THE DEMOCRACY CYCLE FESTIVAL to Present World Premieres at PAC NYC

The Perelman Performing Arts Center has announced the inaugural Democracy Cycle Festival, taking place January 15–23, 2027.

The Festival is an extension of The Democracy Cycle commissioning program, an ambitious initiative committed to commissioning and developing 25 new works of live performance across theater, dance, music, opera, and multidisciplinary practices that invite artists to explore themes related to the nature, practice, and experience of democracy.

Bringing together artists, audiences, civic leaders, and communities, the Festival will create opportunities to exchange ideas and consider how artistic practice can help strengthen democratic culture.

At the center of the Festival will be two world-premiere productions of Democracy Cycle-commissioned works: At the Altar by Baye & Asa (Dance) and The Puerto Rico Experiment by Angélica Negrón with Balún and Roomful of Teeth (Music). Both were commissioned in the 2024 cohort and represent two of the 17 commissions currently in development.

The Festival will also feature free and open-to-the-public events that include a keynote speaker event, work-in-progress readings of Democracy Cycle commissions currently in development, panels, gatherings, musical performances, and networking opportunities.

'We believe artists have a unique ability to open up new ways of seeing and can deepen our understanding of what democracy can be,' says Bill Rauch, Artistic Director. 'We received more than 2000 artistic submissions for The Democracy Cycle commissioning project, from artists around the world and across every performance genre. That enthusiasm inspired us to launch this Festival, to bring artists and audiences together to connect, share ideas, and explore democratic values through the power of artistic expression.'

FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING

MAIN STAGE PERFORMANCES: TWO WORLD PREMIERES

These fully staged performances showcase the Democracy Cycle's newly commissioned works, giving audiences an exciting first opportunity to experience these original artistic projects as they make their world premieres.

THE PUERTO RICO EXPERIMENT (Music)

By Angélica Negrón
with Balún and Roomful of Teeth

Saturday, January 16 at 8pm

Sunday, January 17 at 2pm

Tuesday, January 19 at 7pm

Wednesday, January 20 at 7pm

Thursday, January 21 at 7pm

Puerto Rican-born composer Angélica Negrón and her Brooklyn-based indie electronic band Balún team up with GRAMMY-winning vocal innovators Roomful of Teeth to create a tropical song cycle exploring what it means for a territory without full political representation to be repeatedly treated as a laboratory. Created in collaboration with four Puerto Rican poets (Roque Raquel Salas Rivera, Nicole Delgado, Mara Pastor, and Ashley Pérez García) each sonic vignette traces a specific incident in the island's history as a site of experimentation—from mass sterilization campaigns and imposing English in public schools, to the U.S. Navy occupation of Vieques and UFO sightings in Lajas.

Equal parts concert, inquiry, and collective dream, The Puerto Rico Experiment creates a space for radical listening, embodied remembrance, and imagining new cultural and political possibilities.

AT THE ALTAR (Dance)

By Baye & Asa

Tuesday, January 19 at 8pm

Wednesday, January 20 at 8pm

Thursday, January 21 at 8pm

Friday, January 22 at 8pm

Saturday, January 23 at 2pm

What do we worship? How do we worship? Who are the righteous, and who are blasphemers? Through propulsive movement and evocative scenic design, At the Altar reckons with the pitfalls of extreme idolatry and questions the cost of pedestalizing any one person or idea. This powerful new dance work from the acclaimed choreographic team Baye & Asa invites audiences into a world void of absolute truth. It follows the duo in search of deliverance, and interrogates our collective struggle for freedom, survival, and salvation.

Both productions are presented in partnership with Under the Radar.

OPENING ASSEMBLY

The Democracy Cycle Festival begins with a celebratory gathering of artists, cultural leaders, and changemakers. The Opening Assembly brings together the commissioned artists, Civis Foundation and PAC NYC leadership, setting the stage for a festival filled with bold ideas, creative exchange, and collective imagination.

Friday, January 15

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Festival attendees are invited to join this tentpole event, celebrating the exploration of democracy and the vital role of artists and artistic communities in fostering meaningful dialogue and connection. The speaker will be announced soon.

Friday, January 22 at 6:30pm

WORKSHOP

This event offers participants a hands-on experience, exploring the mechanics of democracy at work.

'Performing Public Meetings'

Saturday, January 16 at 11am

Performing Public Meetings is a participatory workshop led by Aaron Landsman and Perfect City that transforms the rituals of local government into a space for performance, reflection, and possibility. By reenacting real public meetings, participants explore how lived experience contains civic knowledge—and how creative practice can shift power, representation, and democratic culture.

READINGS

These work-in-progress readings offer audiences a glimpse into four more Democracy Cycle-commissioned works, still in development.

Civilities, Or How to Secede Without Really Trying [Theater]

Sunday, January 17 at 10am
By Holly Bass

Civilities, Or How to Secede Without Really Trying, a satire using historical texts from 1860 to the present, imagines the Confederate states as Southern belles grappling with politics, soft power, and propriety during a crisis of democracy. The work explores the limits of empathy and ways white femininity has been deployed to both advance and hinder political equality. Set as a tour of a historic plantation, the audience will be swept back in time and invited to explore the American political divide through comedic commentary and rarely discussed historical documents and artifacts.

Six Nations: One Fire [Theater]

Sunday, January 17 at 4pm
By Vickie Ramirez, Ty Defoe, Jeanette Harrison

Six Nations: One Fire explores the Haudenosaunee Confederacy's Great Law of Peace, a 1,000-year-old-Indigenous philosophy of unity, justice, and consensus-based-decision-making. Through interdisciplinary theater, this production highlights the profound influence of these principles on the U.S. Constitution.

Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened [Theater]

By Nathan Yungerberg
Tuesday, January 19 at 2:30pm

Set on a Hollywood soundstage, Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened imagines a fictional sitcom about Barrington 'Barry' Greene, a charismatic Black news anchor who relocates his family to Minneapolis after being hired by a local affiliate. On camera, their story offers audiences an easy vision of racial integration. Off camera, the set warps to reveal a harsher reality of hostile neighbors, discriminatory housing practices, and the violence hidden beneath 'Minnesota Nice.' Blending satire, history, and Afro-surrealism, Nathan Yungerberg's new play asks, What happens to Democracy when the laugh track stops?

Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People [Theater]

Saturday, January 23 at 12pm
By Daniel Leeman Smith and Blossom Johnson

In 1969, Indigenous activists occupied Alcatraz Island and transformed it into a powerful experiment in self-governance. Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People revisits the 19-month occupation led by Indians of All Tribes (IAT). Through interviews, reenactments, and archival footage, this documentary play brings a pivotal chapter of Indigenous activism into the present, exploring questions of justice, governance, and sovereignty. Each performance concludes with a participatory 'civic re-imagining circle,' inviting audiences to consider what this history can teach us about building a more expansive and relational vision of democracy today.

PANELS

These events offer participants an opportunity to hear from thought leaders, learn, and connect.

'History Reframed: Artists Telling the Stories the Record Leaves Out'

Tuesday, January 19 at 4:30pm

Who gets remembered, and what gets left out? Democracy Cycle-commissioned artists Holly Bass, Justine F. Chen, Blossom Johnson, and Daniel Leeman Smith come together for a conversation about the deliberately overlooked histories, untold stories, and missing perspectives examined in their projects. By bringing these stories to light, they illuminate our understanding of how democracy developed and help us see the past—and the present—through a different lens.

'The Roots of Democracy'

Thursday, January 21 at 3:30pm

Panelists: Vickie Ramirez, Jeanette Harrison, Mary Kathryn Nagle
Moderator: Ty Defoe

Long before the United States was founded, the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace established a democratic system rooted in consensus, representation, and collective responsibility. Join artists from Six Nations: One Fire, along with playwright and Native rights lawyer Mary Kathryn Nagle, for a conversation about its influence on American democracy and the principles that continue to guide the world's oldest continual participatory democracy.

'Art As Social Dreaming: Imagining Decolonial Futures'

Friday, January 22 at 3:30pm

Panelists: Angélica Negrón, Pablo Manzi, Samora Pinderhughes
Moderator: Jasmine Garsd

Before we can build a better future, we have to be able to imagine one. What does it mean to collectively dream alternative political and social realities through art? This conversation brings together artists who use speculative futures, social dreaming, and creative practice to challenge inherited structures and envision new possibilities for collective life, civic participation, self-determination, and democratic change.

LOBBY STAGE PERFORMANCE

The free lobby stage will feature two live music performances featuring festival artists and PAC NYC friends.

Paul Pinto

Saturday, January 16 at 7pm

Composer-singer Paul Pinto takes over the PAC NYC Lobby Stage with his rapid-fire wit and five-octave range. Known for his verbose, anti-genre music theater, this stalwart of New York's avant-garde musical theater scene presents a groovy set of songs and soundscapes about toxic masculinity, capitalism, colonialism, and race in America—but they're often funny. Joined by a small band of longtime collaborators, Paul will share tunes from his upcoming Democracy Cycle commission Estebanico, alongside lush, cheeky, electro-acoustic bops from his shows Mano a Mano and Whiteness.

Sofía Rei

Sunday, January 17 at 1pm

Sofía Rei brings the adventurous sounds of her latest album Antónima to the PAC NYC Lobby Stage as part of the Democracy Cycle Festival. Playful, searching, and impossible to pin to a single genre, Rei's latest music moves between tradition and experimentation as it takes on identity, migration, and feminism. She is joined by longtime collaborator JC Maillard and percussionist Neil Ochoa for a vibrant, intimate performance.

CLOSING RECEPTION

The Festival concludes with a celebratory gathering of artists, cultural leaders, and changemakers. The Closing Reception brings together the Democracy Cycle's commissioned artists with leadership from the Civis Foundation and PAC NYC to toast the bold ideas, creative exchange, and collective imagination sparked throughout the festival.

Saturday, January 23

DEMOCRACY CYCLE FESTIVAL DAILY SCHEDULE

Friday, January 15
Opening Assembly of Democracy Cycle-commissioned artists

Saturday, January 16
11am-12:30pm: Performing Public Meetings [Workshop]
7pm-7:45pm: Paul Pinto [Free Music on Lobby Stage]
8:00pm: The Puerto Rico Experiment [Performance]

Sunday, January 17
10-11:30am: Civilities, Or How to Secede Without Really Trying [Reading]
1-1:45pm: Sofía Rei [Free Music on Lobby Stage]
2:00pm: The Puerto Rico Experiment [Performance]
4-5:30pm: Six Nations, One Fire [Reading]

Tuesday, January 19
2:30-4:00pm: Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened [Reading]
4:30-6pm: History Reframed [Panel]
7:00pm: The Puerto Rico Experiment [Performance and Talkback]
8:00pm: At the Altar [Performance]

Wednesday, January 20
7:00pm: The Puerto Rico Experiment [Performance]
8:00pm: At the Altar [Performance]

Thursday, January 21
3:30-5pm: The Roots of Democracy [Panel]
7:00pm: The Puerto Rico Experiment [Performance]
8:00pm: At the Altar [Performance and Talkback]

Friday, January 22
3:30-5:00pm: Art As Social Dreaming [Panel]
6:30pm: Keynote Speaker
8:00pm: At the Altar [Performance]

Saturday, January 23
12-1:30pm: Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People [Reading]
2:00pm: At the Altar [Performance]
Closing Reception

TICKETS

Tickets for the festival's performances will go on sale Wednesday, September 23.

Please visit www.pacnyc.org for more information on how to reserve and attend non-ticketed and free events.

ABOUT DEMOCRACY CYCLE

The Democracy Cycle (Boo Froebel, Director) is designed to support 25 new live performance works that illuminate the promise, practice, imperfection, and opportunity of democracy. The Democracy Cycle aims to invigorate discussion and expression of democratic values by supporting the unique abilities of artists to imagine new worlds, envision new possibilities, and provoke meaningful discourse across any number of divides. All 25 projects will be commissioned and developed over a 5-year period, with the final 8 projects chosen in Fall 2026.

The Democracy Cycle is a joint project of PAC NYC and Civis Foundation and is made possible by generous support from Civis.

More information about the commissioned artists is available at: www.pacnyc.org/the-democracy-cycle

ABOUT CIVIS

Civis advances the common good through investments in root cause advocacy, cultural work, and facilities that illuminate our interdependent future. We pursue our work independently and in collaboration with others whose missions align.

Civis believes that coalitions and partnerships can create winning campaigns for meaningful social change. By leveraging the unique strengths of private sector companies, government programs, and nonprofit organizations, we are nurturing an American democracy with the constant capacity to equitably serve the welfare of all people residing in this country.

ABOUT PAC NYC

PAC NYC is a new home for emergent and established artists in theater, dance, music, opera, film, and media from New York City and around the world. Flexible in design, the center is fully responsive to artists' creative visions. Intimate in scale, PAC NYC fosters an immediate connection between artists and audience members. The center's projects will sometimes involve significant community participation and will always strive to have audiences reflect the work onstage.

PAC NYC's mission is to create connections by cultivating bonds between extraordinary artists and communities, with exemplary performances in active dialogue across the arts, and in our flexible, intimate spaces, inviting conversation and new relationships. Our art and our audiences reflect the dynamic energy of all five boroughs of New York City. Our work asks all of us to consider and embrace the complexities of society. Together, we welcome the entire world. The center is where the world trades ideas.

Citi is the official card and a proud sponsor of PAC NYC.

PAC NYC is grateful for the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Special thanks to Uber, Proud Rideshare Partner of PAC NYC.

ACCESSIBILITY