Five Questions With: Peter A. Mello

Peter A. Mello joined WaterFire Providence in 2011 as managing director. Prior to that, he served as executive director of the American Sail Training Association (now Tall Ships America) in Newport. He had spent 20 years in financial services in New York, Boston, San Francisco and London before entering the nonprofit sector in 2001. In addition to WaterFire Providence, he serves on the board of Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts and is president of the board of the Mattapoisett Casino, one of the oldest tennis clubs in America. Here he discusses the allure of Waterfire in Providence.

PBN: Executive Artistic Director Barnaby Evans created First Fire in 1994 as a commission to celebrate the 10th anniversary of First Night Providence. Since then, WaterFire has blossomed into a public favorite within and beyond city and state borders. What is it that keeps people coming?
MELLO:
WaterFire brings diverse people together along the beautiful urban rivers that run through downtown Providence to experience art in a nontraditional setting. Approximately half of our more than 1 million visitors each year come from outside of Rhode Island to experience WaterFire as a result of a recommendation of a friend or family member or an article that they read in a magazine, newspaper or website.
While the core of the WaterFire installation remains the same, each lighting has its own unique theme which keeps the experience fresh and people coming back. Powerful art affects people in very personal ways that often defy easy explanation. Paris has its Mona Lisa, New York has its Statute of Liberty and, thanks to Barnaby, Providence has WaterFire.

PBN: As a nonprofit dependent on grants and fund raising, how do you keep the funding appeal fresh? Do you have more small donors or more large ones?
MELLO:
As you can imagine, generating revenue for a large scale, admission free, ephemeral art experience or event is challenging. Each year we scramble to cobble together a wide range of funding sources to make things work and the budget balance. I can’t stress enough how difficult this is.
Thankfully, we have had some incredible corporate sponsors that understand the value of partnering with WaterFire’s iconic event. The entire WaterFire Providence team works extremely hard in creating unique and powerful customer experiences that meet our corporate partners’ business and community objectives and engage and entertain visitors at the same time.
We also have a group of committed donors who recognize the important positive impacts we create for the community and they support us each year through donations, Brazier Society memberships, and at our fundraiser, which by the way is coming up on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Each year, WaterFire activity creates $113 million in economic output for the community, generates $9.3 million in direct tax revenue for the state and city and supports 1,294 jobs for local residents. In recognition of these critically important contributions, the Rhode Island General Assembly invests in WaterFire through a community service grant. While we receive small donations at the event itself, we are constantly experimenting with new ways to encourage more visitors to contribute.

PBN: How have you been celebrating your 20th year lighting up the river and city and what will you do to top off this season?
MELLO:
We have had so many incredible WaterFire events so far this year: from the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, which was one of the largest conventions to come to Providence in 2014; and the “C is for Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C,” which was Rhode Island Foundation Innovation Fellow Dr. Lynn Taylor’s project to eradicate the disease in the Ocean State. Also, we honored the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Providence Police Department with the return of WaterFire Ballroom, and we held Clear Currents, an annual celebration of the return of aquatic life to the urban rivers that run through downtown Providence.
Looking ahead, we will be highlighting educational excellence in Rhode Island, sharing Chinese culture, honoring breast cancer survivors, celebrating Brown University’s 250th birthday and saluting veterans with very special WaterFire lightings.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 20th year of the first lighting of WaterFire.

- Advertisement -

PBN: What was the impetus for “Add A Light to the Night” and has it lived up to expectations as a fund raiser?
MELLO:
WaterFire is a community-created artwork, and while each event may require the participation of 300 or more volunteers, we also believe that everyone who comes to downtown Providence to experience WaterFire is an integral part of the art. So, a number of years ago, we started experimenting with different ways to engage visitors to “add their light to the night.”
Ribbons of Light are blue glow necklaces that you wear for the evening and become part of the art. Luminaria are beautiful, candle-lit paper lanterns to which you can add a commemoration, hope or remembrance. One of my favorite WaterFire experiences is “Starry, Starry Night,” which is located in Memorial Park and where you can write a wish on a ribbon which gets attached to an illuminated blue star and hung in a tree with dozens of others, creating a magical setting where many wedding proposals take place over the course of the season.
“Add Your Light to the Night” programs currently generate relatively modest revenue to each event; however, we continually experiment with new strategies to get more people involved and contributing, literally and figuratively, to the art. We’d love to get to the point where visitors donate $5, which is less than half the cost of a movie and arguably many times more impactful.

PBN: What’s in store for the building at 475 Valley St. that will bring in WaterFire offices from other locations in the neighborhood and equipment from rented warehouses around the city?
MELLO:
In November 2012, we purchased a beautiful, large, industrial building located adjacent to the ALCO office campus on Valley Street that had been vacant for many years and was rapidly deteriorating. Our plan is to consolidate all staff and operations in one location and redevelop this historic property to be the WaterFire Community Art Center that will also host large scale exhibitions, events and performances. There will also be a visitor and education center as well as a creative industries incubator and co-working space.
While we celebrate 20 years since the lighting of the first WaterFire, this project is a critical part of WaterFire Providence’s strategic plan in laying the foundation to sustain our important economic and cultural contributions to the community for the next 20 years. On Nov. 4, we encourage Rhode Islanders to vote Yes on Question 5, the Cultural and Creative Economy Bond, which will help fund our capital project and sustain WaterFire’s impacts into the future.

No posts to display