Festivals in Rhode Island

The smallest state in the Union packs in one of the richest musical histories on the East Coast. Everything gravitates toward Newport, a colonial harbor town perched at the tip of Aquidneck Island, where the open water of Narragansett Bay frames the stages at Fort Adams. It was here, back in 1959, that the Newport Folk Festival invented the modern folk gathering — the very stage where Dylan plugged in — while the Newport Jazz Festival, founded in 1954, remains the oldest jazz festival still running anywhere in the world. Two institutions, one granite fort facing the Atlantic.

In the shadow of the Gilded Age mansions, the summer calendar carries on with the Newport Classical Music Festival, staged in historic parlors and chapels, and the eclectic Island Rhodes that closes the season in mid-August. Further north, in the capital Providence, the indie scene takes over at Providence Popfest, an echo of a restless college town. FestT calculates your FestiScore — the match between a lineup and your favorite artists — and keeps dates, headliners and ticketing up to date, so every getaway across the Ocean State lands just right.