The Boston Phoenix, a popular area arts and news weekly, is about to start publishing a weekly edition in Providence, Rhode Island, the paper's editors said yesterday.

Phoenix officials said they plan to make the Providence move by the spring in an attempt to corner what they see as an open advertising market for an arts and news weekly.

"We believe that we do what we do better than anyone else in the country," said Barry Morris, Phoenix president. "Providence is a great market demographically, and it's close. We're pretty confident of success."

The Providence Phoenix will look much like its Boston counterpart, but may have different ads and arts listings, Morris said. Most of the copy in the Providence edition of the weekly. which is distributed free at college, campuses and costs a dollar at the newstands, will be identical to the Boston version.

Morris said that he hoped the Providence move would open up new advertising markets for the Phoenix which now has a circulation of nearly 130,000.

The Phoenix might face some competition in Providence, however from the small weekly NewPaper which is directed toward the same audience that the Phoenix hopes to capture. The NewPaper, which has a circulation of 25,000 and is distributed free to readers, is geared towards the 18-to-34 year-old market, said Ty Davis, NewPaper publisher.

Morris said he welcomes the competition from the Rhode Island paper. "Competition is healthy," he said. "In the past it's never affected our ability to grow."