Pawtucket Arts Festival

Pawtucket Arts Festival is an annual arts festival in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is one of the longest-running continuous cultural festivals in the country.<ref>BISSONNETTE, JONATHAN. "YOU GOTTA HAVE ART." Times, The (Pawtucket, RI), sec. News, 7 May 2016, p. A1. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/15CB647A9B3C3AA0. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.</ref>

Founded in 1998 through the efforts of Kristine Kilmartin, former Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, and then-Mayor of Pawtucket, James Doyle (mayor)|James Doyle (Mayor), the Pawtucket Arts Festival was based upon already existing arts festivals in Rhode Island: Scituate Art Festival and the Convergence International Art Festival in Providence, Rhode Island. The festival was originally a satellite of the latter, and was called "Convergence Pawtucket '99". There were a few thousand attendees at the first festival.<ref>SHEA-TAYLOR, BETSY. "Pawtucket Arts Festival celebrates its 10th year." Call, The (Woonsocket, RI), sec. Pawtucket Arts Festival, 31 Aug. 2008, p. D4. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/122F7D5F4714A328. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.</ref>

Events that are part of the festival include the annual Rhode Island Chinese Dragon boat Races & Taiwan Day Festival, the Slater Park Fall Festival, <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.valleybreeze.com/2014-08-26/features/art-city|title=Art in the city|last=Shorey|first=Ethan|last2=Editor|first2=Breeze Online News|website=The Valley Breeze|language=en|access-date=2020-02-20}}</ref>

Artists who have performed at the Pawtucket Arts Festival include the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra|Rhode Island Philharmonic, Big Nazo, Bob Dylan, Counting Crows, Collective Soul, 3 Doors Down.

References