By Denise Perreault
PBN Staff Writer

The video shows a young man in an orange baseball cap standing in a field with the distinctive skyline of Providence behind him.

He starts to walk and – in a tight series of spliced shots lasting but 45 seconds – we see him walking through Prospect Park, Davol Square, Waterplace Park and Brown University. He passes by the Statehouse, AS220, the train station and the Providence Performing Arts Center as a trolley lumbers along. He sweeps through the financial district, marked by the Turk’s Head building, passes more than a few upscale restaurants and cuts through the stunning atrium lobby of the Alpert medical school.

He is a Broadway actor by the name of Dan Mills, a Cranston native, and his circuitous route was carefully chosen to show the economic-development highlights of Providence in a video that will be used to market the nascent Knowledge District, a high-tech hub of research and development.

The Providence advertising firm of (add)ventures created the 90-second video as the first step in what will be a full-fledged publicity campaign to draw businesses to the Knowledge District. It’s a campaign slated to begin in earnest in 2012, according to Judy Chong, director of communications and market development for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.

Working closely with the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, Chong said a subcommittee with representatives of EDC and the Chamber chose (add)ventures to make the video after a request for proposals was issued in September. The video stresses Providence’s location in the center of the Boston-New York nexus, while Mills’ amblings show how walkable Providence is, Chong noted in a recent interview.

The video ends by noting that Providence is home to more than 750 businesses, six “world-class” academic institutions and 530,000 square feet of active scientific and medical-research facilities.

The video is posted on the Chamber website (www.providencechamber.com).

It will be posted on YouTube and links were supplied to business leaders at the Chamber’s annual dinner meeting Nov. 21 so they can pass the information along to potential investors and businesses interested in Providence, Chong said.