MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts faculty member Rick Benjamin and alumna Beth Nixon (MFAIA ’09) have been named Arts Mentoring Fellows at New Urban Arts in Providence, RI for the 2012-13 year. Fellows support New Urban Arts’ artist mentors, share artwork or ideas about community arts practice and work as artists-in-residence. The Arts Mentoring Fellowship program is designed to be rotating, among other reasons, in order to help us stay fresh and passionate and innovative within New Urban Arts’ mission and values.
New Urban Arts Executive Director Jason Yoon says, “Rick and Beth are both experienced and talented artists, educators with a long track records of integrating their work as artists and educators towards the purpose of community empowerment. They will help New Urban Arts and the City of Providence continue to be on the cutting edge of helping artists play key roles in community and youth development.”
Beth Nixon is the human behind many Ramshackle Enterprises. She creates puppet shows, piñatas, parades, pageants, clown acts, suitcase theaters, illustrations, masks, magical lands and other spectaculah- on her own, and in collaboration with other humans of all ages, abilities and persuasions. Mostly she uses cardboard, science, and the imagination. To learn more about Beth, please visit her website or read her bio.
Rick Benjamin is a community artist who currently practices art-making & learning at Brown University (Environmental Studies & Public Humanities), RISD (Literary Arts), in Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program & in many other learning communities in & around Providence (among them elementary, middle & high schools and assisted living centers). While his primary medium is poetry, he is also interested & has been engaged with collaborative installations, performance pieces, printmaking & language designing & glass blowing, among other things. To learn more about Rick, please visit his website or read his bio.
