AS220

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.

Link in comments: Help us end our current fiscal year, and begin a new one, STRONG! Your generosity helps us to continue to provide opportunities for all Rhode Islanders to imagine, design, and implement the ideas to build a better future and a more just world for all. Thank you for supporting AS220!

tix will sell out so get to itttt - Saturday Night, SIRENA PERRA VOL III by planetapvd + The Haus of Glitter is honored to feature some of New England’s finest icons, legends, stars and statements

SUMMER ‘26 WORKSHOPS ARE HERE!🗣️
A lot of cool classes with a bunch of amazing instructors at AS220 Community Studios .Find something cool to do this summer in the middle of the city! link in bio

Cat’s outta the bag! Help us say goodbye and thank you to our Co-Executive Director of over 10 years, Shauna Duffy! Come on down to AS220 tomorrow night and help us send her off in style - our pals in are graciously gonna play a “surprise” set to let her know that we all appreciate everything she’s done for AS220 and our creative community in Providence and Rhode Island. The noise starts promptly at 8 and the will be open, so arrive early / on time!

If you’re a real AS220 nerd like me, you may recognize the name "Steven Emma." It belongs to one of the three artists (the other two being Umberto Crenca and Martha Dempster (Steve's wife)) who signed the 1983 "New Challenge Manifesto". While it predated our existence by two years, this manifesto represented a moment of Rhode Island artists getting together, communicating, and envisioning better futures for themselves. Steve, a visual artist and writer, and Martha, a dancer, would soon go on to raise a family, and you probably already know that Umberto Crenca would go on to found AS220 in 1985 and pour his energy into it for the next 30 years.

Despite being partially responsible for a milestone in the pre-history of AS220, I am fairly confident in saying that Steve has never had a proper solo exhibit here. Still, he would pop up at AS220 in the 80s and early 90s to do poetry readings, and was part of a group show with Umberto Crenca and Susan Clausen in 1989.

Even though he's stayed relatively under the AS220 radar, Steve has never stopped making art. I know this because I had the chance to visit with Steve and Martha at their home in Providence last year. He showed me his studio and the breadth and depth of his various art making prices including carved stone and wooden sculptures, block prints, illustrations in graphite, charcoal, and ink, and much more that I'm certainly forgetting. He's also engaged in many other activities and interests, more than can fit in this space.

Please join us and Steven Emma (and all the other artists exhibiting at AS220 in June!) on Saturday, June 6th, from 5 - 7 PM for the opening reception of Working with My Hands: A Retrospective and celebrate the decades of work of a true Providence original. I'm sure he'd love to tell you about everything I can't squeeze in here!

WOLF EYES in the AS220 Black Box tomorrow night - Thursday, May 28th! An intimate gig in our smaller venue, so get your ticket now…they’ve been selling. Don’t miss these legends and don’t miss the sonic ritual that is kicking things off and setting the tones for the evening!

Tag a movement artist you love!

Come teach at AS220 Dance!
Start with a 6-week series to see how it feels!
Send us an email if you’re interested