Umberto Crenca
Title
Description
{{Infobox artist
| name = Bert Crenca<!-- use common name/article title -->
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| birth_name = Umberto Crenca <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1950}} <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. -->
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| spouse = Susan Clausen
| alma_mater = Rhode Island College
}}Umberto "Bert" Crenca is an American artist, arts administrator, arts advisor and educator. He is known for being a founder and long-time artistic director of the non-profit arts organization, AS220, in Providence, Rhode Island. He has been credited with helping to "lay the groundwork for much of the cultural development that shaped the Providence imaginary in the 1990s and early decades of the 21st century" by scholar Micah Salkind, <ref>{{Cite book|last=Salkind|first=Micah|title=Creative Economies in Post-Industrial Cities: Manufacturing a (Different) Scene|date=|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9781317158318|editor-last=Breitbart|editor-first=Myrna Margulies|location=|pages=|language=en|chapter=Creative Revitalization As a Community Affair|via=ebook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost)}}</ref> and in 2010 was identified as one of Rhode Island's Most Influential People by Rhode Island Monthly.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rimonthly.com/powerful-people/pic/21589/|title=Powerful People|date=2010-09-17|website=Rhode Island Monthly|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-02}}</ref>
Biography
Early Life
Crenca was born in Rhode Island in 1950. In the 1980s, Crenca worked in the print shop of Fleet Bank. He graduated from the Rhode Island College in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts. <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Margolis|first=Jon|date=2002|title=The Education of Bert Crenca|url=https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cap_vistas/1|journal=Democratic Vistas Profiles|volume=1|pages=|via=}}</ref>
AS220
Following an unfavorable review of Crenca's work in The Providence Journal in 1982, a group of artists gathered to condemn harsh art critiques. Together, they created a manifesto and sought to create a new art space. This resulted in Crenca founding AS220, a non-profit art space, in 1985. <ref>Siclen | Journal Arts Writer, Bill Van. "AS220: Alive and still kicking at 30 - Providence-based arts and performance center making new plans for the future as it celebrates a milestone." Providence Journal (RI), sec. RI Features, 18 Oct. 2015, p. 1. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/1588F2C46823ECB8. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.</ref> AS220 grew from a small performance and studio space in 1985 to the proprietor of live/work studios, exhibition spaces, multiple performance areas, teaching spaces, a restaurant and bar. Crenca describes his work at AS220 as being "extremely blurred" with his work as an artist, and describes AS220 as a "work of art." <ref>{{Cite news|last=Eil|first=Phillip|url=https://issuu.com/thebostonphoenix/docs/providence_032114_web|title=Bert Crenca talks nooses, nuclear meltdowns and 'Building AS220'|date=March 21, 2014|work=The Providence Phoenix|access-date=6/19/19|page=6}}</ref>
Crenca retired as Artistic Director of AS220 in 2015, and served as an adjunct advisor and spokesperson for the organization through 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Van Siclen|first=Bill|url=|title=AS220: Alive and still kicking at 30 - Providence-based arts and performance center making new plans for the future as it celebrates a milestone|date=October 18, 2015|work=The Providence Journal|access-date=|page=1}}</ref>
Arts administration and education
In his capacity as Artistic Director of AS220 and arts administrator, Crenca acted on local boards and committees as a representative of the Rhode Island arts community, including the Arts and Entertainment District Task Force in 1992 <ref>{{Cite book|last=Osario|first=Arturo E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhspDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT63&lpg=PT63&dq=lucie+searle+interviews&source=bl&ots=isYg7ZpM6A&sig=ACfU3U3UiDsSPmudL3Y8AnnDMoa_zQpA5Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirwpb49OziAhVvUN8KHXNGA8sQ6AEwDnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=crenca&f=false|title=Creative Economies in Post-Industrial Cities: Manufacturing a (Different) Scene|date=|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9781317158318|editor-last=Breitbart|editor-first=Myrna Margulies|location=|pages=|language=en|chapter=Creative Revitalization As a Community Affair|via=ebook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost)}}</ref>, the mayoral transition committees of Providence mayors David Cicilline (2002) <ref>{{Cite news|last=Milkovits|first=Amanda|url=|title=Cicilline gathers team to help steer city|date=November 15, 2002|work=The Providence Journal|access-date=|page=B-01}}</ref>and Jorge Elorza (2014)<ref>{{Cite news|last=Borg|first=Linda|url=|title=Mayor-elect Elorza names 29-person steering committee|date=December 12, 2014|work=The Providence Journal|access-date=}}</ref>, and the Providence School Board 2005-2008.<ref name=":0">DAVIS, KAREN A.. "Frye, Crenca formally join School Board." Providence Journal (RI), Metro ed., sec. News, 5 Jan. 2005, pp. C-01. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/152428E8A72E3A48. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.</ref>
Crenca has spoken at numerous events as regarding place-making and community arts programs, including the keynote address Museums Aotearoa Conference in New Zealand in 2012, <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.museumsaotearoa.org.nz/2012/08/23/umberto-crenca-the-art-of-community/|title=Umberto Crenca “The Art of Community”|date=2012-08-23|website=Museums Aotearoa|language=en|access-date=2019-11-03}}</ref> the TEDxProvidence conference in 2013, <ref>{{Citation|title=Unjuried Uncensored Art Spaces in Service to Community: Umberto Crenca at TEDxProvidence 2013|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD-T4LIddtE|language=en|access-date=2019-11-03}}</ref> and The Cass Project's lecture series at the University at Buffalo in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://humanitiesinstitute.buffalo.edu/event/the-cass-project-with-ub-arts-management-lecture-umberto-crenca/|title=Humanities Institute :: University at Buffalo :: The Cass Project with UB Arts Management: Lecture: Umberto Crenca|website=humanitiesinstitute.buffalo.edu|access-date=2019-06-22}}</ref>
Much of his work has centered around arts education and programming for youth, including the establishment of the Broad Street Studio, which evolved over time into what is now the AS220 Youth Program, and his work as an art instructor at the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families|Rhode Island Training School <ref name=":0" /> and at AS220's education program for arts administrators, [http://practicepractice.as220.org/ Practice//Practice].
Visual Art, Music and Performance
Crenca is a visual artist, musician and performer. His style was described as "propelled by a prolific, relentless, try-everything-at-once drive" and "improvisational, free-association, automatic-writing, hallucinatory" by Greg Cook of the Providence Phoenix. <ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Cook|first=Greg|date=November 16, 2010|title=Review: Umberto Crenca's introspective retrospective at AS220|url=http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/111579-review-umberto-crencas-introspective-retrospecti/|url-status=dead|journal=Providence Phoenix|volume=|pages=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130072308/http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/111579-review-umberto-crencas-introspective-retrospecti/|archive-date=November 30, 2010|via=}}</ref>
In the 1990s, Crenca co-lead a fluxus-based music and performance troupe, Meatballs/Fluxus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-02-28-9101190060-story.html|title=MEATBALLS/FLUXUS PULLS OUT THE STOPS|last=McCracken|first=David|website=chicagotribune.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-03}}</ref> His other musical and performance collaborations include Monkee Head, <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://post.browndailyherald.com/2014/03/22/monkee-head/|title=The Weirdness is Us|date=2014-03-22|website=Post-|access-date=2019-11-05}}</ref> Panic Band<ref>SEAVOR, JIM. "IS AS220 READY FOR EDINBURGH? - On the other hand, is Edinburgh ready for AS220?." Providence Journal (RI), All ed., sec. Arts, 29 July 2001, pp. E-01. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/15250B611367ED10. Accessed 5 Nov. 2019.</ref>, and the Gillen Street Project.
Selected Exhibitions
* 1984 - Galleria del Corso, Latino, Italy<ref>"Liza's back in R. I. - She will return in June to accept a Pell Award from Trinity Repertory Company, along with George Wein and Umberto Crenca." Call, The (Woonsocket, RI), sec. News, 9 May 2010, p. 2C. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/12F9C48936C9A280. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.</ref>
* 1985 - Antonio Dattorro Studio Gallery <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://post.browndailyherald.com/2012/10/25/art-uninhibited/|title=Art, Uninhibited|date=2012-10-25|website=Post-|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>
* 2004 - Frenetic Engineering: censored/uncensored, Newport Art Museum and Blink Gallery, Newport, RI <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rodriguez|first=Bill|date=May 14, 2004|title=Bridging the Gap|url=http://www.providencephoenix.com/art/top/documents/03823658.asp|url-status=dead|journal=Providence Phoenix|volume=|pages=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040906054026/http://www.providencephoenix.com/art/top/documents/03823658.asp|archive-date=September 6, 2004|via=}}</ref>
* 2010 - You Can't Call Your Own Baby Ugly, AS220 Project Space, Providence, Rhode Island<ref name=":1" />
* 2007 - Just 'N Artist/Not an Artist at Firehouse 13 Gallery
* 2014 - Puzzled, Machines with Magnets<ref>GRAY, CHANNING. "arts | Crenca show pays homage to inspiring bad review." Providence Journal (RI), 1 ed., sec. Features, 30 Mar. 2014, p. RISLANDER_05. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/15241E8463CACFB0. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.</ref>
* 2017 - Pain and Such, Providence, RI, 82 Weybossett Street) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/artist-umberto-crenca-opens-multi-media-pop-up-exhibit-in-downtown-providen|title=Artist Umberto Crenca Opens Pop-Up Exhibit in Downtown Providence|last=ChrisS|website=GoLocalProv|language=en|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>
Awards and honors
1997 - Crenca was fellow in the Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative<ref>DAVIS, KAREN A.. "20 seek secrets of city success A team of community leaders and entrepreneurs will work on ways to bring more jobs and economic opportunities to the city.." Providence Journal (RI), METRO ed., sec. NEWS, 7 Nov. 1997, pp. C-01. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/15251E0D0C684118. Accessed 5 Nov. 2019.</ref>
* 2005 - Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative Fellow <ref name=":0" />
* 2010 - Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts
* 2010 - Rhode Island College Charles B Willard Professional Achievement Award
* 2011 - Rhode Island Foundation Community Service Award
* 2013 - Rhode Island Arts and Culture and Tourism Making a Difference Award
* 2016 - Honorary doctorate from Brown University
* 2016 - Honorary doctorate from Roger Williams University
* 2016 - Honored by the White House as one of the Champions of Change national initiative. <ref>news digest." Providence Journal (RI), sec. RI News, 18 June 2016, p. 2. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/15D95EA8923C6948. Accessed 5 Nov. 2019.</ref>
* 2002 RI Foundation Fellow
* 2003 Scholarship Recipient, Harvard Business School|Harvard University Business School
References
<references />
Category:Artists from Rhode Island
Category:Arts administrators
Category:Musicians from Rhode Island
Category:Rhode Island College alumni