September 27, 10am - 10pm, Rhode Island School Of Design, Chace Center, 20 North Main Street, Free And Open To The Public. The grand opening of The Chace Center will be an appropriately ebullient celebration, beginning with the music of the Dixieland-inspired Hot Tamale Brass Band and offering gallery tours; workshops inspired by the new site-specific installation Chihuly at RISD and Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay; live music, including Route .44, selected Best Local Act by the Providence Phoenix; and complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. For more information please click here.

September 26 @ 7pm, September 27 @ 3pm & 7pm, September 28 @ 3pm, The Media And Arts Center At Met Public, 325 Public Street, Free And Open To The Public, Reservations Suggested, 401-331-7007. Come and view spectacular creations from their brand new Wild Card! Program. The Wild Card! Program involves the kids attending weekly classes to hone and advance their existing playwriting skills, partnering with creative teams, evolving a central theme, deciding as a group who/what two of the three characters will be for ALL the plays and then each playwright chooses his or her own distinctive third character (the "wild card"). For more information please click here.

Runs Through September 28, Various Times And Locations, General Admission Is $8 Per Screening. One of the few competitive Latin Film Festivals in the country, with a jury comprised of international industry professionals and local filmmakers, who gather during the festival to choose the winner of the Fernando Birri Award for the Director's Opera Prima (First Work). Panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions, music and dance concerts take place along with their unique program of selected films. For more information please click here.

September 27, 8pm, VMA Arts And Cultural Center, 1 Avenue Of The Arts,Tickets Are $38 - $69. Acclaimed cellist Alban Gerhardt takes the Philharmonic stage with Music Director Larry Rachleff and the Orchestra. The combination of Alban's electrifying stage presence, unerring musical instinct, intense emotion and striking originality brings audiences to their feet at every performance. For more information please click here.

September 25 - 28, Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset Street, Tickets Are $46 - $73. It's here, and it's "an Elle of a show" (TIME Magazine). The hilarious MGM film is Broadway's new smash hit musical, and now Legally Blonde The Musical is coming to you. After turning Broadway and MTV hot pink, this "Feel-Good Song and Dance Juggernaut" (New York Magazine) is "The Best New Musical Around!" For more information please click here.

September 27 - October 18, Various Times And Locations, Most Events Free And Open To The Public. Rhode Island commemorates the bicentennial of the abolition of The Transatlantic Slave Trade & African American heritage as part of the RI Council for the Humanities On The Road To Freedom: African American Heritage in Rhode Island initiative. For a complete listing and description of events please click here.

September 27, 6:34pm, Sponsored By MetLife & Swarovski In Partnership With The American Heart Association, Secondary Sponsor RISD Museum Of Art. WaterFire Providence, the award-winning sculpture by Barnaby Evans, installed on the three rivers of downtown Providence, has been praised by Rhode Island residents and international visitors alike as a powerful work of art and a moving symbol of Providence's renaissance. For more information please click here.

Please click here for up to date information regarding the possibility of this event being rescheduled due to inclimate weather. If this event is postponed the event will be rescheduled for October 4.

Greater Kennedy Plaza is being transformed into a lively public square, rich with activity. The area includes Burnside Park, Kennedy Plaza, the Skating Center and Biltmore Park. Stay tuned here each week to find out what's going on!

Week of September 25 - October 1, 2008:

EVENTS
THURSDAY, September 25 - Market Bazaar - 11am To 6pm.
Check out lovely antiques, art and more. Join us each week!

THURSDAY, September 25 - WBRU Concert- 6pm.
Ben Folds and Missy Higgins hit the stage at the Bank of America Skating Center. For tickets and more information please click here.

FRIDAY, September 26 - Farmer's Market - 11am To 2pm.
Shop for tasty harvests from RI farms here along the sidewalk at Burnside Park. Choose from a selection of foods fresh from the fields and meet the people who grow your meal!

SATURDAY, September 27 - Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes, 1pm - 6pm.
Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes covers a few miles of walking, talking, and making a difference-all at the pace of a leisurely stroll. For more information and to register please click here.

TUESDAY, September 30 - Public Square Tuesday, 11am - 3:30pm.
Come on down to find out what volunteer opportunities local non-profit agencies have to offer and grab a Del's lemonade while you're there! This week: The Providence Black Repertory Company, Blackstone Valley Community Action Program, Ocean Opportunity, Ocean State Action and Voter Registration.

Wednesday, October 1 - Community Stage Performance, 12pm - 1pm.
Bring your lunch and join us for The Whompers! With violin, viola, harmonica, bagpipes, and hurdy-gurdy, they blend myriad harmonics to create a rich and luscious sound.

For more information on all the great things going on in Kennedy Plaza please click here.

September 25, 5:30pm For VIP, 6:30pm For General Admission, Botanical Center, Roger Williams Park, 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Walk-Ups Welcome, Tickets Are $100 For VIP, $50 For General Admission. Showcasing Little Rhody's rich, international flavors by pairing food samples from 30 diverse, independent local restaurants with wines from seven local vineyards. Live music, entertainment, raffles and auctions will be featured. For more information please click here.

New Trends In Sponsorship Strategy & The Value Of The Cultural Consumer. September 30, 4pm - 6pm, Greater Providence Chamber Of Commerce Theater, 30 Exchange Terrace, Free And Open To The Public. More and more, companies are turning to their Marketing and PR agencies to help them direct their marketing, philanthropic and cause-related dollars as well as navigate new trends in social marketing, extend their brand through event and experiential marketing strategies (a primary skill for arts organizations) and earn customer loyalty. This seminar will teach you how to get in front of these new trends and create winning strategies for your clients with key insights from Patricia Martin, Jenny Mello, Don Keinz and Gail Alofsin. This free seminar is part of the National Arts Forum Series presented by the Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island & the MetLife Foundation. To register for this event, please email tree@artsandbusinessri.org or call 401-621-6127.

Bouncer, Door Staff & Management Training. October 4 - 5, 11am - 4:30pm, Hotel Providence, Conference Room, Registration Is $20. Bob Smith, an internationally renown expert in the fields of nightclub security, crowd management, and best business practices for nightlife establishments, will be conducting a two day, 11 hour training for bouncers, door staff, and the management of any nightlife establishments in Providence. For more information please call 401-351-4300 x 541.

Call To Galleries And Fine Art Stores. The City of Providence's Department of Art, Culture + Tourism is in the process of revamping their web site. One of the key new features is the addition of an interactive Gallery/Fine Art guide. If you have a gallery, fine art store, art supply store, etc that is not currently listed on their web site, please click here to email Michael Christofaro with the name, location, contact info, brief description and high resolution photograph (300dpi) of your business.

RI Foundation Arts In Academics Grant. This fund supports educational projects that integrate art disciplines into other core academic subjects to benefit Rhode Island public school students. Application deadline: October 31, 2008. For more information and to download an application please click here.

Call For Entries: Letters About Literature. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author explaining how that author's work changed the reader's way of thinking about the world or themselves. The deadline is December 6. For more information please click here.

The Steel Yard Fall 2008 Community Courses Are Now Online. They have plenty of new courses to offer: Welding in a Week, Industrial Casting Techniques for the Kitchen, and more! Also, they welcome the return of Slip Casting and TWO sessions of Basic Bike Maintenance (weekday and weekend).Whether you're interested in metalworking, ceramics, jewelry, glass or bicycles, there are plenty of chances to get your hands dirty and let the creativity roar, so sign up today! For more information please click here.