Happy 2013 to the VRA membership.
This is the first in a series of messages in which Providence, The Creative Capital, will be featured as the location for the 2013 VRA Annual Conference celebrating VRA’s 31st anniversary from April 3-6 at the historic Providence Biltmore hotel.
It’s a perfect time to be writing to you about a springtime gathering… as the Providence River freezes solid this week. Not to worry: southern New England boasts four true seasons and spring should be in full bloom to welcome you with moderate temperatures—though possibly some showers, which is perhaps unavoidable in The Ocean State.
It’s also a perfect time to be writing to you on the day after the Rhode Island House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed historic legislation granting full legal rights (marriage equality) to same-sex couples in the state (civil unions were approved in 2011 and the state recognizes same-sex marriages conferred by other states). Whether this issue is something you feel strongly about or not, civil rights and equal treatment under the law are hallmarks of Rhode Island history with its settlement by Roger Williams as a haven for religious freedom and its refusal to sign the US Constitution until a Bill of Rights was included.
Rhode Island was at the heart of trade routes for the colonies (nearby locations with names such as India Point speak to this role and to the awful truth of being heavily involved in the slave trade) and was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, known primarily for textiles and silver. Like many formerly industrial strongholds, Providence has redefined itself as a center for education and medicine. With flagship institutions that include Brown University (most liberal among the Ivy League), Rhode Island School of Design (long-ranked the #1 art and design school), and Johnson & Wales University (preeminent culinary school that offered the first degree in the culinary arts), and with a low cost of living for New England and a location ideally situated close to Boston and not far from New York City, Providence is home to many artists, performers, musicians, etc.—truly a Creative Capital for critical thinking and making.
With one of the most centrally located hotels for a VRA conference, all of your destinations will be within a very short walk, starting with Starbucks located off the hotel lobby. Restaurants of dizzying variety, jazz clubs, galleries, pubs (English *and* Irish), Little Italy on nearby Federal Hill, etc., are all nearby for you to enjoy. And should you have any questions (or momentarily lose sight of the Biltmore’s iconic neon sign), Rhode Islanders are friendly to visitors, partly born of pride in this smallest state with the longest name and its fierce tradition of independence and dissent, but also because Rhode Islanders love to talk.
Future messages on VRA-L will expand on these aspects of Providence as a host city for VRA*31, in addition to highlighting the impressive conference programming that awaits attendees. I’m pleased to call your attention to VRA’s first use of a blog platform as the conference website, http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra31/, allowing for greater fluidity and variety of content. Look to the blog as your primary resource for travel planning and other logistics, with links to the conference program and registration.
Other city-related websites of interest:
- The official website of the city: http://www.providenceri.com/
- The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau: http://www.goprovidence.com/
- Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goprovidence/
- Official tourism video: http://youtu.be/HbVD_yb9mWE
- Providence Biltmore: http://www.providencebiltmore.com/
Hope to see you in April for a conference that promises to be “wicked good”.
