Life After College: Why You Should Be a WaterFire Volunteer

What exactly is WaterFire?

WaterFire is the brainchild of artist Barnaby Evans. It is a sculpture that is run by WaterFire Providence, a non-profit organization that promotes the arts, culture, and community of Providence, Rhode Island. Throughout the late Spring to the early Fall, the rivers of Providence are lit up by seventy-nine braziers nearly every other weekend.

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The very first WaterFire was intended to just be a part of the ten-year anniversary of Providence's New Year's Eve "First Night" celebration in 1994 in the movement to help revitalize the city. It started with only eleven braziers and now, almost twenty years later, has become a Rhode Island mainstay. In fact, WaterFire has attracted over 10 million visitors to Providence since its creation; drawing an average crowd of 40,000 per lighting.

The TD Ballroom at WaterFire, source

And to the surprise of most audience members unfamiliar with the organization, WaterFire is not just about the fires on the rivers. During the various lightings there are often living statues, a ballroom open to the public with local dancers or bands, interactive art displays, ethnically diverse sponsors or performances, and often celebrated members of the local Providence and Rhode Island communities. It is a spectacle that brings together the arts and community of Providence. And WaterFire has gone global, with fires brought to Ohio, Missouri, Singapore, Venice, and even Rome.

WaterFire is free and open to the public, but as a non-profit relies on donations, grants, merchandise sales, and sponsors for over 75% of its funding. To put this into perspective, one year-long season of WaterFire costs around 1.6 million dollars.

2011 September 11th Tribute Lighting, source

So why exactly should you become a part of WaterFire?

WaterFire Providence only has a regular staff of about twenty and that's where we volunteers come in. Many may not realize it, but there are so many ways to become a WaterFire volunteer!

2011 Gloria Gemma Lighting, source

There are the wood-boats, access boat, and VIP boats that visitors see on the river, but there is also a huge need for help on-shore. Volunteers are always needed to help in the Merchandise Tent, fundraising with Ribbons of Light or Starry, Starry Night, and participating in Special Ops where you can partake in anything from a torch procession to guiding special guests through an event.

For just one full lighting it takes around 200 volunteers to help run everything necessary to put on this spectacular event. And that number is only for the lighting itself, not including the hours of work that goes on in the WaterFire studio during the week to repair and create what is needed for the lightings. Or the 'Woodpile Workouts' where volunteers meet to stack and refill the wood needed for each event.

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All of the hundreds of volunteers are an invaluable part of the WaterFire family. This is my fourth season as a WaterFire volunteer, and from the very beginning I have never been treated so kindly and welcomed so warmly from a group of 'strangers' then I have from the WaterFire staff and volunteer family. I may be one of the younger volunteers, but everyone has always been quite clear that I am equally a part of the WaterFire community.

The Wood-Boats line up; as Barnaby
says, we are like Prometheus
bringing fire to mankind, source

While WaterFire lightings may be beautiful to watch, I think they are also beautifully symbolic. WaterFire showcases both the fragility of life, as fires are suspended over the water of the rivers, as well as the celebration of community. The volunteers all dress in black, and as a community we work together anonymously to tend the fires and support our organization. However, our faces always remain visible showing that even though we are working together as a singular community unit, we still retain our individual identities as we support something that is greater than all of us on our own.

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As a volunteer with WaterFire you are involved in something bigger than yourself, and it's all about coming together to celebrate the unity and spirit of Providence as well as an appreciation for the arts.

This amazing organization vividly displays the beauty that happens when the Rhode Island community comes and works together to support the arts, our state, and each other. If you don't believe me, join the WaterFire family for yourself and help to keep the fires burning in Providence.