Umberto Crenca is the founder and Artistic Director of AS220, a non-profit center for the arts in Providence, Rhode Island. AS220 was established in 1985 to provide a local forum and home for the arts, that is unjuried and uncensored. The organization maintains nineteen artist live and/or work spaces, five galleries, and two performance spaces, and has established a powerful presence in the Downtown Arts and Entertainment District.

Crenca has been committed to the revitalization of Downtown, and plays an important role in community efforts across the region. He serves on Providence Mayor Cicilline's Arts Culture and Tourism Advisory Board. He was also appointed to the Providence School Board in January 2005. He is an advisor to the LINC inititive, a national effort to create better support systems for individual artist.

In the past two decades, Crenca has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, The Urban Institute, The Ford Foundation, LEF Foundation, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Connecticut Council on the Arts, the New England Artists' Trust, and the Creative Cities Summit.