UPP Arts Legacy Project
The first Urban Pond Procession was held in 2008, launching an annual Rhode Island tradition and a non-profit organization called UPP Arts focused on the neglected Mashapaug Pond and the Lower Pawtuxet River Watershed. The 2016-2017 year marks the 10th year of programs to improve the health and vitality of our urban waters and the communities around them. We are excited to celebrate this incredible decade of innovative arts education and grassroots civic engagement by compiling stories of the lessons learned over the past 10 years, sharing them with the public and making them accessible to generations to come.
On May 13, 2017, we celebrated The Stories of Mashapaug Pond and passed the torch during our 10th and final Urban Pond Procession.
In June 2017, we began the UPP Arts Legacy Project, a 2-year endeavor in which founder and director Holly Ewald will work with an archivist to collect and organize UPP’s physical and digital archives to be permanently preserved as a part of the Providence Public Library’s Rhode Island Collection. This publicly accessible archive will show how UPP Arts developed as an organization and the activities it undertook, benefiting artists, environmental organizations, government agencies and community groups interested in engaging artists to effect social and environmental change. The archiving process will enable Ewald to reflect on the past 10 years as she prepares to encapsulate the UPP Arts story and approach in a collaborative book, with contributions from UPP’s many diverse partners including government agencies, academic researchers, teaching artists, students and residents.
In addition, to help ensure the continuation of our unique approach of fostering environmental awareness and stewardship through site-based learning across disciplines in schools and community centers, veteran UPP Arts teaching artists and educators will provide professional development training workshops for teachers with “how-to materials” as guides. Further, our collaborative approach, which engages artists and communities in public artmaking for the purpose of celebrating and building stewardship of our shared environment, is manifest in projects such as the annual Procession, the West Elmwood Orchard and the Oasis Project and will continue through a supportive handoff process to enthusiastic and caring partner organizations.
After 10 years of grassroots community engagement and inventive arts projects, UPP Arts will have created 24 unique projects working with 13 in- and out-of-school time programs in Providence and Cranston, involving over 35 teachers, 20 teaching artists, and nearly 1000 students. We have been stakeholders in the remediation of the former Gorham Silver Manufacturing Co. site where Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School (a UPP program site for 6 years) was built in 2007 and where a new city park will open in 2017 and a Friends group is forming. We have connected groups with historical ties to the place, including Indigenous Rhode Islanders, residents of the old West Elmwood neighborhood and former Gorham Silver Manufacturing Co. workers, in order to bring local history to life for the students and the public.
Though Mashapaug Pond and the Lower Pawtuxet River Watershed have been the focus of UPP Arts’ efforts, theirs is a story similar to hundreds of other industrial and urban aquatic sites in New England and around the country. Rather than be seen as sites to avoid, how can we transform them into places to safely recreate, learn from, steward and celebrate? The UPP Arts approach has contributed to that transition at Mashapaug Pond, and the Legacy Project archives, book and trainings will enable people who care about similar sites to use the UPP Arts approach as a springboard for their own work.
Please explore our website to learn more about our projects in schools and public spaces, watch videos about Mashapaug Pond created by students and artists, and peruse our educational materials. Read Holly's blog as she reflects on the last 10 years!
On May 13, 2017, we celebrated The Stories of Mashapaug Pond and passed the torch during our 10th and final Urban Pond Procession.
In June 2017, we began the UPP Arts Legacy Project, a 2-year endeavor in which founder and director Holly Ewald will work with an archivist to collect and organize UPP’s physical and digital archives to be permanently preserved as a part of the Providence Public Library’s Rhode Island Collection. This publicly accessible archive will show how UPP Arts developed as an organization and the activities it undertook, benefiting artists, environmental organizations, government agencies and community groups interested in engaging artists to effect social and environmental change. The archiving process will enable Ewald to reflect on the past 10 years as she prepares to encapsulate the UPP Arts story and approach in a collaborative book, with contributions from UPP’s many diverse partners including government agencies, academic researchers, teaching artists, students and residents.
In addition, to help ensure the continuation of our unique approach of fostering environmental awareness and stewardship through site-based learning across disciplines in schools and community centers, veteran UPP Arts teaching artists and educators will provide professional development training workshops for teachers with “how-to materials” as guides. Further, our collaborative approach, which engages artists and communities in public artmaking for the purpose of celebrating and building stewardship of our shared environment, is manifest in projects such as the annual Procession, the West Elmwood Orchard and the Oasis Project and will continue through a supportive handoff process to enthusiastic and caring partner organizations.
After 10 years of grassroots community engagement and inventive arts projects, UPP Arts will have created 24 unique projects working with 13 in- and out-of-school time programs in Providence and Cranston, involving over 35 teachers, 20 teaching artists, and nearly 1000 students. We have been stakeholders in the remediation of the former Gorham Silver Manufacturing Co. site where Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School (a UPP program site for 6 years) was built in 2007 and where a new city park will open in 2017 and a Friends group is forming. We have connected groups with historical ties to the place, including Indigenous Rhode Islanders, residents of the old West Elmwood neighborhood and former Gorham Silver Manufacturing Co. workers, in order to bring local history to life for the students and the public.
Though Mashapaug Pond and the Lower Pawtuxet River Watershed have been the focus of UPP Arts’ efforts, theirs is a story similar to hundreds of other industrial and urban aquatic sites in New England and around the country. Rather than be seen as sites to avoid, how can we transform them into places to safely recreate, learn from, steward and celebrate? The UPP Arts approach has contributed to that transition at Mashapaug Pond, and the Legacy Project archives, book and trainings will enable people who care about similar sites to use the UPP Arts approach as a springboard for their own work.
Please explore our website to learn more about our projects in schools and public spaces, watch videos about Mashapaug Pond created by students and artists, and peruse our educational materials. Read Holly's blog as she reflects on the last 10 years!