Menu Close

Rebuilding Our Past, Building New Futures: Examining Monuments and More in Rhode Island

Full recording of Rebuilding Our Past, Building New Futures: Examining Monuments and More in Rhode Island. Presented by Center for Reconciliation, August 24, 2020.

On August 24, 2020 at 4:30 pm, the Center for Reconciliation welcomed over 115 participants via Zoom to the webinar Rebuilding Our Past, Building New Futures: Examining Monuments and More in Rhode Island. Government officials, scholars, community leaders, artists, and audience members explored the history and meaning of public commemoration in Rhode Island, and imagined new futures for our shared past.

Speakers sparked new connections and critical questions around the pervasive commemoration of agents of colonization, genocide, and enslavement throughout our public landscape, including: How can communities publicly acknowledge histories of violence and oppression without celebrating them? Can new meaning be brought to existing monuments through interventions and actions? And, what might monuments of the future look like, and who might create them?

Speakers (in order of remarks):

  • Julia Renaud (moderator), Exhibition Manager & Curator, Center for Reconciliation
  • Councilman Steven Craddock, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
  • Dr. Christopher Roberts, Social Equity and Inclusion Research Fellow, Rhode Island School of Design
  • Stephanie Fortunato, Director, City of Providence Department of Arts, Culture + Tourism
  • Becci Davis, Rhode Island-based interdisciplinary artist