Live music, dance, food, and visual art installations transform the city for a four-day, multi-arts take-over of public spaces, parks, and outdoor stages in the heart of Providence, Rhode Island. Produced by the City of Providence with founding partner FirstWorks.

PVDFest! June 6-9, 2019 in Downtown Providence

From Italy’s Vertical Theater – Look up! Born from a dream of dancing on a flying wall, “Quadro” is a stage suspended high in the air from a construction crane.

Fierce Footwork. Female Force! The all-female tap squad sensation Syncopated Ladies’ have amassed over 50 million views worldwide since their video tap salute to megastar Beyonce went viral in 2014.

Get ready to dance the night away to some hot salsa music! Founded 40 years ago in the “world salsa capital” of Cali, Colombia, Grupo Niche is a legendary Pan-American salsa band with a fanbase that spans the globe.

World-renowned musician and humanitarian Samite brings a message of peace and hope through the healing power of music.

Africa’s first female kora virtuoso! “A griot for a new generation of west Africans”
— BBC Radio 3

The Haitian hip-hop ambassador brings a mash-up of socially conscious hip-hop that integrates Haitian roots music, Afrobeat, Latin grooves, and reggae beats to PVDFest!

Unexpected new music at the crossroads of Ukrainian folklore and theatre.

Celebrate Italy with “a brilliant outfit who grab southern Italian traditional music by the neck and recast it in a dramatic style” –Songlines (UK)

Famed costume designer Machine Dazzle will lead a workshop for budding designers in developing a glam look for the PVDFest Parade – Family Friendly! All materials provided.

Deeply influenced by traditional Creole, Cajun and Haitian music, as well as by American jazz and folk, Leyla McCalla is at once earthy and elegant, her sound vibrating with three centuries of history yet strikingly fresh and distinctive.

Director and media artist Lars Jan creates exciting installations that “weave the unraveling stories of water” by simulating floods in boxes while people perform everyday tasks inside them. He strives to create visceral beauty and discomfort with these “HOLOSCENES” disrupting public and private spaces with the collision of the human body in water.

After a show-stopping collaboration with local musicians at PVDFest 2017, composer/violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (aka DBR) returns to launch a year long FirstWorks Artistic Ambassadorship reaching students across the state.