RISD’s Project Open Door Celebrates 20 Years of Community

Artists, alumni, faculty and community members gathered at Woods-Gerry Gallery in June for the 20th anniversary of RISD’s Project Open Door (POD). Run by the Teaching + Learning in Art + Design (TLAD) department, POD is a community arts program that helps local high school students develop artistic skills through free art and design classes. 

Work by current POD students and alums was included in an exhibition that featured paintings, sculptures, photographs and other works. POD alum Melany Ortiz credits the program with helping her decide to study art at Rhode Island College. “I couldn’t be more grateful to the people I have met here,” Ortiz said. “I wouldn’t be so confident in my skills if it wasn’t for POD.” 

Associate Professor Courtnie Wolfgang relishes working with young people and says that’s what brought her to arts education in the first place. “There have been moments in my life when I might be feeling low,” the TLAD faculty member explained. “But then I go into that space and have five minutes with those teens and immediately feel super again. It never fails!”  

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In addition to arts and design programming, portfolio reviews and scholarship opportunities, POD offers a variety of free resources to high school students from Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Woonsocket, including ID cards for access to RISD campus spaces like the Fleet Library and the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab and RIPTA transportation. 

Francy Hinds, a POD alum, heard about the program from their high school art teacher at Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts in Pawtucket. They credit their artistic self-discovery to their time as a POD student. “It gave me a better idea of how to take myself seriously as an artist and how to take my practice seriously,” they said. 

Before they began studying in RISD’s Film/Animation/Video department, POD alum Vetty Milcette 26 FAV explored the world of printmaking and participated in a letterpress workshop focused on creating posters with quotes from Black Rhode Island women such as actor Viola Davis and artist Nancy Elizabeth Prophet. 

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Professor Emeritus Paul Sproll, founder of the program, spoke at the June event about POD’s inception in 2005, when a group of Providence high school boys found their way into the basement of a RISD building at 20 Washington Place. Searching for an artistic outlet and having heard about an after-school program at RISD, the group asked Sproll how they could join. 

Sproll thanked POD alum Jose Garcia, Jr. for what he brought to the early days of the program and for coming to the exhibition opening. “This show reflects the strong community behind Project Open Door,” he said. “Thank you RISD, thank you students, thank you alums and thank you supporters. This work is important, and I hope it will continue for another 20 years.” 

Kaylee Pugliese / Photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH
July 10, 2025