At a time of political instability – one characterized by torrents of tweets and click-bate news stories – Reading Club provides an opportunity for DO members and guests to slow down and “think through crisis” together. If you would like to join the reading club, email the organizer, Melissa Weiss, at reading@thedesignoffice.org

Collaboration is fundamental to the design process: from working with clients and vendors to finding creative partners. The Design Office is a group of small design firms and independent practitioners who share space and support each other’s work. Members have different areas of expertise and work with a wide variety of clients while also pushing the boundaries of their practice through uncommissioned projects. The group has collaborated on a number of projects over the years that have explored rethinking cultural identity, finding common ground, expanding boundaries, and finding clarity in complexity.

Simultaneously overpowering and intimate, Mary Beth Meehan’s urban portraits give us an opportunity to see each other. The vertical-sized billboards elevate her fellow Americans onto the sides of buildings throughout downtown Providence. A print of Bidur, pictured below, was added recently to the series. We’ve asked fellow photographers Josephine Sittenfeld and Thad Russell to moderate a discussion with Mary Beth about the project, public art, the state of photography in Providence, and wherever else the conversation leads. Please join us.

We are bringing the voice of the creative community to the Pawsox development group at this open forum. We hope to have a critical and respectful discussion about the cultural, economic, and urban impacts that the proposed ballpark could have.

Pawtucket Red Sox team president Jim Skeffington will present the ballpark proposal, and then take questions. We will be moderating the discussion and keeping minutes.

More on the proposal at the Pawsox Ballpark website

RIPR article that covers the basics of the situation.