The Community Darkroom is planning a major project for this summer, Focus 1999, and they'll be talking about it at their Open House on February 1st (7pm). The Open House will also feature a basic AS220 orientation from Mark Pedini and an opportunity for questions and answers.

Here's the basic dope on Focus 1999:

Focus 1999 will introduce Providence youth to the basics of black and white photography through a large-scale photo documentary project. Teams of youth will spend the summer months capturing the Providence cityscape as we approach the millenium. With the recent boom of development, Providence's industrial past is making way for a new vision of the city. Before the city's renaissance is complete, Focus 1999 will engage the city's youth in archiving and celebrating this transition.

By participating in Focus 1999, students will expand their interaction with Providence's communities and neighborhoods and gain exposure to the realities of contemporary city planning. Students will work closely with professional photographers in planning and executing the project, gaining experience in the process of crafting a gallery-quality portfolio. The resulting work will be mounted for public viewing in the Fall and Winter of 1999.

The space that currently hosts Groundwerx Dance Company's studio and offices will become available to new tenants in June 1999. Perishable Theatre and Groundwerx were AS220's partners in the redevelopment of the current AS220 Complex, which opened in 1993.

We are accepting proposals from prospective tenants through February 26. Our formal Request for Proposals, which includes a full description of the space, is available from the AS220 office and is online at www.as220.org/rfp

Who the Hell is Erin McKeown?

Welcome aboard to Erin McKeown, who is a new resident of our third floor studios. Erin's a veteran of Brown's cooperative living spaces and a musician who's actually making a living at her craft (see http://www.netspace.org/tvprecords/ for more info). She first got involved at AS220 via The Pork Chop Lounge and has recently helped put together shows like last fall's Venus Envy.

Erin's taking the spot vacated by longtime resident Rick Massimo, who recently expanded his creative resume by fathering a child. Rick's steady gig as bassist for the Smoking Jackets ensures that we'll still be seeing him around.

Fool's Ball Season Has Begun

Planning for the 5th annual incarnation of AS220's gala fundraiser has already begun. The first full week of April will be full of special events, culminating in a huge building-wide bash on April 10th. Details aren't pinned down yet, but Ball coordinator Sheri Van Antwerp is nursing a dream of a huge parade on Saturday afternoon. More news to come.

New Newsletters

The new edition of our 16 page newsletter arrived on our doorstep January 1st. There's an awful lot of information in there, but we did forget to thank all the people that helped us put it together, so...

Matt Lowe did the lion's share of the layout, and juiced up the blurbs for all the listings. If you ever tried to write 8 different sentences about figure drawing you'll appreciate his work.
Heather Baldwin had perfect timing, poring over the copy and catching a host of goofs immediately before we sent it off to the printer.
Pam Murray captured the awe and majesty of Joe Auger in the photo we used on page 3 and Amy Zimmitti took the self-portrait on page 1. Minister of Propaganda Mark Pedini did the cover along with abbreviated Membership solicitation on page 2.