Carl Hancock Rux Joins Harlem Stage as Associate Artistic Director/Curator-In-Residence

Harlem Stage today announced that multidisciplinary artist Carl Hancock Rux has joined the organization in a newly created role as associate artistic director/curator-in-residence. The hire is a major component of Harlem Stage's strategic, five-year transformation plan as an artist-led and artist-managed organization, to strengthen and nurture leadership roles and employment opportunities for artists of color. Rux will work with the senior management team to design and execute Harlem Stage's commissioning and artist development program, its related education programs, and the presenting schedule (including curating artists and live performances).

"As a Harlem-native, it is truly an honor to be named associate artistic director of Harlem Stage, one of the very first institutions to present my work as early as 1990. With the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this is a full-circle opportunity to bring my curatorial vision to the Gatehouse, under the tutelage of an esteemed arts administrator such as Pat Cruz, whom I count as a dear friend, colleague, and mentor," said Rux.

"Harlem Stage is extremely proud to announce that Carl Hancock Rux will be joining the organization in this newly created artistic role as part of our curatorial initiative, Centering Artists at Harlem Stage, which has been generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with a three-year, $2 million grant," said Cruz.

Cruz continued, "We have a deeply rooted, trusted working relationship that spans more than thirty years of commissions and presentations of Carl's theatrical and musical works. And while his selection is innately intertwined with a shared vision of inclusivity, it is also a reflection of Carl's generous partnerships with other artists and organizations - partnerships that will form the foundation of our work ahead to curate emerging and established artists, expand our programmatic reach, and link Harlem Stage to other arts organizations in New York City, across the country, and around the globe."

"We are proud to support Harlem Stage's vision to center artists at the heart of the organization," said Emil J. Kang, program director for arts and culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. "Uniting Carl Hancock Rux's prolific performance and visionary curatorial practice by building on its decades-long partnership with him is evidence of Harlem Stage's commitment to advancing creative work and artist development."

Carl Hancock Rux is an American poet, award-winning playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, actor, theater director, radio journalist, published author, and a frequent collaborator in the fields of film, modern dance, and contemporary art. The New York Times heralded Rux as "a breathlessly inventive multimedia artist." Rux is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize-winning collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta, the novel, Asphalt, and the Obie Award-winning play, Talk. His music has been released internationally on several labels including Sony/550, Thirsty Ear, and Giant Step. Rux is also co-Artistic Director of Mabou Mines, a New York City-based experimental mixed media art and social service company founded in 1970 by David Warrilow, Lee Breuer, Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and Philip Glass. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Award for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Prize, the Bessie Award, the Alpert Award in the Arts, and a 2019 Global Change Maker award by WeMakeChange.org. Rux is also an associate artist with Compagnia de Colombari (an experimental theater company founded by Karin Coonrod); a multidisciplinary editor to the Mass Review at UMass Amherst; a Yale University Hayden Fellow; an Associate & Advisory Artist at the Billie Holiday Theater; an Associate Artist with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts where, most recently, he has created several multidisciplinary works; an Inaugural Performing & Associate Artist at Joe's Pub at the Joseph Papp Public Theater; a member of the New York Historic Landmarks Preservation Center; Faculty Emeritus at the California Institute of the Arts; and Distinguished Faculty Member at Hollins University. Rux's archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art, and the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts.

For more information, visit www.harlemstage.org.