Jewelry District Radio

The Jewelry District History Radio Show was an event held on November 24, 2024 at the 195 District Park. It consisted of prerecorded segments of interviews, independent research from online sources, and live participation from the public "calling in" to the show, sharing their own memories and requesting a song related to their experience in the District.

Throughout the day, these requested songs, along with preselected music tying to the prerecorded segments were intended to provide an emotional and fun connection to the District for the audience.

The audio collection of local stories and prerecorded segments were preserved into a website archive. The Jewelry District's selection of music was made into a public spotify playlist.

In the 19th and early 20th century, the Jewelry district was renowned across the country for its costume jewelry industry and was a key contributor to Providence’s economy. With recent development initiated by institutions like Brown University, companies like the Cambridge Innovation Center, and developers like Aloft Hotels, the historical identity and interest of local residents and businesses are at risk of being destroyed.

To give some context, the Jewelry District was once home to the number one costume jewelry manufacturing industry in the country.

Then, in the 1950s and 60s, as highways across the country were installed to vitalize cities, and the economy moved away from jewelry manufacturing, the I-195 highway cut the District off from the rest of Providence and destroyed existing buildings.

But now, from 2006 to 2013, this highway was relocated to re-unify the city, and replaced with the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Pedestrian Bridge in 2019.

And this has led to massive high-end residential development, with lots of investment from Brown, and an emerging life-sciences industry revitalizing the district.

But this also means that the historical identity and interest of local residents and businesses are at risk of being destroyed.

In a recent example of the District's changing identity, in November 2024, The 195 Redevelopment District Committee offered a parcel of the land recovered from the 195 highway relocation to Hasbro for their company headquarters, for just $1.

The tourist website GoProvidence has a self-guided Jewelry District Walking Tour curated by students at Brown University. I went to the District and took the tour myself.

To define and celebrate the history and community of the Jewelry District, I had to define my audience. This came as a challenge because I wanted the project to be welcoming to all who come to the District, encouraging people to find and embrace their connection to the space, whatever that relationship may be.

I defined 8 major user types for the audience of my project - this was not a traditional product with a core user persona: I wanted the event and the website archive to be available and meaningful to all who come across the District, from the past, present, and future.

For my solution, I made initial sketches for forms of engagement events that let the public contribute their own opinions for the unique character of the District, as well as including interactive ways for them to learn about its distinct manufacturing history.

Idea 1, the phone booth idea had precedents from existing design projects including the Gorham Silver Sound Walk from the Cincinnati Art Museum, an immersive sound exhibit about the Gorham Silver Manufacturing Company, and the Vancouver Chinatown Storytelling Center, an exhibit documenting the stories of the history of the Vancouver Chinatown.

After testing a prototype poster with other people, I changed the name from the Jewelry District Phone Booth of History to the Jewelry District History Radio Show. While the Phone Booth of History had a ring to it, it demanded a level of abstraction and cognitive effort by the audience - on the contrary, the audience was able to instantly understood the History Radio Show name to mean a live, interactive audio event.

I also added the element of music to the event. When testing the prototype poster, I realized people needed an incentive to contribute their stories. I decided to include songs to connect to the content of prerecorded segments, as well as allow the public to request their own songs related to their stories.

This would add a personal connection to the space and introduce an element of communal joy to the event - people attach their own emotions and feelings to music, and it is a powerful tool to bring people through a shared experience.

In preparation for the event, I contacted Sharon Steele, president of the Jewelry District Association, and Karen McGill, president of the Providence Downtown Neighborhood Association for feedback. In our discussion, Mrs. Steele

Additionally, I conducted 4 interviews with notable Jewelry District residents, historians, and artists, talking about their lives, their work, and their connection to the District for prerecorded content for the show.

Olin Thompson is a long-term Jewelry District resident and self-taught historian. As retired executive from the computer software industry, he is deeply involved in the Jewelry District Association and the quality of life and economic development initiatives taking place in the District, and has given historic walking tours of the District. In our interview, we spoke about what he enjoys about the area and his experience living there.

Ed Grazda is a documentary photographer and current resident of the Jewelry District. An alumni of the Rhode Island School of Design , his work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Double Take and Granta and is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New York Public Library, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and MOMA among others. In our interview, we spoke about his time at RISD, his photography practice, and how the city has changed over time.

Patricia Hansen is a painter and current resident of the Jewelry District. Her current series, The Disappearing, explores humans relationship and responsibility with the natural world. In our interview, we discussed her painting practice and her adjustment moving into the Jewelry District from New York City.

Sharon Steele is a long-time Jewelry District resident and current president of the Jewelry District Association, a local organization that advocates for thoughtful development and community building in the District. In our interview, we discussed her work at the JDA, and her hopes and predictions for the future of the area.

After the event, I was invited to give a presentation on my project to local residents at the Jewelry District Association's December 12 community meeting, which is a public gathering held every month to discuss current events in the neighborhood. At the meeting, residents expressed their interest and appreciation for the project, and revealed even more personal memories of the District to me.

The event was able to connect more than 60 people of the community to a collective history of the Providence Jewelry District.

When I talked to people during and after the event, they told me that they "never knew" about the jewelry manufacturing prominence of the neighborhood, identifying that I had achieved the goal of the project to research, discover, and preserve the local history of the District.

Sharon Steele at the Jewelry District History Radio Show

Special thanks to Ayako Murayama, Laney Knudson, Sharon Steele, Alain Soltys-Gray, Audrey Del Vita, and Marty Dericks for their guidance, support, and help in the planning and operation of the event!