PAWTUCKET ARTS FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER CURTAIN UP! HONORS FORMER MAYOR OF PAWTUCKET AND PAF FOUNDER, JAMES E. DOYLE
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The Pawtucket Arts Festival raises the curtain on its 18th annual season with a fundraising event hosted at Slater Mill, 67 Roosevelt Avenue, in Pawtucket on Thursday, May 5, 2016.??
With a theatrical flourish, PAF and Curtain Up! Set the stage for an evening where the arts, audience, and the sponsors who make the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival possible are in the spotlight.????
A reception will be held for PAF Major Sponsors from 5:00-6:00 pm. Doors open for Curtain Up! ticket holders from 6:00-10:00 pm on the second floor of historic Slater Mill on the banks of the Blackstone River, where an evening is planned to honor former Mayor Doyle for his support of the arts, applaud the 2016 Pawtucket Arts Panel grant recipients, and celebrate this year’s PAF Fine Arts Poster Artist, B. Lucy Stevens.
With a tip of the hat to the yearly “Taste of the Valley and Blackstone River Revival,” Curtain Up! Guests will be treated to food samplings from the menu of Spumoni’s. The restaurant was invited to cater the Curtain Up! event after winning the new, annual PAF culinary arts award, The Tasting Cup, at the 2015 “Taste of the Valley.”
A cash bar will be available, and live music performed by Moldy Suitcases will create a 1920s underground, jazzy music-themed atmosphere that welcomes conversation and connecting, as well as celebrating and supporting the arts.
The 2nd Annual Curtain Up! Spotlight will fall on former Pawtucket Mayor James E. Doyle, the recipient of the PAF Excellence Award. Mayor Doyle long served Pawtucket and Rhode Island as a foremost ambassador for the arts and culture through his work as the municipal leader of the City of Pawtucket, a business man, and as a lifelong Pawtucket resident. The Excellence Award, designed by Gail Ahler will allow guests and colleagues to toast, as well as roast, the highly regarded civic leader whose tireless efforts have been devoted to the City, including his service as a Pawtucket public school teacher in the 1960s, his 27 years on the Pawtucket City Council, and his 13 years of service as Pawtucket’s Mayor.
Additionally, the Working River Award will be presented to those who sustain the place of the arts in civic life, and to Arts Panel Grant Awardees who will offer featured performances in September that showcase the arts in Pawtucket.
??The public is invited to support PAF and Curtain Up! by purchasing advance fundraiser tickets online at www.pawtucketartsfestival.org and to drop in to Curtain Up! or stay for the evening, as part of an all-out arts in Pawtucket celebration. Guests are welcome to join the festivities at Slater Mill at any point following the VIP Reception to congratulate former Mayor Doyle, and connect with the Festival that showcases the arts and the City of Pawtucket each September. Tickets are $25 per person ($20 advance). Cash bar, complimentary food and music