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Newport String Quartet at the Cato Vernon Freedom Library, an enhanced listening experience

Newport String Quartet at the Cato Vernon Freedom Library, an enhanced listening experience

by | Oct 1, 2026

Join the Newport String Quartet at the Cato Vernon Freedom Library for an evening of music that bookends a group viewing of the exhibit. Join us at 5:30pm to hear the quartet perform Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code which takes inspiration from the choreography of Alvin Ailey, poetry of Langston Hughes and Rita Dove and the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Black spirituals. With enhanced listening, travel through the exhibit together, ending with a final performance of Carlos Simon’s Warmth of Other Suns who describes his work as an expression of the duality of wanting to find rest, yet never being able to call a place a home.

Free for all

About the Newport String Project:

As artists-in-residence at the Newport String Project, the Newport String Quartet presents a dynamic concert series each season and provides free lessons each week to 40 students in violin, viola, and cello. Each of the Quartet’s concerts features works by celebrated composers alongside masterworks by underrepresented composers in traditional and alternative venues around Newport. The free weekly lessons and youth mentoring initiatives are funded by the Newport String Project through individual donations and foundation support—making chamber music accessible for all throughout the greater Newport RI community.

Now in its fourteenth season, the Newport String Project’s distinctive quartet-in-residence model is dedicated to building long-term relationships with students, families, and audiences of all backgrounds.

Reflections on Soul Value and Research-to-Performance Method Writing: a Conversation with April Brown and Jessica Pearson

Reflections on Soul Value and Research-to-Performance Method Writing: a Conversation with April Brown and Jessica Pearson

by | Sep 22, 2026

April Brown and Jessica Pearson will be in conversation about their process to develop Soul Value using the research to performance method. Soul Value brings to life the stories of New England Black women—Elleanor Eldridge, Elizabeth Freeman, and Margaret Kinnicutt—and the men of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment during and after the American Revolutionary War. Through a compelling blend of monologue, dance, ritual, and song, Soul Value illuminates the often-overlooked contributions of Black and Indigenous people in New England history, centering their advocacy, resilience, and determination to survive and thrive. The work invites audiences to engage with a more complete and inclusive understanding of the American story while creating meaningful connections between the past and the present

About April Brown:

April H. Brown is an educator, ordained minister, poet, singer, actor, and nationally recognized nonprofit leader whose work bridges the arts, education, and social justice. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, April brings over 25 years of experience in community development, cultural leadership, and educational equity.

April serves as Co-Director of the Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee, that amplifies Black literary voices through civic poetry gatherings and is a fellow with Ocean Nexus within the Department of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island.

April holds a Bachelor of Arts from American University and a Master of Education from the University of Rhode Island. She has worked in a wide array of professional and cultural settings, including with the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of American History, where she helped produce landmark public events such as the National World War II Reunion and the Folklife Festival. Locally, she has collaborated with Rhode Island Black Storytellers, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and served as the African Marketplace Director.

“For April, arts practice is the way we speak life into humanity.”

About Jessica Pearson:

Jessica T. Pearson is a Professor of Dance at Rhode Island College. Ms. Pearson is a dancer, educator and choreographer who danced with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Gesel Mason, Concepts In Motion (Bermuda), and Denizen Arts. As an educator of modern dance traditions, she has been invited to teach at Ballet West Summer Intensive, Brown University, Providence College, Urbanity Summer Intensive, University of Kentucky Lexington, Festival Ballet, and has taught overseas.

Her choreography has been selected to perform at Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Southern Vermont Dance Festival and Collective Thread (NY). Urbanity Next, Utah Regional Ballet, Rhode Island College, Salve Regina University, University of Kentucky Lexington, University of Utah, and Providence College have commissioned choreography by Ms. Pearson.

Ms. Pearson is currently training with Isaura Oliveira and Power of Skirts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a principal dancer in Hocus Pocus 2 and recently joined SAG-AFTRA. Prior to Rhode Island College, she was a Post MFA Fellow at the University of Utah. She received her MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado Boulder where she studied dance pedagogy and choreography and BFA in Dance from Towson University in Towson, Maryland.

Was Freedom Sweet? The Travels of Arthur Bowler, Black Loyalist: a Book Talk with Jane Lancaster

Was Freedom Sweet? The Travels of Arthur Bowler, Black Loyalist: a Book Talk with Jane Lancaster

by | Sep 22, 2026

This book talk from author and historian Jan Lancaster will share the story of Arthur Bowler, an enslaved African, who lived in the house later called the Vernon House for at least a decade — before Cato Vernon’s time. She’ll discuss the clues available about his life in Newport, and his subsequent life in Portsmouth, New York, Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. As a so-called Black Loyalist his life followed a very different trajectory from that of Cato Vernon.

This talk coincides with research Jane conducted for her debut work of historical fiction, Liberty is Sweet.

About Jane Lancaster:
Jane Lancaster is a historian by training and a communicator by instinct. In books, articles and talks, she shows people that history is all around them. Before she earned a PhD in history from Brown University and started publishing books and articles, she was an award-winning high school history teacher, both in the UK and in the USA, persuading students (often successfully) that history was all around them if they knew how and where to look.
Finding Cato Vernon in Photography Artist Talk wit Jason Roomes and Dominique Sindayiganza

Finding Cato Vernon in Photography Artist Talk wit Jason Roomes and Dominique Sindayiganza

by | Sep 20, 2026

While creating the Cato Vernon Freedom Library, Lead Artist and Photographer Dominique Sindayiganza visited sites in Rhode Island where Cato Vernon likely traveled. As he photographed these places which are now often manicured, leisurely, and serene, he wondered what Cato’s view would have been — did this tree see Cato when it was an acorn? Does the mitochondria still hold his memory? Is his presence in this view, even with jet skis, tennis courts, and high schools here now? Despite the peace of these places today, Dominique imagined the battlefields, enslavement, imprisonment, and war that Cato would have seen. The more images he took, the more he felt Cato Vernon.

Along the way, Dominique met Jason Roomes, who steps into the uniform of his ancestor Caesar Rome, who fought in the RI 1st Regiment alongside Cato Vernon. By photographing Jason, Dominique found a shared thread in their journey — while also being keenly aware of the differences. Jason’s life changed when he realized the role his ancestors played in the Revolutionary War, and he has dedicated the last decade to honoring their service by giving them a physical presence today.

This talk between Jason, Dominique and Lead Artist Rebecca Noon will illuminate the ways photography, memory, embodiment and place are powerful tools to understanding our history in personal, sensorial ways.

Free for all.

About Jason Roomes:

Jason Roomes is a lifelong New Englander. His ancestors came here as enslaved people, and their descendents have served in every war since the American Revolution. Jason honors his ancestors through living history. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.

About Dominique Sindayiganza:

Dominique Sindayiganza is a photographer who uses his camera to create and celebrate community. In his long-term personal photo series, entitled “HOMECOMING”, he focuses on photographing strangers at home.

He lives in Providence, RI with his wife and 3 daughters.

Dominique was also the Production Photographer on Center Aquidneck’s Life After Life.

Strangers in a Strange Land: a Talk on the Free African Union movement by Keith Stokes

Strangers in a Strange Land: a Talk on the Free African Union movement by Keith Stokes

by | Sep 20, 2026

Held on the anniversary of its founding, this talk will interpret the evolution of the Free African Union movement during the American Revolution era, showcasing the profound influence of the African Diaspora on the advancement of Black identity in early America.

Free for all.

About Keith Stokes:

Griot, Historian, Intellectual, Convener, Public Policy Wonk, Father, Husband, and son of Rhode Island

Throughout his four decades of public service in Rhode Island, Keith W. Stokes has remained dedicated to building a community that welcomes everyone who calls the Ocean State home. Currently the Historian Laureate for the State of Rhode Island, he has served in various roles, including as an elected official in his cherished Newport hometown and a gubernatorial appointee focused on economic development. Additionally, he has contributed to the City of Providence and the State of Rhode Island, leading business development efforts.  Stokes has consistently aimed to intertwine public funding with private development to nurture a strong and beloved community.

Keith earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and completed his graduate studies in public policy at the University of Chicago. His education is enriched by the stories of his ancestors, who have shared long-held narratives from a time before the American Revolution, providing him with a unique perspective on the present.

Keith is presently Director of the State of Rhode Island Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. He has also been an Advisor for Rhode Island with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and served on numerous local, regional, and national business and public boards, including Preservation Society for Newport County, Touro Synagogue Foundation, Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission Historical Review Board, Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Quonset Development Corporation, Rhode Island Foundation, and the American Antiquarian Society.

His current passion is borne of a heritage that extends before the republic and grounds his roots in the land of Rhode Island.  From his father, the cerebral and equally physical baseball, and from his mother, a grounding in history and a curiosity to learn more about his African, Jewish, and Caribbean family roots.

He frequently appears on national historical programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News Legends & Lies, and Ted Talk.  Recently, he was the lead researcher and author of “A Matter of Truth” publication for the examination and documentation of the role of the City of Providence and the State of Rhode Island in supporting a “Separate and Unequal” existence for African heritage, Indigenous, and People of Color.

He is a 9th-generation Rhode Islander who calls Newport home with his beloved wife Theresa. He is the father of four children and an extended clan of Pit Bull dogs that he rescues and nurtures.