MEMBERS

By Executive Order, members of the State House Restoration Committee shall, “consist of civic-minded individuals who have an interest in historical and architectural restoration and preservation.  The members…shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the governor, and shall include a representative of the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and a representative of the Providence Preservation Society.”

Current members of the State House Restoration Committee are:

Boze Arnold
Marisa Brown
Erica Brusillo Adams
Elizabeth Debs
Mike DiBiase (Chair)
Jeff Emidy
Susan Esposito
Tina Harsch
Alison Izzi (Treasurer)
Ron Onorato
Marjory O’Toole (Vice-chair)
Sarah Rockett
Brent Runyon
Lane Sparkman (Secretary) 
Dennis Stark
Carrie Taylor

Chairs of the Society

Sally Strachan, 2017-2023
Elizabeth C. Capozzi, 2000-2017
Angela Brown Fischer, 1994-2000
Thomas F. Schutte, 1992-1994

subcommittees

Over time and as needed, the Society has established committees, subcommittees, and working groups to undertake specific work or projects.  Currently, the Society has one working group.

Historical Interpretation Working Group

The Historical Interpretation Working Group was created to develop, facilitate and promote programs that engage diverse audiences with the history, architecture and experience of the building and its grounds, and their continued relevance to civic and cultural life today. This subcommittee, the Interpretation Working Group, was instrumental in launching two ongoing projects: The Snowtown Project, and My State House.

The Snowtown Project: The State House grounds exist now on land that was once the Snowtown neighborhood, a poor and working-class early-nineteenth-century community of free and indentured Black residents, Native peoples, poor and working-class white people, and sailors and other transient populations. The Snowtown Project is a collaborative effort to centralize current knowledge of and catalyze new research on the historical neighborhood of Snowtown, and to develop public programs on its history and legacy. Read a recent Smithsonian Magazine article about the project here.

My State House: This three-phase ideation project asks community members, artists, architects, engineers, and designers to propose changes to the State House and its grounds to make it more dynamic, welcoming, and accessible - a State House for the future. Learn more about the project here.

The Historical Interpretation Working Group is co-chaired by Society members Marisa Brown and Lane Sparkman.  Its current members are:

Wole Akinbi
Marisa Brown
Erik Christiansen
Althea Graves
Marco McWilliams
Kaitlynne Ward Morris
Kelsey Mullen
Marjory O’Toole
Mikael Powell
Lane Sparkman
Sarah Zurier