protected], or if you are facing a barrier sending it online, you can drop it off at AS220’s administrative office (95 Mathewson St, Suite 204, Providence, RI, 02903) between 10am-6pm on a workday.

We encourage artists of all backgrounds and artistic mediums to apply. At AS220 we believe all people are born creative, that everyone is an artist, and that there is magic and power in bringing people from different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, identities and perspectives together. We embrace an expansive view of art and resist narrowly defined, Westernized and commercialized definitions of art and its value in society.

All applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, ability, age, or veteran status.