Providence Public Library Opens and Exhibits As220 Archives

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Providence Public Library has opened the archives of AS220, the downtown art and performance space founded in 1985, to the public for research. The Library acquired the archives in January 2017.  AS220 is credited as a national model for urban revitalization and in its advocacy for the role of artists and art practice within community development. Organization and description of the collection was completed in the past year with the support of a grant from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC).

Materials from the AS220 collection will be on display at the Library’s Providence Journal Rhode Island Room during August and September. An event to celebrate the archives will be held September 12.

The archives include architectural renderings and records, promotional posters, menus, reports, artist applications, photos and audio recordings. More than 75 hours of video footage exist from TV220, a cable-access TV show produced by AS220 that ran from 1996 to 2004 along with documentation of visual and performance art at AS220 from Viola Davis, Shepard Fairey, Brian Chippendale and others.

View more information about the collection.