Skip to Main ContentSearch SiteSearch Site
Top

Art professor creates film to raise awareness on combating homelessness

March 10, 2021

Inspired by the rise of homelessness in and around the state, Community College of Rhode Island adjunct professor Brian O’Malley is putting the finishing touches on an animated short he hopes will raise awareness to assist families struggling from such housing insecurities.

O’Malley, who teaches digital art at CCRI and in 2020 founded the Rhode Island Independent Animators (RIIA) collaborative, plans within the next month to release Unsheltered, a six-minute animated film that tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who loses both of his parents and winds up homeless in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Crossroads Rhode Island, approximately 4,000 people per year experience homelessness in the Ocean State, and one of every four are children. O’Malley – the sole writer and director of the film – hopes Unsheltered will help raise awareness and influence others to contribute financially to help end homelessness. In addition, he will donate half of the funds raised by the film to The Holy Family Home for Mothers and Children, a homeless shelter in Providence; next week, he will make an initial donation of $1,200, which he solicited through a fund-raising video posted on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

O’Malley developed the concept for the film in March of 2020, shortly after the first few cases of coronavirus reached Rhode Island, and loosely based the protagonist’s story on his own youth; while never homeless, O’Malley admits to living “hand to mouth,” driving cross country while at times living out of his car. The film also features on original score from Providence-based composer Peter Scartabello.

“When I heard the statistics on homeless in Rhode Island, it blew my mind,” O’Malley said. “People need help, and if I can raise a small portion to give back to our community, I’m happy to do that.”

Once the film is completed, O’Malley will release a trailer to the public and then submit the finished product to various independent film festivals. The next step, depending on COVID protocols this summer, is to revive the RIAA collaborative – six of his seven scheduled events were canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic – and premier the film in Rhode Island at public screenings. O’Malley hopes his upcoming $1,200 donation is the first of many in 2021.

Share this story

Latest News

World Languages student and Rhode Island native wins fifth Emmy Award for film-editing technology

World Languages student and Rhode Island native wins fifth Emmy Award for film-editing technology

December 13, 2024

Cranston, RI, native Thomas Ohanian, a World Languages & Cultures student completing his independent study, recently won his fifth Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for co-inventing the Avid Multicamera System, a technology that has revolutionized the film-making and editing industry.

Read More

College's Division of Workforce Partnerships earns 2024 PACE-RI Academic Partnership Award

College's Division of Workforce Partnerships earns 2024 PACE-RI Academic Partnership Award

December 12, 2024

The Community College of Rhode Island’s Division of Workforce Partnerships has won the 2024 PACE-RI Academic Partnership Award for its work in developing free training programs to help upskill more than 50 employees through online trainings and in-person courses at PACE’s East Providence, RI, headquarters and CCRI’s Providence Campus.

Read More

CCRI Players tackle themes of doubt and uncertainty with final production of fall semester

CCRI Players tackle themes of doubt and uncertainty with final production of fall semester

December 12, 2024

Beginning today, the CCRI Players launch a four-day run of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable, produced by CCRI Performing Arts Professor Luke Sutherland and scheduled for five performances at the college’s Providence Campus Auditorium. Showtimes are 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday with 2 pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday.

Read More

Employee Spotlight: Michael Marrapodi

Employee Spotlight: Michael Marrapodi

November 27, 2024

Michael Marrapodi has joined CCRI as the new Executive Director of Online Learning. He has been involved with education since teaching music at a private school during his senior year of college in 1976 and is now an innovative leader in the online learning sector.

Read More

Second-year Biology student, PTK scholar helps feed the homeless one sandwich at a time

Second-year Biology student, PTK scholar helps feed the homeless one sandwich at a time

November 26, 2024

Eighteen-year-old Rhode Island Promise scholar and Warwick, RI, resident Lucas Johnson revived an old family tradition this past summer with Sandwich Party Sundays – a unique opportunity to spread joy and good cheer to Providence's homeless population each weekend at Kennedy Plaza. 

Read More

Alumni Spotlight: Flavia A. Albert, M.A.

Alumni Spotlight: Flavia A. Albert, M.A.

November 25, 2024

A Providence, RI, native, and Community College of Rhode Island Class of 2011 alumna, Flavia A. Albert, M.A., is on the verge of releasing her first children's book next month to combine her passion for behavioral health and early childhood development with her love for storytelling.

Read More

CCRI announces partnership with Building Futures to deliver new Apprenticeship Readiness program

CCRI announces partnership with Building Futures to deliver new Apprenticeship Readiness program

November 22, 2024

With the support of a $250,000 workforce investment from the RI Department of Labor and Training (RI-DLT), the college will begin offering apprenticeship readiness programming in January through the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3), a comprehensive apprenticeship readiness curriculum that delivers an industry-recognized credential.

Read More

CCRI recognized as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting

CCRI recognized as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting

November 20, 2024

For the past two election cycles, the Community College of Rhode Island has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as part of its Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognition program.

Read More

Navy experience guides CCRI alumna in her new career as a full-time Communication professor

Navy experience guides CCRI alumna in her new career as a full-time Communication professor

November 07, 2024

Assistant Communication and Film/Media professor Jennifer O'Rourke, a Warwick, RI, native and Class of 2007 graduate, is in her second year as a full-time faculty member after serving as a Mass Communication Specialist for the U.S. Navy.  

Read More

Second high school joins CCRI's free advanced manufacturing dual-enrollment certificate program

Second high school joins CCRI's free advanced manufacturing dual-enrollment certificate program

October 29, 2024

One year after CCRI and North Kingstown High School partnered to launch the college's free Advanced Manufacturing Program for high school students interested in earning a Manufacturing and Design Certificate, Mount Pleasant High School has joined the program this fall to extend this unique opportunity to a group of 14 students. 

Read More

CCRI receives grant to empower and celebrate First-Generation college students

CCRI receives grant to empower and celebrate First-Generation college students

October 24, 2024

The $1,000 grant will be used to support a First Generation Family Night event at CCRI’s Lincoln Campus on November 7 as part of its First-Generation College Celebration Day programming. First-Generation College Celebration Day is observed each year on November 8 to celebrate the success of first-generation college students, faculty, and staff who were the first in their families to graduate college.

Read More

Vampire love story takes center stage as CCRI Players launch 2024-25 season

Vampire love story takes center stage as CCRI Players launch 2024-25 season

October 23, 2024

The CCRI Players, the college's student-run theater group, kick off their fall semester this week at the Bobby Hackett Theatre with an adaptation of Let the Right One In, based off the best-selling 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. 

Read More

Employee Spotlight: Joshua Seguí-Rodríguez

Employee Spotlight: Joshua Seguí-Rodríguez

October 21, 2024

In today’s Employee Spotlight, we meet CCRI's new Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Joshua Seguí-Rodríguez and uncover what inspired him to serve others, how he brought that passion to the forefront as a college student, and his unique skillset beyond the console.

Read More

Alumni Association inducts nine new members into Society of Knights and Squires

Alumni Association inducts nine new members into Society of Knights and Squires

October 16, 2024

Nine Community College of Rhode Island alumni were inducted into the college’s Society of Knights and Squires as part of the CCRI Foundation and Alumni Association’s 2024 Outstanding Alumni Awards at the Warwick Campus.

Read More

Theater alum Wong becomes CCRI's fourth to earn Gamm fellowship in 2024-25

Theater alum Wong becomes CCRI's fourth to earn Gamm fellowship in 2024-25

October 09, 2024

Allison “Sonny” Wong of Barrington, RI, a Class of 2024 graduate, is one of four fellows selected as part of the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre's 10-month 2024-25 Gamm Fellowship Program, which will be the theatre's 40th anniversary season.

Read More

Upcoming Events