Designing for Deep Space | News | About | RISD


RISD’s artists and designers are attempting to answer a question that’s had NASA engineers scratching their heads for decades: how do you make a glove tough enough to withstand the moon’s harsh atmosphere while allowing the hand to move freely? In the Wintersession course Designing Space Gloves for NASA – a studio offered by RISD’s Apparel and Industrial Design departments – students are pairing up to create functional prototypes that can weather the unearthly elements of deep space.

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The Vagina Monologues 2013 at HERE Arts Center


One Billion RisingThe Vagina Monologues 2013 at HERE

“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.” -Sarah Ban Breathnach

This February marks the 15th anniversary of V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. On February 18th and 19th, 2013, at 7pm, a V-Day benefit production of Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues will be directed by Andrea Bertola at HERE in New York City, where The Vagina Monologues was first produced in 1996.

This V-Day production at HERE will benefit viBe Theater Experience, a non-profit performing arts/ education organization that produces original, free theater, music and videos about real-life issues written and performed by under-served teen girls. Each year community members and artists such as Andrea Bertola, join the V-Day Campaign to produce annual benefit performances of “The Vagina Monologues” and other artistic works by Eve Ensler to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities.

This production joins activists around the world for ONE BILLION RISING, the largest call of action in the history of V-Day. ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. This coming February, V-Day’s 15th anniversary, we will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and women and men across the world as we express their outrage, demand change, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.

“When we started V-Day 14 years ago, we had the outrageous idea that we could end violence against women,” said Ensler. “Now, we are both stunned and thrilled to see that this global action is truly escalating and gaining force, with union workers, parliament members, celebrities, and women of all backgrounds coming forward to join the campaign. When we come together to demand an end to violence against women and girls it will be a truly global voice that will rise up.”

Why Donate?

We are inspired daily by viBe girls’ brave voices. We look forward to engaging generations of girls in healthy, self-esteem building activities that encourage them to prepare for the future by engaging in academics and providing them with creative outlets for addressing the issues that impact them most. With your support, we hope to increase our capacity for freeing, shaping and celebrating their voices. By becoming involved with viBe and V-DAY, you become part of a rich and viBrant tapestry that we hope will continue to grow for years to come.

Your donation will directly impact the continued existence of viBe programs, performances, publications, recordings and workshops.



Your donation of:

$4 puts a binder, pen and blank paper in the hands of a viBe Girl—her palette to share her words with the world.

$14 covers an hour of rehearsal where viBe Girls shape their performances while building self respect and confidence.

$44 gives a viBe Girl a field-trip ticket where she can learn about theater by seeing a professional production.

$74 provides a transportation scholarship for viBe Girls who need extra funding to come to their viBe rehearsals and performances.

$104 buys costumes and props for one viBe Girl performing her one-girl-show.

$244 puts 100 “Girls Life Adventure” books in the hands of girls across NYC where they can learn information about important girl issues including sexuality health and justice through shared writing and experiences of other teenage girls.

$400 rents a theater space for an afternoon remount of a viBe Production where a new audience of teenagers can hear the voices of their peers and re-imagine their potential!

$1,400 funds production of 500 viBe CDs where viBe Girls write and compose their own unique melodies that TimeOut New York describes as “sending small waves of uncommon jubilation through the seen-it-all local set!”

The Vagina Monologues at HERE

2/18/13 and 2/19/13 at 7pm.

2/19 at 9:30pm.

HERE is located at 145 6th Ave. (Enter on Dominick, 1 Block South of Spring).

For Tickets & Information, visit here.org or call 212-352-3101.

First Online With Fran Pilot Episode

The pilot episode of First Online With Fran with featured guest, Angelina Fiordellisi is posted on The Cherry Lane Theatre’s website. Take a look and learn more about The 15th Anniversary of The Mentor Project…

The results are in! 2,939 Views and Counting!

Here are some of the comments about the pilot episode of First Online With Fran:

Nancy Martinez This video was very inspirational loved it great job Frances McGarry!!
Nancy Martinez My daughter is actually looking to get into performance arts and theater ! So this is really nice to hear
Al Rios Great job! Really love all this! Wow great concept and I am sooo happy you are spreading the word about the arts and how we have to stopping cutting it out!!! Loved it, looking forward to the next one!
Christine Fuchs. So far I absolutely LOVE the interview!! You are so relaxed and engaged. Love the editing, love the dialogue between you & Angelina. I feel like I’m in your living room. Post this repeatedly!!!
Cynthia Shaw Simonoff I saw it and loved it. Passed it on to a friend!
Marie Michalopoulos Warren. Congratulations. What a wonderful, organic interview!!! Wishing you success in your endeavor. Xo
Joanne Dorian • Really enjoy your interview style, Fran! It was wonderful to listen to Angelina’s enthusiasm and passion for the Cherry Lane Theatre, and what it has meant to her as founder and Artistic Director.
Rachel Towers I hope you make it. You have an amazing personality!
I salute you Fran =)
Christen Madrazo Jan 10, 9:26 pm Great interview! Thanks, Fran! ~Christen (Dramatic Adventure Theatre)

Pilot Episode: First Online With Fran with Angelina Fiordellisi

“I think that one of our greatest responsibilities as theater providers,” asserts Angelina Fiordellisi, “is to sensitize the tribe . . . deepening our primal connections, our primal needs, our primal impulses and what Shakespeare calls ‘holding the mirror up to society’.” This poignant insight is particularly significant since the tragic course of events this past week in Newtown, Connecticut.

On November 19th, 2012 First Online With Fran featured Artistic Director and founder of the Cherry Lane Theatre, Angelina Fiordellisi. Listen to her reflect on the work at the Cherry Lane Theatre, most notably the 2013 Mentor Project, among others, and how they contribute to cultivating an urban artist colony, honor its ground-breaking heritage, create theater that illuminates contemporary issues and transforms the human spirit.

First Online With Fran was shot and edited by The New York Film Shop, Andrea Bertola, Artistic Director.

SUBSCRIBE NOW: http://www.youtube.com/user/FrancesMcgarry