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The Steel Yard is located at the historic Providence Steel and Iron site, along the Woonasquatucket River in the heart of Providence's industrial Valley neighborhood. With a 5612 square foot industrial shop featuring a foundry, ceramics studio, blacksmithing shop, and welding shop, as well as studio space and outdoor work and exhibition space, the Steel Yard is a multi-use venue. The Steel Yard's program areas, focusing on arts education, the incubation of new business and arts initiatives, and the establishment of a lasting community arts resource, cater to working artists, students and community members, tradespeople, arts educators and entrepreneurs.

For the working artist, the Steel Yard provides centrally located workspace and a range of material and human resources.

For the student, the Steel Yard offers a broad range of hard-to-find classes in the fine and industrial arts, taught by professional artists in a supportive atmosphere.

For the arts educator, the Steel Yard has established class programs and supports new initiatives, making its conference room, shop facilities, and outdoor space available for courses and workshops.

For tradespeople, the Steel Yard accommodates a range of industrial arts and automotive projects in its shop and main building.

For the entrepreneur, the Steel Yard can furnish the workspace and functional resources needed to develop new products or commissions.

The Steelyard is also the new home to Recycle-a-Bike.

History

The Woonasquatucket Valley Community Build (WVCB) was founded in 2001 by local artists who recognized the need for a place that would serve as sponsor and catalyst for innovative approaches to urban revitalization, arts promotion, workforce development, and community growth. WVCBs first major branch of programming began with the intention of furnishing local metalworkers with access to a well-equipped shop.

The founders converted the ornamental shop of the former Providence Steel & Iron into an industrial arts facility. The facility and surrounding site, known as the Steel Yard, now accommodates classes and projects in welding, blacksmithing, ceramics, and foundry arts. The interior and exterior space has been used for the fabrication of products, the creation of works of art, open houses, workshops, demonstrations, and exhibits.

The input and assistance of the surrounding community has helped drive a grassroots evolution at the Steel Yard, so its vision, curriculum, and facilities are unique and uniquely beneficial to the locality in which it is grounded. As WVCB and the Steel Yard has grown, it has served as a point of exchange for individuals from a variety of social, professional, and economic sectors. The student learning to cast bronze, the auto specialist restoring an antique car, the tape artist hanging an installation, and the tradesman building slate roofs work side by side, encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration, mutual learning, and the creation of links between individual endeavors and their applications in wider society.

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