- [Michelle] Tonight, why arts organizations in Rhode Island are struggling to survive.

- We are not looking for handouts.

We are not looking for the arts to be subsidized.

We are looking for investment.

- [Pamela] The warehousing of Rhode Island's children.

- It is an appalling failure.

Instead of living the normal life of a kid, you're in a locked room in a psychiatric hospital.

- And state lawmakers lay out their priorities in the new year with Ted Nesi.

(lighthearted music) (lighthearted music continues) Good evening.

Welcome to "Rhode Island PBS Weekly."

I'm Michelle San Miguel.

- And I'm Pamela Watts.

When words fall short, the arts often fill the void, bringing people together.

- But those in the arts industry will tell you life has not been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic struck nearly five years ago.

And today, across Rhode Island, many organizations are grappling to stay afloat.

Tonight we hear from leaders of two longstanding groups who are pushing for more state and community support to fund the arts.

- We are a part of the state ecosystem, and the healthier we are, the more we can contribute, the more we can contribute to draw new companies here, to keep existing companies here, to make this a place people wanna live, work, raise a family, go to school.

(soft classical music) - For 80 seasons, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra has been entertaining concertgoers with a range of musical performances.

(dramatic classical music) But these days, filling the concert hall is a challenge.

Executive director David Beauchesne has been working to build back the audience lost during the pandemic, both subscribers and single-ticket buyers.

How is attendance now compared to pre-COVID?

- It's still down quite a bit.

We're still down, I'd say about 20% versus pre-COVID.

We've got rebuilding to do.

We were down, you know, when we first came back we were down over 50%.

So, we are climbing back.

- [Michelle] They're also climbing back from what Beauchesne says is the Philharmonic's biggest deficit.

The organization suffered a shortfall of about $900,000 in 2023, driven in part by declining audiences during the pandemic and increased expenses.

- That's a non-repeatable event, in that if we were to do that again this year, we would go out of business.

So, we can't, right?

And we won't.

- [Michelle] It underscores, Beauchesne says, how the arts and culture sector in Rhode Island is struggling to survive.

- So a fair amount of this is for the acoustics.

- [Michelle] Barnaby Evans, the founder and executive artistic director of WaterFire, says they were facing hardships prior to COVID, which then made it worse.

- One of the things that happened with COVID was these large events that people would come to, people couldn't do for a year and a half, and habits change.

If you're not in the budget for two years, the budget may not have that line item when you get to year three.

- [Michelle] Evans created WaterFire 30 years ago.

It's attracted millions of people to downtown Providence, crowds mesmerized by the sight of sparkling bonfires.

(soft music) But don't let the flickering fire light fool you.

Evans says WaterFire is facing financial troubles.

He says it's forced the organization to have fewer lightings.

- It's all driven by what funds are available and trying to stay within budget.

There's no other reason not to be.

We would love to do more, the restaurants, the hotels would all love us to do more, but we have to figure out how to cover those costs.

- [Michelle] Corporate sponsorships make up roughly half of WaterFire's budget, but Evans says many companies that sponsored the event over the past three decades are no longer in Rhode Island.

- We had maybe 15 industries just in the jewelry sector alone.

None of them are still here.

We had probably 10 companies in manufacturing and technical machining.

None of those companies are still here.

And the banks of nationalized media has nationalized.

So our model of corporate sponsorship continues with some very loyal supporters, but the number of companies downtown that are here to be corporate sponsors and across the state has declined.

- We are really excited to start the Ruth Reinhardt era of the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

- [Michelle] The news is not all grim at the Philharmonic.

Beauchesne says the hiring of Ruth Reinhardt as the orchestra's new music director has boosted ticket sales.

And while they're still down several full-time positions compared to pre-pandemic times, there's one feature Beauchesne says has not changed.

- What people won't see is a difference in the quality of what happens in the concert itself.

So, maybe there's a few more spelling mistakes in the program book (chuckles) or things of that nature, but the level of playing on stage, we've really tried to make sure that any cuts we've made have not impacted artistic quality or the integrity of our education program.

(dramatic classical music) - [Michelle] Beauchesne wanted Rhode Island state leaders to set aside federal COVID relief money from the American Rescue Plan to help arts organizations in the state.

Money, he says, the Philharmonic and other arts groups needed.

- None of those funds were allocated to the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts for any arts-specific, sector-wide rebuilding strategy or recovery strategy.

There were funds distributed through Rhode Island Commerce, but those typically were for new programming, not for recovery, not to rebuild what had been damaged during the pandemic.

- [Michelle] Rhode Island House Speaker Joe Shekarchi declined our request for an interview.

In a statement, he said in part, "The state has a strong history of supporting the arts and does so annually in the budget.

There are many competing interests for taxpayer support each year, and we have tried to prioritize the most needed and vulnerable while also making long-term investments."

- I wanna thank all of you in the orchestra for all- - [Michelle] Beauchesne says he's not bitter or angry with anyone in the state.

Going forward, he plans to talk with state officials about having a more deliberate strategy to boost Rhode Island's arts sector.

- It's a $2.4 billion industry, a part of our economy, it's 18,000 jobs.

You know, it generates a tremendous amount of revenue for the state every year.

We feel like the arts need a stronger seat at the table, more visibility, so we can be part of brainstorming solutions and innovation for the state.

We are not looking for handouts.

We are not looking for the arts to be subsidized.

We are looking for investment.

- [Michelle] WaterFire, Evans says, is struggling to survive.

The state increased its yearly contribution to WaterFire from 375,000 to 400,000 during the last fiscal year.

Evans says he'd like to see the state increase it again.

- The case we would make for the state is the state makes the bulk of the taxes on hotel rooms and plane flights and gasoline for all those visitors who come to Rhode Island specifically because of WaterFire, although that flows up to the state.

So, it'd be wonderful if some portion of that came back to us, and we're pleased with what we receive.

(soft music) - [Michelle] Community support for WaterFire is strong, Evans says, and he's confident the message is getting out that WaterFire needs help.

- There's a lot of research now that people need transformative experiences that they engage and share with others, and there's a lot of research that the sense of awe that you have when you see all those fires and hear the music and interact with the surprises that we put out there, that that's an important part of building a successful community.

And we're looking forward to doing that for many years to come.

- Now, while voters recently approved a $10 million arts and culture bond, the majority of that money goes to three organizations.

The remaining funds are grants for capital improvement projects, such as renovations.

Both Beauchesne and Evans say what their organizations need is money for operating expenses, not construction.

And now on this episode of "Weekly Insight," Michelle and WPRI 12's politics editor Ted Nesi discuss the incoming administration and what impact that might have on New England.

But first, they unpack what's in store for Rhode Islanders as the legislative session gets underway.

- Ted, it's good to see you for our first "Weekly Insight" of the new year.

Happy New Year.

And January is already shaping up to be a very big month in the world of politics.

- Yes, both at the state level and in Washington, Michelle.

And one of the interesting things is January will set the table for the rest of the year statewide and at the national level too.

- And state lawmakers recently gathered for the first day of the General Assembly on January 7th.

When you look at the House Chambers versus the Senate Chambers, it's clear the Senate is much more divided this year.

- Right, continuing a theme we talked about a lot at the end of last year, right, Michelle, Dominick Ruggerio, he did win another term as Senate president, and the vote was 26 to 12, which probably sounds pretty comfortable.

But if you look back two years, he got all but one vote to be the Senate president again, which is a reflection of what we've seen, this dissent among some of the Senate Democrats who feel that Ruggerio's health, you know, he's 76, he's been struggling with cancer, a growing number of these Senate Democrats feel he's just not in the right shape right now to continue to lead the chamber, and I think that's why you saw that dissent.

So I'm very interested to see how that dynamic continues throughout the year.

- By contrast, it's a very different feel over at the State House and the House Chambers, where every Democrat, with the exception of one, voted to keep Joe Shekarchi as speaker for another term.

And the speaker has said the focus this year will really be on the budget as lawmakers grapple with what is believed to be a $250 million to $350 million deficit.

- Right, that tease up the next big moment in January, Michelle, which is Governor Dan McKee will give his annual State of the State Address on Tuesday, January 14th, and two days later release his budget bill, which will have his proposal for how to close that deficit.

Interesting for a few reasons.

It's McKee's biggest week of the year, any governor, it's their biggest week to, they have the full statewide attention on them.

It's a chance for maybe to have a bit of a reset following the difficulties in 2024 with the bridge, at the end of the year there was the cyberattack.

And then also this is the most difficult financial situation McKee has faced in his term as governor with this large deficit.

So we'll see kind of how he thinks about controlling spending in a more straightened fiscal environment.

- Ted, remind viewers, how did we get to a point that we are facing such a large deficit this year?

- Well, on some level, it's pretty simple and it's the same old story, Michelle, which is that the state funds programs in areas that grow by more every year, especially healthcare, but also education.

Then tax revenue grows every year.

So every year, if those things go up 4% and the tax revenue goes up 2.5%, you always have a problem.

And then on top of that, it was sort of masked in the last few years by those large influxes of federal money, COVID relief and related spending bills.

That money's mostly gone.

So now we're kind of back to the base-level budget in Rhode Island, which is in deficit.

- Sure, let's turn now to Washington, DC.

The new Congress was recently sworn in.

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated on January 20th.

What will you be watching there as it pertains to how that could affect Southern New England?

- Well, two issues come right to mind to me, Michelle.

The first one is immigration.

Trump obviously campaigned on mass deportations, but there certainly are questions about how much of that was rhetoric and what the administration's actual policy will be.

You know, are they gonna do more targeted immigration enforcement rather than sweeping deportations?

We just don't know, and we need to see once he takes office what he does.

That would certainly have ripple effect in local communities.

And then tariffs, something Trump has talked about a lot.

But, again, where some of what he said would be very dramatic, other advisors have suggested maybe a more targeted approach.

So there's a ton of issues we wanna see what Trump is gonna do on, but those are two where, Michelle, he has a lot of flexibility to act on his own as president, which is why I'm so interested to see what he does right away.

And then interested, of course, to see how the Democrats, who represent this region in Congress, react and respond to whatever Trump does.

- Right, if we do see those mass deportations, how does local law enforcement respond?

- Yes, as well as local elected officials.

- [Michelle] Awesome to see you.

Thank you very much, Ted.

- Great to be here.

- Finally, tonight, children warehoused.

That's what the federal government accused state officials of doing for years at a psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island.

The McKee administration recently agreed to a settlement with the federal government over the case.

Our contributor, Steph Machado, spoke with parents at the center of this case last year in this story that originally aired in June.

- This is Rachel.

She was about three years old here.

- [Steph] For years, Mary McDonough has spent more time visiting her daughter than living with her.

- It was very disturbing to be away from her.

- [Steph] 15-year-old Rachel was diagnosed with autism when she was six.

- She was one of those that was hard to diagnose.

She was very social, cracked jokes, you know, she talked a lot, she gabbed, and she didn't present as a typical child with autism.

- [Steph] Her mental health and behavioral problems started as young as three years old and only got worse as she got older.

- As the years went on, she became very aggressive.

She was doing a lot of self-injury, headbanging, biting herself.

She started throwing things and breaking things, and it got to be, you know, when she was really in a rage, we had this thick, heavy wooden table, and she would, like, lift it up and throw it.

You know, she seemed to have, like, this strength that was incredible.

- That's how Rachel landed at Bradley Hospital for the first time back in 2017 when she was nine.

It's the only psychiatric hospital for children in Rhode Island.

When you got to Bradley, how long did you think she was gonna stay there?

- Well, so when you walk into Bradley into the admission section, there's a sign that says how long your child's gonna be there, and it's seven to 10 days.

So that was my understanding, seven to 10 days.

- [Steph] The reality was much different.

- She was in and out of Bradley for lengthy stays.

I'm talking, you know, six- to nine-month stays.

- [Steph] Mary says Rachel spent more than 1,000 nights at Bradley Hospital, over a dozen admissions in five years.

- She essentially lived there.

She was there more than she was home.

When she was able to come home, it was just the same thing, you know, it didn't seem like anything was working for her.

And so there was no services because there wasn't any available.

And we tried, we tried to keep her home.

We did it for as long as we can, but as she got bigger, you know, she was throwing me against the wall and she was pushing me onto the floor.

- [Steph] Eventually, her parents were confronted with a difficult choice: to discharge Rachel to a residential treatment center rather than continuing the cycle of repeat hospitalizations.

- To find a residential was, you know, what they told us was just turning out to be impossible.

There was nothing in Rhode Island available.

There was no girls' residentials.

And so they started, you know, towards the end, looking, like, all over the United States.

That was just one of those things that I had a hard time with because how can you mother your child in California?

- [Steph] Mary says it took a year for the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, or DCYF, to find a spot for Rachel at a residential facility in Massachusetts.

For most of that time, she languished at Bradley.

- As it turns out that Bradley Hospital is just like a nursing home for children waiting for residential placement.

- It is an appalling failure.

- [Steph] Rhode Island's US Attorney Zachary Cunha says the Department of Justice started investigating the situation at Bradley in 2022.

- We looked at a time period between 2017 and 2022, and in that time, we found there were 527 kids who were housed longer than they should have been at Bradley.

The idea that you're basically, instead of living the normal life of a kid, you're in a locked room in a psychiatric hospital, the potential consequences of that are terrible.

- [Steph] Cunha sent his findings to state officials in May, accusing the state of violating the civil rights of hundreds of children, some of whom were at Bradley for more than a year.

- The Supreme Court has said for over 20 years, and going on 30, that basically individuals with disabilities need to be treated in the least confining setting appropriate to their condition.

So you have kids who require hospitalization 'cause they're in crisis and they need to be stabilized, but when that crisis is over, they're supposed to be cared for in a less restrictive setting, and that's what's not happening here and that's what our case is about fundamentally.

- [Steph] Cunha says he does not place blame on Bradley Hospital.

- Bradley Hospital definitely did identify some of these issues here.

They flagged some of these cases to DCYF.

In fact, part of the problem here is that you had professionals at Bradley Hospital telling DCYF, "These kids are ready to go.

They're ready to move on from our care."

And DCYF failed to place them in less restrictive contexts.

- Both the DCYF director, Ashley Deckert, and Governor Dan McKee declined to be interviewed for this report about what they are doing to try and solve this crisis.

A spokesperson says the state is in confidential talks with the Department of Justice and it would be premature to talk about next steps.

- The state has reached out to us, we've begun discussions.

We have heard and seen things in the course of our investigation that suggest that DCYF is aware of this issue and is amenable to making change.

- [Steph] In a one-page letter responding to Cunha on May 22nd, Director Deckert said, quote, "Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Rhode Island's children is DCYF's top priority," while also blaming the issue on, quote, "nationwide mental health staffing challenges."

- If the state needs to revise how it conducts these programs structurally, if it needs to revisit how it does discharge planning, whatever the cause, the state needs to fix it.

- So the options are, you come to some sort of settlement or agreement with the state or you sue?

- Basically, yes.

I am hopeful, I am always hopeful.

It's always in everyone's best interest to try and resolve issues without litigation.

The goal here is to get these kids the care they need, not to wind up in court for many years, but we're gonna see where these discussions go.

- In Rhode Island, there is not meaningful discharge planning going on because there are not meaningful supports in the community to go to.

- [Steph] Morna Murray, the executive director of Disability Rights Rhode Island, was not surprised by the DOJ's findings.

- There is a dearth of community services available, there are not enough providers, there is not enough money being spent on community-based services.

And while we're talking about community-based services, just to demystify that word, it's just services that are available to children and families where they live rather than having to go to a residential setting, which is the, you know, option of last resort when we're talking about vulnerable kids.

They don't belong in hospitals.

- [Steph] DCYF says they contract with residential facilities, group homes, and in-home services, all options for children being discharged from Bradley.

But the DOJ says there are not nearly enough, and the state has pulled children out of the only psychiatric residential facility in the state, St. Mary's Home in North Providence, amid allegations of abuse, neglect, and dysfunction.

The use of residential facilities is a hotly debated topic in the child welfare world.

- There's all kinds of not only anecdotal evidence but hard evidence across the country that these kinds of residential settings are harmful for children.

Far from being an answer, they actually exacerbate distress and other behavioral health challenges that children are experiencing.

- [Steph] Currently, 76 children in DCYF's care are placed out of state, including Rachel McDonough, because of the lack of facilities here.

Responding to the need, two years ago, lawmakers approved $45 million for a 16-bed residential facility for girls.

Construction is set to begin this summer in Exeter.

- Adding more beds so that you can long-term institutionalize more kids who can be adequately cared for in the community, that's not the solution.

That's exacerbating the size of the problem.

- We would advocate for taking some of the money, a significant portion of the money that's going towards residential beds, and putting that towards community services, because not only are community services more effective, more compassionate, creating more connections for children, which is what they need, but they're far cheaper, far less expensive.

They are a fraction of what residential care costs.

- [Steph] One of those options is called therapeutic foster care, where foster parents are trained and paid to care for children with special needs.

The DOJ found that the state cut the pay to those foster parents in 2020, which over time led to fewer families being available that could have taken in children waiting to be discharged from Bradley.

- Of course, we're outraged by that and we can't understand that.

At the same time, state governments are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.

- [Steph] In the most recent legislative session, lawmakers funneled millions of additional dollars to DCYF, including for foster care and for workforce development so mental health providers can hire more staff.

- My ideal scenario would be Rachel would be home with her family, I would have staff here to take care of her.

- And does that scenario not exist?

- It does not.

- [Steph] Mary McDonough says Rachel is doing better at the residential treatment facility in Massachusetts, where she also receives rigorous schooling after missing so much education while living in the hospital.

But she is only allowed to see her parents for short visits.

- Well, we want her home, you know, we want her back home.

If services become available where we can take her home, that would be great.

But the school systems here, even the private schools, have been, in the past, unable to deal with her, so she didn't really get an education.

She's missed most of her childhood.

- Do you believe the state of Rhode Island has failed Rachel?

- The state of Rhode Island has failed her miserably, has failed our whole family.

- In December, US Attorney Cunha announced a settlement with the McKee administration, where state officials have agreed to make sweeping changes to solve the problem, including creating a plan to ensure children are discharged from psychiatric care without delay.

- The plan is expected to include finding more foster families and hiring more in-home support staff.

It's not yet clear how much the plan will cost the state.

McKee's office said they are doing an assessment of the system, and the governor proposes his annual state budget in mid-January.

And that's our broadcast this evening.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Michelle San Miguel.

- And I'm Pamela Watts.

We'll be back next week with another edition of "Rhode Island PBS Weekly."

Until then, please follow us on Facebook and YouTube, and visit us online to see all of our stories in past episodes at ripbs.org/weekly, or you can listen to our podcast on your favorite streaming platform.

Goodnight.

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