PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The mayor of Providence is hosting the nation's arts chief at a festival made possible with a major federal grant.

Mayor Angel Taveras (tuh-VEHR'-us) will welcome National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman to the FirstWorks festival on Saturday. It is the inaugural event of the city's "Our Town" project.

The event will feature a California-based aerial dance troupe that will perform off the side of a downtown building, a WaterFire lighting and visual arts projects by Rhode Island School of Design students and other arts organizations.

The festival is being produced by the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, the Providence Downtown Parks Conservancy and FirstWorks.

The $200,000 federal grant is being used for various public art projects and programming in and around downtown's Kennedy Plaza.