Shepvd Festival

Big thank you to Sin Desserts for their donation of these delicious cupcakes for our event. Not a crumb was left behind!
Please visit their website & shop to see their full selection of yummy treats and services.
1413 Westminster Street, Providence RI 02909
eatwicked.com

ShePVD in the wild.

and I popped down to to meet with Janay to talk details about the upcoming ShePVD event March 8.

This is really happening!!!!

When I first moved here in 2018, I had a dream to collaborate with folks on creating an event like this feeling inspired by what I experienced with in Portland, Oregon.

Thanks again to our sponsors for partnering with us:

Super excited to have some of the fine talent in our state on the main stage: Christina Liu, Alicia Pratt,

About half the free tickets are claimed for this community event - grab a few of your own at ShePVD.com. Let's fill the place to show how much we support these women artists on International Women's Day!

- Dennise

ShePVD taking place on March 8 at - We created this FREE event to celebrate a few of the amazing women in Rhode Island and are celebrating them International Women's Day!

So thrilled that Kristi Martel will be one of our performers!

Kristi’s sweet presence, stunning vocals, intricate piano rhythms, and fearless songwriting endear audiences nationwide. She writes her prayers and quirky autobiographical narratives in the same breath. “...love emanates from every note.” - Vienna Teng

Featured on MTV/LOGO, NPR, and KPFA, Kristi Martel grew up in New England and left to earn an ASCAP grant and two music degrees (Bard and Mills College) before beginning her touring and recording career. “...a fine musician...Incomparable!” - Utah Phillips

Through Sealed Lip Records, Kristi has released seven CDs, including demos for her next full-length album, “Sacred Whore,” and is currently planning the making of the album. The work is more jazz and soul, and focuses on the universal in our human experience and our need for inner and world peace.

Grab your free ticket today - link in bio!

ShePVD taking place on March 8 at - We created this event to celebrate a few of the amazing women in Rhode Island and are celebrating them International Women's Day!

So thrilled that will be one of our performers!

A native of St. Croix, Becky is thrilled to share her exhilarating native Caribbean Soul steel pan music solo, or with her band for special events from intimate gatherings to weddings, festivals, and large-scale fundraisers. A graduate of Brown University in Theatre Arts & Performance Studies, she is a two-time Urban Music Award winner as well as an accomplished film, stage, and TV actress. She plays regularly with the groups Zili Musik, Natural Element, and Sidy Maiga & Afrimanding at venues throughout New England. This summer she made headlines as the solo vocalist for the New Jersey Symphony’s world premiere of Farah (Joy) for Voice and Orchestra. Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) wrote the piece specifically for Becky’s “incomparable voice.” Past performances include appearances at the National Gallery of Art, New York City’s Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Underground Wonder Bar, and the Off-Broadway theater LaMaMa.

The Providence Improv Guild is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization centered around Improv Comedy. They teach classes, maintain a stage, and develop work for local improv artists. They are a community-run organization that relies on the tremendous talent, tenacity, and teamwork of their members to create a place where friends are found and connections are made. Check out their live shows every Friday at 8 pm and Saturday at 7 and 9 pm.

We are just shy of one month away from ShePVD taking place on March 8 at - We created this event to celebrate a few of the amazing women in Rhode Island and are celebrating them International Women's Day!

So thrilled that Alicia Pratt will be one of our performers!

Alicia is a poet hailing from Texas. She studied Creative Writing at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and now works in a language justice non-profit. Her favorite poems to write are poems from parents to their kids. She drinks filthy gin martinis with extra olives, thinks Fleabag was a cultural reset, and prefers oceans to lakes. She has two cats who she affectionately calls 'gremgels' (gremlin-angel hybrids) and looks forward to having many more. In her free time, she likes to take walks in the park–especially after a nice rain.

We are exactly one month away from ShePVD taking place on March 8 at AS220 - We created this event to celebrate some of the talent found here in Rhode Island and we are celebrating on International Women's Day!

So thrilled that Val Tutson will be one of our performers!

Valerie Tutson graduated from Brown University with a self-designed major, Storytelling As a Communication’s Art, and a Masters in Theatre. Valerie received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Rhode Island College. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Pell Award for Artistic Excellence from Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence. Valerie has traveled the world teaching, gathering and sharing stories and songs. Her repertoire includes folktales, personal and historical stories with an emphasis on black traditions, and first- person Bible stories. She works in schools, libraries, festivals, churches, conferences, businesses and universities. Valerie is a founding member and director of the Rhode Island Black Storytellers and FUNDA FEST: A Celebration of Black Storytelling.

Besides telling stories, Valerie creates spaces for people to learn storytelling skills, and share stories. Valerie believes in the power of stories, storytelling and story listening to help us heal ourselves and our communities.

We are almost exactly a month away from ShePVD taking place on March 8 at AS220 - Alyssa and Dennise cofounded this event to celebrate some of the talent found here in Rhode Island. We want to celebrate it on International Women's Day.

So thrilled that Christina Liu will be one of our performers!

Christina Liu's parents escaped China's Cultural Revolution, settling in NYC's Chinatown, a backdrop for her poetry. She holds a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Formerly an ESL counselor, she is currently Senior Academic Advisor and Liberal Studies Faculty at Boston Architectural College. Creative workshops include “From Madeleines to Umami,” poetry on gastronomy, in collaboration with Rhode Island’s Frequency Writers.

Her poetry is published in Dream International Quarterly, Pangyrus, MassBay Library’s libguides, and most recently, The Path Belongs to Us, via Middlesex Community College’s La Guagua Festival, 2023. She is a contributor to the anthology, Metaphors Are Not Enough: Poetry and Prose by the Streetfeet Women, where she has been a member since 2014.

Christina was co-organizer for The Boston Poetry Marathon from 2020 through 2023, raising funds for causes such as Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, and reproductive justice.

Recent readings include: The Boston Poetry Marathon, The Boston Poetry Salon, Jamaica Plain’s Chapter and Verse, the Lizard Lounge’s Poetry Jam, and the Brockton Public Library’s Voices of Diversity/Everyone Has a Voice series.

She dreams, in spare moments, of green places, rushing waters, and dumplings.

We are just a little over a month away from ShePVD taking place on March 8 at AS220 - Alyssa and I cofounded this event to celebrate some of the talent found here in Rhode Island. We want to celebrate it on International Women's Day.

So thrilled that Allysen Callery will be one of our performers!

"Her lilting voice and heartfelt lyrics are eerily close to the work of the late British songstress Sandy Denny, the highest compliment I could hand down to this brilliant artist.”- Paste Magazine Allysen Callery is a self taught singer songwriter from Bristol , Rhode Island , whose delicate, mesmerizing sound has been compared to classic British folk artists like Sandy Denny and Nick Drake."

You can hear her perform at our free event - tickets at ShePVD.com!

Thanks to our sponsors - Providence Art Culture Tourism & Gather RI + supporter Sin - for supporting this event.

We hope to see you there!

Get your free ticket to the event by scanning this QR code! This is an all ages event, by the way!

Nothing like a tasty pastry and a good cup of coffee at one of our supporters locations to enjoy while talking deets about the ShePVD event coming up on March 8. We are so excited to bring together some of the amazing talent in the Ocean State for International Women's Day. This is a free, community event and we hope to see you there. Tix link in bio!

Thanks to the Providence Tourism Council - for supporting ShePVD!

We received a grant from them to pay expenses and pay the performers - so the community can attend for free!

Thank you!!!

Thanks to Providence Art Culture Tourism for supporting ShePVD!

We received a grant from them to pay expenses and pay the performers - so the community can attend for free!

Thanks you!!!

A big ole shout out for Gather RI as a sponsor of Shepvd Festival!

Gather RI will empower women to thrive outside the home by providing inspiration, community and safe meeting spaces.

The nonprofit facility will feature one of the world’s only libraries and portrait galleries 100% dedicated to notable women; and will offer a private membership club for women who are changemakers creating the future of Rhode Island.

Gather RI’s construction is currently underway on the West Side of Providence. The facility is scheduled to open March 2025.

Learn more at GatherRI.org!