Bringing a Hidden Pond to Public Attention: Increasing Impact through Digital Tools

This article details the origins and methods of the Mashapaug Project, a community arts and oral history project focused on a pond in Providence, Rhode Island. The Mashapaug Project connects Brown University’s Center for Public Humanities with the Urban Pond Procession, an arts organization focused on addressing environmental conditions at the pond and building relationships between residents of the neighborhoods that surround it. Describing how the project used digital tools, along with oral history, exhibit methods, and multimedia storytelling, the article demonstrates how digital archives and installations can extend the community-building and information-sharing power of community arts and oral history.