Assembly

Part of Locally Made's One Room.
In Assembly, gather for casual meetings of the minds and unexpected happenings curated by local artists and designers. Congregate for poetry readings, sonic performances, movement, projection, and more.
Melissa Withers and Allan Tear co-curate Entrepreneur Artist, Artist Entrepreneur: Building Beyond Business, Dreaming Beyond Art from 9/10 - 9/15. In this six-part series, co-hosts Allan Tear and Melissa Withers will feature six amazing local entrepreneurs who live at the intersection where art & design and business meet, their work serving as a powerful testament to the maker/artist culture that defines Rhode Island's DNA. With topics such as Medicine as Play, Making Metal Move, From Shape to Sound, and The Body at Work, the showings will enable participants to see, hear, interact and learn more about a new generation of startups and the artist entrepreneurs who drive them. — Melissa Withers & Allan Tear
9/14: Otto D'AmbrosioA short show and tell of some finished instruments and what the impetus was for their raw beginnings, some possible thoughts on trees and how it inspires us to be naturally creative. Next, I would like to share my film; this 24 minute experimental piece documents my process. This journey is repeated for every instrument made. It's based on listening, looking and working with wood and wood tools — Otto D'Ambrosio
Free with museum admission.
Betaspring Chief of Staff and nerd whisperer Melissa Withers (@mizwithers) manages Betaspring's Mentor network and coordinates programming for each Betaspring session. In her advisory capacity to Betaspring teams, her skillz are primarily in PR & media relations, customer experience design, and get-to-market communications. In 2011, Melissa served as communications director for the then newly-elected Mayor of the City of Providence. Prior, she was co-founder and Executive Director of the Business Innovation Factory, an organization that creates platforms to enable the design and testing of new business models in areas of high social impact. Melissa started her career in life science and previously served as Assistant Director of Communications and Public Affairs for Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were she managed community relations and public communications, as well as Whitehead's pioneering science policy and advocacy program. She lives in Providence, and has soft spot for nerds.
Allan Tear is a founder and managing partner of Betaspring. Allan has founded three venture-funded startups: Elastic Networks, Incanta, and WhyData. He has raised over $15M from angels, venture capital, and strategic partners, including Slater Fund, Intel Capital and AT&T. He is an expert in new product and service launches. Allan is an active angel investor in early stage technology companies, and advises national, state, and local government on nurturing high-growth startup ecosystems. He helps students and schools with entrepreneurship through the Brown COE program, RISD Mindshare, and the Carnegie Mellon Dean's Leadership Council. He was selected in 2008 for the Providence Business News "40 Under Forty" list and in 2010 as "10 to Watch" by Providence Monthly. Allan is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, with B.S. degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Public Policy.
Otto D'Ambrosio has spent much of his life creating and restoring one-of-a-kind museum grade guitars. At 13, he discovered his love for the craft while mastering the foundations of design and repair in NYC's finest boutique shops. Today at 38, working in Pawtucket, RI he handcrafts commissioned guitars and fretted instruments that marry contemporary forms with classic aesthetic to create a perfect harmony in look, feel and sound. With Otto's fundamental knowledge of guitar construction he has taught many lutherie students eager to learn more about his guitar making process. In 2004 D'Ambrosio partnered with a larger production manufacturer, (Eastman Strings) to consult and design his own line of signature modern guitars. T his summer D'Ambrosio Guitars will release a short film (Guitar #1711) that explores the artistic process in creating one guitar that was built in the Pawtucket shop for a remarkable new costumer.