FACILITIES
RISD’s comprehensive studio facilities and extensive equipment have an excellent international reputation. Facilities in over 40 buildings include highly specialized computer labs, darkrooms, kilns, printmaking studios, jacquard and computer design looms, woodworking shops devoted to industrial design, furniture design and sculpture, and the Edna Lawrence Nature Laboratory, a repository of more than 90,000 natural specimens.

The RISD Museum of Art, one of the finest of its size in the United States, houses more than 80,000 works in its collections of fine and decorative arts, representing work from antiquity to the present. Each year, the museum presents both historical and contemporary exhibitions. Regular collections range from enticing placements of art and objects from ancient Egypt and China to superb presentations of historical and contemporary glass. Students enrolled in RISD summer programs may visit the museum free of charge with proper identification.

The Fleet Library at RISD is one of the oldest independent art college libraries in the United States and boasts a collection of unusual richness and depth. This award-winning library is housed in a stunningly renovated Italian Renaissance-style banking hall at the Mandle Building at 15 West, and now contains more than 130,000 books and bound periodicals, 19,000 mounted art reproductions and 685,000 image holdings focused on art, architecture and design.

GETTING AROUND
College Hill, on Providence’s historic East Side, is one of the most picturesque sections of the city, home to the expansive campuses of RISD and neighboring Brown University. The main RISD campus, situated at the center of the historic district, is famous for its narrow streets lined with restored Colonial homes and fine examples of early Federal and 19th-century architecture. RISD’s extensive facilities span Providence’s central rivers — home to Waterplace Park and WaterFire, a recurring after-dark festival of light and music — and include several notably restored historic buildings in the city’s vibrant downtown.

RISD’s neighborhood offers a variety of restaurants, cafés, shops, bookstores and art cinemas. If you like music and theater, you can enjoy great performances at popular local venues, including the nationally acclaimed Trinity Repertory Company and the Providence Performing Arts Center. Local restaurants range from ethnically rich neighborhood eateries to world-renowned, five-star dining establishments. All of these options are within walking distance of the college.

While Rhode Island is only 48 miles long and 37 miles wide, it is blessed with almost 500 miles of enchanting coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island is also convenient to such popular summer destinations as Block Island, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, which makes it an ideal jumping-off point for family vacations, or a perfect vacation destination in itself. Traversable in little more than an hour, the state offers both a welcome retreat from the bustle of Boston and New York, and easy access to these cities by road, rail, bus and airplane. In short, it’s a great place to be — especially in the summer.