Inaugural Joe's Pub Vanguard Gala to Honor Nona Hendryx

Join Joe's Pub at The Public for an evening of cocktails, dinner, and special performances in Joe's Pub to support The Vanguard Award & Residency, a celebration of pioneering artists whose work is distinctly rooted in American life and pop culture. Special guests will include Meshell Ndegeocello, Carl Hancock Rux, Toshi Reagon, Tamar-Kali, Terri Lyne Carrington, Celisse Henderson, DJ Bill Coleman, and The Illustrious Blacks, with direction from Charles Randolph-Wright, musical direction from Toshi Reagon, along with a backing band including Reagon, Juliette Jones, Alex Nolan, Ganessa James, Maya Kronfeld, Alison Miller, and Everett Bradley. JoAnn Chase & Eileen Kornreich will serve as Gala Co-Chairs, along with Honorary Co-Chairs Sarah Dash & Patti LaBelle for this special evening. Nick Cave, Laurie Fabiano & Joseph Della Fave, and Billie Jean King & Ilana Kloss will be serving as the Benefit Committee. Cocktails will be served in The Library at 6pm, followed by dinner and performances in Joe's Pub at 7pm.

Grammy Award-nominated funk, art rock and new wave pioneer Nona Hendryx is the inaugural recipient of the Joe's Pub Vanguard Residency. Joe's Pub is honoring her career as a performer, producer, writer, curator, innovator and mentor, with a year of monthly of programming. From January through December, Hendryx will curate and/or perform in shows that feature not only her body of work, but those of the many multidisciplinary artists who she has influenced (and who continue to influence her).

The Vanguard Residency is an award and yearlong residency that celebrates the career of a singular artist who has contributed to American life and pop culture and is a part of the Joe's Pub family of artists. This artist also sustains and leads their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers. Additionally, the award answers to the music industry's widening gaps in funding.

Shanta Thake, Director of Joe's Pub, said, "For almost 20 years, Joe's Pub has played a vital role in fulfilling The Public Theater's mission to serve audiences and artists alike. More than a venue, Joe's Pub is a New York institution centered on supporting diverse artists at every stage in their careers. This year, we launched the inaugural Vanguard Residency Award. In our mission to support artists at every phase of their careers, we created this award to celebrate the work and narratives of the iconic American artists of our time. As we developed the program, the name that kept coming up was Nona Hendryx. She is not only a vanguard artist who has changed the form and field of American pop culture but she is deeply connected to Joe's Pub and its larger community of artists. She, in fact, was one of the first artists to ever grace the Joe's Pub stage in 1998 and set the tone for all that Joe's Pub could be."

She is fearless. She is a funk, art-rock, new wave goddess. She is a Grammy Award-nominated icon. She is Nona Hendryx. Hendryx, whose influence extends far beyond music, into technology, the visual arts and academia, has fearlessly paved the creative way forward for five decades. From her beginnings on the "Chitlin' Circuit" to sharing the stage with James Brown to her current collaborations with Carrie Mae Weems, Hendryx' work is consistently acknowledged by her fellow artists as an exquisite force. Throughout 2018, Joe's Pub will honor her career as a performer, producer, writer, curator, innovator and mentor, with monthly programming. From January through December, Hendryx is curating and performing in shows that feature not only her body of work, but those of the many multidisciplinary artists who she has influenced (and who continue to influence her).

JoAnn Chase & Eileen Kornreich will serve as Gala Co-Chairs, along with Honorary Co-Chairs Sarah Dash & Patti LaBelle for this special evening. Nick Cave, Laurie Fabiano & Joseph Della Fave, and Billie Jean King & Ilana Kloss will be serving as the Benefit Committee.

About Joe's Pub at The Public

Named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Joe's Pub at The Public opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. The organization also offers unique opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that provides musicians the resources and tools needed to develop original theater works. Commissioned artists have included Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Bridget Everett, Allen Toussaint and more. In 2011, the Pub received a top-to-bottom renovation, leading to improved sightlines, expanded seating capacity and a new menu from acclaimed Chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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