Events going on in and around Providence this weekend.

Family Fun

Fairy Garden Days

Roger Williams Botanical Center Gardens

Join a magical journey in the warmth of the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center to find the hidden gardens and gnome trails. Make a Fairy House, go on a Scavenger Hunt, play Moss Toss and other fantastic games, and enjoy the playful atmosphere. More than 100 Fairy Gardens will be set up throughout the Botanical Center.

Artists’ Exchange Family Performance Series

Families are invited to join us for our Family Performance Series, perfect for all ages, from the young to the young at heart. Hosted most Saturdays from 11:00am-12:00pm at Theatre 82 & Café, located at 82 Rolfe Square in Cranston. Puppetry, Magic, Storytelling, Improv, Music, and more! Something NEW each Saturday, with performers and acts changing each week. Some upcoming performers include,
BIG NAZO, and Sparky’s Puppets. 

Museums/Galleries

Storytelling in Virtual Reality

As one of the first student-run film festivals in the world to pioneer a department geared towards virtual reality, IFF x VR aims to foster the next generation’s dialogue around VR storytelling, the latest chapter in a legacy of evolving narrative media. Adam Blumenthal will moderate a discussion about the challenges of telling stories in this burgeoning medium between panelists Luis Blackaller, Graham Roberts, and Alissa Crevier. A virtual reality screening room will be available before and after in Studio 4 on floor 3N.

This is No Drill: The United States Enters World War II

“This is No Drill” features artifacts related to the events at Pearl Harbor including a metal fragment of USS Arizona, and a diorama by Robert D. Bracci titled, “Last Liberty,” which depicts a poignant scene on the evening of 6 December 1941, as many of Arizona’s crew prepare to go ashore for what will turn out to be their final evening of rest and relaxation.  Also on display is a Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve uniform worn by American Alex Cherry, and models of Japanese naval aircraft used in World War II.

Intermission Exhibit

RISD Museum

During the renovation of the Museum’s European Galleries, select works from the 1100s through the 1800s are on view in this open-storage presentation, offering opportunities for chance encounters and unintentional juxtapositions.

Theatre/Performance/Music

Harold and Maude

Presented by the Columbus Theatre

With the idiosyncratic American fable Harold and Maude, countercultural director Hal Ashby fashioned what would become the cult classic of its era. Working from a script by Colin Higgins, Ashby tells the story of the emotional and romantic bond between a death-obsessed young man from a wealthy family and a devil-may-care, bohemian octogenarian. Equal parts gallows humor and romantic innocence, Harold and Maude dissolves the line between darkness and light along with the ones that separate people by class, gender, and age, and it features indelible performances and a remarkable soundtrack by Cat Stevens.

Miscellaneous

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Ocean?

The Providence Athenæum

Salon: Architectural historian Ijlal MUzaffar as part of The Open Sesame Project. In 19th century England, Providence’s global reach was attested by its literary output. Yet for many in India, the city’s reach was experienced unknowingly through its chickens. Architectural historian Ijlal Muzaffar will explore how and why the Rhode Island Red was known as the “local chicken” in his great-grandmother’s village in the middle of the Sindh desert in Southwest India (in what now is Pakistan) in 1898. Why, and how did the chicken cross the ocean?

Newport Daffodil Days Festival

Featuring nine days of fun, free, family activities throughout Newport, the Festival allows visitors to revel in Mother Nature’s beauty while “going daffy” at over twenty different events, beginning on Saturday, April 15 with the Preservation Society of Newport County’s annual Easter Egg Hunt & Brunch on Rosecliff’s oceanfront lawn followed by the Festival’s Opening Ceremonies at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 15 at Bannister and Bowen’s Wharves in downtown Newport.