Joe's Pub Working Group 2026-27 Revealed

Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater, has announced the artist selections for their 2026-27 Joe's Pub Working Group (JPWG), the 11th iteration of the venue's artist development program. Conceived to address the rapidly shifting state of music and the performing arts in New York, it serves the overarching mission of Joe's Pub to elevate underrepresented voices and help working artists reinforce the infrastructure of their careers.

This year's class is an inspiring range of NYC-based artists and performers: Lila Blue is a writer, composer, and folk artist whose work explores grief, epigenetics, disability, and queer mischief. Machiran is a Cuban composer, recording artist, and performer blazing a new path in New York, examining love, heartbreak, fear, and tradition. Daniela Serna is a Colombian artist, percussionist, songwriter, and educator rooted in Caribbean oral traditions. Greta Gertler Gold is an Australian composer, lyricist, performer, producer and director working in musical theater and pop music. Jake Brasch is a writer, singer, composer, pianist, clown, and one half of American Sing-Song. Full bios are below.

Alex Knowlton, Director of Joe's Pub says, “Every year, the Joe's Pub Working Group pulls together a group of artists from across discipline, genre, and identity, and we support their connection and resource sharing needs of working performing artists. We're so thrilled to see who will be joining us - these five artists reflect the fabric of Joe's Pub and show us where we are headed in the future.” Past JPWG members include Pooja Reddy, Mafer Bandola, Becca Blackwell, Celisse, Jaime Cepero, Isaac Oliver, Samora Pinderhughes, Shaina Taub, Ike Ufomadu, Julian Velard, Esraa Warda, and more.

JPWG fosters the sustainability and growth of New York-based emerging and established artists by providing administrative resources, physical space, and curatorial services.

Joe's Pub also supports The Vanguard Residency and New York Voices. The 2026-27 Vanguard Murray Hill has curated a year of shows including comic James Tom on November 5, Hill's Showbiz!book release party on November 21, and the return of A Murray Little Christmas in December 2026. The 2027 slate features The Anania Show on January 11, Jenny Hagel on January 30, Storm Marrero on March 7, and Pressure K on May 15.

This year's New York Voices year's artists are Morgan Bassichis and Emel Mathlouthi. Both artists will debut their projects in early 2027: Emel's show Everywhere We Looked Was Burning will run January 14-20, as part of Prototype Festival at BRIC Arts Media. Morgan's show In Concert with Amy Winehouse will run January 13-17, as part of the Under the Radar festival, at Joe's Pub.

Learn more about all these programs here.

About the 2026-27 Joe's Pub Working Group Artists

Lila Blue (they/them) is a composer, writer, performer, and folk musician from New York City. Their work explores grief, epigenetics, disability, queer mischief, and often includes collisions with a ghost or two. Blue has performed and composed professionally for fifteen years, including a six-year run co-starring in The Kilbane's Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel-nominated Weightless, and co-composing a 52-song score for a production of The Cherry Orchard presented at Under The Radar (2019 & 2020). For over a decade they have toured and performed internationally, releasing four records to critical acclaim. In 2024, Blue was a winner of Kerrville's Grassy Hill New Folk Award for Emerging Songwriters. Blue has also composed for film and television, most notably MTV and Lifetime. In the words of Ann Powers (NPR) “they bring an incredible authority to songwriting and singing...enormous fearlessness and panache.” Their original music-theater piece, SEE/UNSEE, is set for a world premiere production at HERE Arts Center with support from NYSCA and OperaAmerica in early 2027.

Jake Brasch (he/they) is a writer, singer, composer, pianist, clown, and recent graduate of The Juilliard School. With his Demon Work Wife, Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, Jake is one half of American Sing-Song, a collective that writes and performs filthy comedic musicals, including HOLE!, which will be presented this year at Playwrights Horizons and Soho Theatre in London. Jake's play Trip Around the Sun will premiere at Two River Theater in the spring. His play The Reservoir was produced last year by Atlantic Theater Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and Berkeley Rep. Jake is the proud recipient of both national awards named for his hero Paula Vogel, from the Kennedy Center and Vineyard Theatre. He has three brothers, 26 pairs of glasses, and lives in Brooklyn with his relentless sourdough starter, Marvin, and his sweetie pie husband, Tyler.

Greta Gertler Gold (she/her) is an Australian-raised, New York-based composer, lyricist, performer, producer and director. She composed and co-orchestrated the Off-Broadway premiere of Picnic at Hanging Rock: The Musical and served as lead producer, also producing concert presentations at Joe's Pub and Lincoln Center. Her other musicals include Triplight, The Red Tree and The Real Whisper, as well as works-in-progress Gilda Stone, Available Hooks and Anna Hit. A Yaddo Fellow and Jonathan Larson Grant finalist, Greta has developed work with Ars Nova, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, The Tank, Polyphone Festival, and BMI. She has released multiple albums such as The Baby That Brought Bad Weather and Edible Restaurant (both launched at Joe's Pub), The Universal Thump, co-written multi-platinum songs for The Whitlams, and directed music videos with more than three million views. She is also the mother of two humans and a cat.

Machiran (he/him) is an artist born in Santos Suárez, Havana, Cuba. A composer, recording artist, and performer currently building his path in New York, his work explores love, heartbreak, fear, everyday life, tradition, and Afro-Cuban identity, weaving personal experiences with universal emotions. Through an honest and intimate lens, he understands music as a space of encounter where people can feel seen, supported, and represented.

Rooted in Cuban musical tradition and shaped by contemporary influences, MACHIRAN creates an intimate artistic language where voice and emotion remain at the center. His music moves through traditional and contemporary Cuban genres and sounds, from Son, Filin, Cha-cha-chá, and Rumba to R&B, Soul music, Jazz, and Pop music. This dialogue between heritage and innovation shapes a sound with deep roots and a contemporary spirit. His principal influences include Celia Cruz, Bola de Nieve and Beyoncé, artists who inspire his understanding of interpretation, stage presence, and the relationship between identity and spectacle. As a queer Afro-Cuban artist in the diaspora, MACHIRAN is committed to building a strong catalog as a recording artist, creating work that extends beyond the stage, and connecting with diverse audiences through stories that often lack space to be told.

Daniela Serna (she/her) is a New York–based Colombian artist, percussionist, songwriter, and educator rooted in Caribbean oral traditions such as cumbia and bullerengue. For over two decades, she has traveled throughout Colombia to study with cultural elders Emilsen Pacheco, Petrona Martínez, and Martina Camargo. She embraces her identity as a woman in music with confidence and authenticity; from La Perla to performing internationally with LADAMA, featured on NPR Tiny Desk, TED, the Latin American Music Awards, Monterey Jazz Festival, WOMEX, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. She has opened for Eddie Palmieri, Herbie Hancock, Susana Baca, Vieux Farka Touré, Arturo O'farril, Flor de Toloache, Pascuala Ilabaca, Lido Pimienta, Chancha Via Circuito, and The Klezmatics. A 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Fellow, she has collaborated Trooko, Joel Hamilton, Pernett, and Toy Selectah, and her music has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, BBC, and Vogue Brasil.

At the heart of Daniela's current musical journey is her solo project, AKUPERCU. With her debut album “LO–FI TAMBO,” she fearlessly combines genres such as merengue, plena, and techno, exploring her curiosity about electronic music, rap, and Caribbean diasporic rhythm. Daniela also music directs the collective La Manga, which delivers a one-of-a-kind performance rooted in cumbia tradition yet alive with contemporary energy, bringing Colombian Music to iconic stages like Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Sony Hall, Brooklyn Bowl, Joe's Pub, Nublu, and Public Records.

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