We also have a delicious taqueria. — Chlöe Mandel [caption id="attachment_266" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo courtesy of AS220"][/caption] 1. Does your space have a particular feeling, philosophy, or attitude? What kinds of things happen there? There is a very strong sense of a creative community at AS220. We operate under the philosophy is that everyone has the right to creative expression. Our mission statement backs this up by maintaining that we are an all-ages, unjuried and uncensored forum for the arts. We guarantee all Rhode Island artists a chance to exhibit or perform in one of our four gallery spaces or performance space. We have a show every single night of the week, ranging from punk shows to hip hop open mics and film screenings. Our four gallery spaces have a large range of different visual work on public display every month. Our youth organization, Broad Street Studio, has visual and musical arts classes, a resource center and an arts immersion program with the Rhode Island juvenile detention center for. Our darkroom and print shop are open to the public for classes and membership. We also have 34 live and work spaces that we rent out to artists, a bar and a delicious taqueria. 2. What factors lead to choosing the space? How did you design it? Before buying our current space on Empire Street, we had rented in two other spaces and were worried about getting pushed out of downtown. The two buildings we operate from were essentially chosen because of the need for a permanent place for the arts in downtown Providence. At this point, we’ve been recognized as a catalyst in the revitalization of Providence’s historic downtown center. Legal artist live spaces, cooperative space, multi-functional performance and gallery space and an aesthetic reflecting the artistic community of Providence were all things we took into consideration when designing the current AS220. 3. What sorts of projects are in store for you? We are hoping to develop more artist live and work space, create more programming and basically find ways of doing more of what we already do. 4. What role does your space play in the community? In addition to “Arts Space,” the “A.S.” also stands for “Alternative Space,” so we’re pretty much a place where all weirdos can feel at home. Plenty of Rhode Islanders will tell you that AS220 was the first place they ever performed, exhibited their work or saw a show, and a huge variety of people hang out at the AS220 bar and Taqueria Pacifica. We have the only public print shop and community dark room in Providence, and the only affordable artist live/work spaces downtown. We’ve been an incubator for different local organizations including the Black Repertory Company, Youth in Action, and College Visions. We currently provide employment to around forty-so people. 5. With unlimited resources, what would you do with the space? What kind of infrastructural support would you want? We would make a fun all-ages area and have free snacks, definitely. We’d need a ball pit and someone to scoop the ice cream. But seriously, it would be awesome to have a system set up in the sound booth to record all the live shows for posterity. That would require better sound equipment, some expensive technology, and people to flip the switch. 6. What are other spaces or places that you like? We’re friends with other arts spaces in Providence, like The Steelyard, the Black Repertory Company, Perishable Theatre and the Dirt Palace. The Brooklyn Artist Gym is also a really cool place that we’d like to use as a model for future projects. website: http://www.as220.org location: 115 Empire St., Providence Rhode Island 02903 contact: Chlöe Mandel, (Communications Director), chloe@as220.org, 401.831.9327