Okwui Okpokwasili News

May 3, 2023 will mark the 29th annual celebration of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (HAAIA) which will be presented to eleven risk-taking, mid-career artists – experimenters - who are challenging and transforming art, their respective disciplines, and society.

This fall, Brown Arts Institute (BAI), a university-wide arts research enterprise that serves as a campus resource and catalyst for the arts at Brown University, will launch IGNITE, a series of interdisciplinary, collaborative, impactful projects centered around the possibilities of art as a vehicle for societal change.

From May 25 to 27, 2023, Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT), CalArts' center for contemporary arts in downtown Los Angeles, presents adaku, part 1: the road opens, a new, cross-disciplinary performance from Brooklyn-based performer, choreographer, and writer Okwui Okpokwasili and director, visual artist, and sound designer Peter Born.

The Kitchen, in collaboration with the American Academy of Art and Letters, will present Dance and Process, the series that brings dance artists into a group process interrogating methods of choreographic and dance practice, with artists challenging default structures in their own work and the field at large.

Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup presents the 2nd Edition of The Moving Memory project: ONLY NOW on Thursday, April 20 at 7:30pm at The Broadway Presbyterian Church, 601 W. 114th Street New York, NYC.

The Chocolate Factory Theater, Media Art Xploration, and New York Live Arts will present the New York premiere of Prometheus Firebringer, the first lecture-performance by director and writer Annie Dorsen.

After an inclusive nationwide search by ALJP Consulting, arts service organization The Field has announced that Christopher Bloodworth will be joining their staff and board as the new Executive Director, effective March 2023.

The Kitchen has announced its Winter/Spring 2023 programming, resulting from durational engagements that give experimental artists and collectives an abundance of time and organizational support to pursue their ideas.

Looking ahead to an exciting, new year, Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT), CalArts' downtown center for contemporary arts, has announced its Winter/Spring 2023 season of performances, screenings, and exhibitions, presented in-person and online January through June 2023.

The Kitchen will present GRIEF, the first New York institutional solo exhibition of work by celebrated composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes.

The Chocolate Factory Theater presents the world premiere of VESSEL, a new durational performance installation by David Thomson.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced the nominees for the 2022 Bessie Awards at a virtual press conference hosted by Gibney.

As The Kitchen continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary, it begins the renovation of its Chelsea home on 19th Street and will move temporarily to Westbeth’s expansive West Side Loft.

ELLA: An American Miracle, a new musical written by Anna Deavere Smith (Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 and Notes From The Field) and featuring music from the Ella Fitzgerald songbook, is currently in development, with an upcoming work session held from August 25-September 21 to conclude with a private industry presentation.

Following the announcement earlier this year that Obsidian Theatre was launching a vital new training and mentorship program supporting Black theatre creators –YOUNG, GIFTED & BLACK (YGB)– the company is thrilled to unveil the inaugural cohort for the program, which has recently gotten underway and will continue through to September 2023.

651 ARTS - Brooklyn's premier organization for the African Diasporic performing arts - today named Toya Lillard as the renowned institution's Executive Director. Lillard, who initially joined 651 as Interim Executive Director in May of this year, was appointed in a more permanent capacity by the organization's Board of Trustees to a three-year term in the role.

Gibney, the New York City-based dance and social justice organization, announces Gibney's Imagining Digital virtual programming, directed and curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

The seven-time Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf will have a special American Sign Language performance on Tuesday, May 31, following the success of the first ASL signed performance the production had on April 15, 2022.

The reimagined revival of Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf will host “100 Women of Hip Hop Sisterhood Sunday,” a spirited gathering of Black women on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council presents the 21st annual River To River Festival, Downtown New York City’s  leading free summer arts festival, taking place June 12–26.