program goals
To provide FREE, high-quality programs throughout the year that help youth develop their artistic skills and creative voice within a supportive and inclusive community.
To encourage a life-long interest in the arts among POD teens + alumni.
To encourage teens to graduate from high school and enroll in higher education, by offering mentorship on college applications and portfolio preparation, or to secure gainful employment after graduation.
To provide teens with access and exposure to RISD’s campus and resources and unique program opportunities by collaborating with campus partners. Provide support and an authentic learning site for the RISD community- students, faculty, staff, and alumni to engage with the community and develop professional practices and pedagogy centered on social justice, equity, and inclusion.
Our history
One day in 2005, a group of boys from Hope High School in Providence found their way to the basement of a Rhode Island School Design building at 20 Washington Place. Their school had was placed under state control due to low performance and high dropout rates, and the boys, who craved an artistic outlet, had heard something about an after-school program at RISD. POD Director, Dr. Paul Sproll, recalls this group of students wandering into this after-school on their own and asking, "Hey, can we join?"
Dr. Sproll typically taught graduate students, but back in 2005, he had volunteered for a semester to teach an after-school studio for students at Feinstein High School in Providence. It was this after-school program that the Hope students had discovered. Dr. Sproll realized this program had something that could be meaningful both for artistically talented but under-served teens in the city's public schools. Project Open Door has continued to uphold this purpose and provides free, quality art and design programming to high school students in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, + Woonsocket.
Dr. Paul Sproll, Founder
As the founder of Project Open Door, Dr. Sproll has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to equity of access to high-quality visual arts learning opportunities for creative teens attending Rhode Island public high schools.
For the past three decades, Dr. Sproll has guided the TLAD department, directing two graduate degree programs (Master of Arts in Art and Design Education and Master of Arts in Teaching) and mentoring future art educators. Though on the cusp of new adventures, Dr. Sproll remains dedicated to progressive practices in art and design teaching and learning and holds a passion for community-based practices at the intersection of formal and informal art and design education for teens.