LIve Arts Boston

Banner photo: PeterDiMuro: Public Displays of Motion / Photo: Melissa Ostrow

Information is out now about the next generation of LAB. Click here to learn more!

Congratulations to the performing artists selected for Live Arts Boston 2022!

We are pleased to share with you the names of the 50 artists and organizations selected as the 2022 cohort for Live Arts Boston.

In its sixth year, Live Arts Boston (LAB), created with the support and partnership of the Barr Foundation, supported Greater Boston area artists to test ideas, explore collaborations and build skills in the process of generating new, original work. Arts and music are the translators of meaning. In an era of health, racial, and economic pandemics that will forever change our lives, we believe that art is a critical force for advancing needed conversations, building belonging, imagining a better future and inspiring us to move towards it.

LAB once again supported visionary performing artists creating new work through Live Arts Boston. LAB provides up to $15,000 in project-specific funds to create, produce or present new performing arts work for Greater Boston audiences. In addition to funding, grantees will receive project documentation, one-on-one advising, peer networking opportunities and support for other professional development.

Funding supports work in dance, theater, music, opera, musical theater, spoken word, performance art, circus arts, traditional and folk performing arts and any multi-disciplinary combination of the above.

Beyond dollars, the LAB program gave grantees access to an invaluable resource--Boston-based Dunamis, a professional development organization specializing in the support and training of Boston’s emerging artists and arts-managers of color. A vital partner of the LAB since program 2020, the Dunamis team meets creatives where they are at any stage of their careers, offering 1:1 consultation, project advising with a dedicated cohort of artist-advisors, and an evolving array of professional development workshops based on the needs of the current cohort. Their podcast series, Dexter's L.A.B., created to give voice to LAB artists, highlights grantees for their work and unique perspectives.

Scroll down to learn more about the program and meet the 2022 LAB grantees.

Learn more about Lab's impact on artists

Program Information

About the Program:

The next application period for Live Arts Boston will be in early 2024.

Read the press release about the 2022 Live Arts Boston cohort of artists!

Learn more about past cohorts:

Live Arts Boston 2021

Live Arts Boston 2020

Live Arts Boston 2019

Live Arts Boston 2018

Live Arts Boston 2017

Thanks to our funding partner

Meet the 2022 LAB Artists

Two members of Adobo Fish Sauce are standing and covering their faces with a cutting board and frying pan — Photo: Carlie Febo

Adobo-Fish-Sauce will practice a public display of process as product by documenting the journey of writing, developing, and the first performance of a new cooking and poetry show.

Three women dancers surround a fourth during a performance — Photo: Olivia Huang

Wendy will complete and perform the work The Women Gather, with a creative ensemble made up equally of international and local women-identified artists and conduct workshops for local community members culminating in a two-week run at the Strand Theater.

Photo: Chris Rogers

Haasan Barclay

Haasan Barclay's next project will be a full-length album that portrays the perspective of a black man discovering his place in the ever-changing socio-political landscape that is modern life in America. A major aspect of this work includes highlighting and subverting the racialized connotations of genre and aesthetic.

A photo of Karen Bell, she is wearing a shirt that billows out behind her — Photo: Bill D'Agostino

Let Me Be Free to Love is a project empowering black women over 40. Karen will host monthly zoom meetings with black women and record a collection of original songs for a live performance. The project will build community, raise awareness and amplify voices of black women to larger audiences.

Kahleil Blair crouches with his hands in front of him — Photo: Jay Hunt

Kahleil will be releasing a visual album entitled 'Box Office' with a staggered release schedule that presents a new song and music video every month (for 6 months), drawing inspiration from their favorite 80's & 90's movies.

A person photographed while dancing, their arms are outstretched and bent at the elbows and their head is thrown back. — Photo: Jim Coleman

The Carol Kaye Project is an evening length dance performance, comprising the fourth work in a multi-year program that provides diverse cultural perspectives on seminal bassist Carol Kaye’s life, highlights diverse women in dance, and distinctively integrates live music as well as its musicians into the choreography.

A photo of a large group of people gathered outside — Photo: Jon Washer

The Bridgeside Cypher is a platform for local rappers, singers, and musicians to collaborate in a public, improvised format. They encourage artists of all backgrounds, ages, and experience levels to participate in helping build confidence in an inclusive environment without fear of judgment or criticism from the public.

Will Dailey sits in a closet surrounded by racks of clothing, he is holding a guitar — Photo: Melissa Gomes

Will Dailey will present a live stream of a collaborative album recording process that celebrates the vital importance of a collective in making music.

Two people are on a dark stage dancing, only their silhouettes can be seen — Photo: Heidi Wild-The Yard

Danza Orgánica's goal is to bring three-dimensional life to Floaters, a series of poems rooted in the experiences of the working class in Massachusetts, with a focus on the immigrant and Puerto Rican experience. They will do so through dance theater, with original live music, spoken word performance, and multimedia elements.

Photos: Jati Lindsay (Walter Smith III), Departure Arts (others)

Departure Arts

Departure Arts will create a new music/concert series supporting mentorship in the Boston performing arts community.

Photo: Andrew Regis

Patrick Despage

"Life is Study, Life is Steady" will be a compilation project based on connection, collaboration, and community within Boston, accompanied by a live showcase of music, dance, fashion and film.

Leo Eguchi sits with a cello — Photo: Justine Cooper

‘UNACCOMPANIED’ will present a range of personal stories of immigration and identity told through music, composed by nine immigrant and first-generation Americans. The works will be performed on solo cello, alone on an empty stage - the metaphor of the lone cello giving common voice to our many unaccompanied migration stories.

Photo: Ally Schmaling

Erini

Erini will produce arrangements of traditional songs of the Anatolian-Greek refugees for voice and classical string quartet with Grammy-nominated arranger Gonzalo Grau and present them in concert in Boston in April 2023. Eirini aims to preserve their great-grandparents’ musical heritage, both Greek-Anatolian refugees, and integrate it within classical music contexts.

Photo: Katy Beth Barber (@kbarberphotography)

Sadiq Ervin

The Blair B*tch Project (BBP) is a Halloween Party & Concert highlighting creative women in the Greater Boston Area. Their goal is to secure a high-profile independent artist that embodies unapologetic Black feminine energy and place them center stage alongside prominent creative women in Boston.

Photo: Omari Spears

Grace Givertz

Grace will be putting out her second full length indie folk record that will only feature artists from marginalized communities (i.e. LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, BIPOC). All shows and tours associated with the record will also feature artists of those communities.

A photo of a woman in a purple dress laying across the top of a white piano — Video still: Laine Rettmer

Guerilla Opera will present HER:alive|un|dead, a concert-length media opera written by Emily Koh following three generations of Asian women in a single family. Through birth and death cycles and encounters in the "in-between, these women expound on gender biases and discriminatory practices upon people of Asian descent.

Quinn Gutman and Leo Balkovetz — Photo: Sarah Coffman

“Violetta” will be an opera resetting Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” to 1989 New York City, telling the story of a relationship between Violetta, a transwoman who’s HIV positive, and Alexander, a transman who had run away from his religious midwestern family.

Tim Hall stands in front of a yellow wall, he is holding a saxophone — Photo: Diana Levine

Prophecy explores nuances of sound and voice as a multi-disciplined musician, poet, and producer displayed over 3 EP’s that disrupt the parameters of genre and artistic identity. The first installment - Prophecy: my now was predicted - is the welcoming celebration for memories, lessons, experiences, and sounds that shape Tim's creative voice.

Hoopla_Productions — Photo: Deborah Karson

Open Your Heart: Immigrant Stories from Boston and Beyond will be a live show featuring East Boston youth from the organization, Zumix. They’ll perform personal stories about their journeys as immigrants/children of immigrants and share stories from interviews they’ve conducted with East Boston residents, and how they’re impacted by them.

Headshots of a man and two women are at the top of the photo. In the bottom half is a poster for an opera "Mr. Twister and the tale of tornado alley" — Photo: Brenda Huggins

Music! Puppets! Magic Telescopes! “Mr. Twister And the Tale of Tornado Alley," a new opera for family audiences is a community-centered Clean Air Action project that will be developed and performed in outdoor venues across Greater Boston in partnership with local chapters of the Mothers Out Front Climate Action network.

Three black and white photo arranged in a collage. Each photo has one of the members of Kantika — Photo: Tiandra Ray and Hannah Ko Wood, Krista Galligani

“Kantika,” which means “song” in the endangered language of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), is an album that combines portions of Ladino traditional songs with new material written in English. “Kantika” is a collaborative work between Tutti Druyan, Shaqed Druyan, and Edmar Colón.

Photo: Self Portrait Photography by Kaovanny

Kaovanny

Kaovanny will be hosting a unique, interactive performance/engagement and EP series that includes live music and other healing modalities to hold a safe and authentic space for the mental decolonization of BIPOC. The goal is to assist intergenerational healing and empower in the form of artistic expression, engagement, movement and reflection.

Rebecca Kopycinski LAB 2022 Grantee — Photo: Emily Tirella

Rebecca will produce an immersive theater event including live music performance and a studio recording of the music. This will be the next Episode in the ThotBot storyverse and center around the idea of mindfulness and mental health.

Funding from the Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston grant will enable Kotoko Brass to finish recording and then release their first full-length album, while engaging their audience in community-driven album release event.

Matthew Lau stands and poses for a photo — Photo: Aleksandr Zheleznov

This project includes the recording and production of Matthew's debut album featuring new commissions for contemporary solo vibraphone & a cross-genre groundbreaking work with autoharp and electronics followed by an in-person recital for the launch of the album and extensive touring.

Photos: Joseph Curtin, Alex Portenko, Yuran Shi, Andrew Wang

Erin Lerch, Josh Glenn-Kayden, Alison Qu, & Kim Klasner

Erin Lerch, Josh Glenn-Kayden, Alison Qu, and Kim Klasner will write, develop, and produce the third play in Erin Lerch’s Legion Cycle (a series of queer, stubbornly optimistic science fiction stories), following a radio DJ as she becomes the unlikely figurehead of human resistance in the face of an apocalyptic alien invasion.

Alanna Logan and Megatron stand with two other people during a Slaught House celebration — Photo: Alanna and Megatron with Slaughter House, submitted by artist

Megatron and Alanna Logan (representing Slaughter House) will present a show based on Megatron’s legacy that was left behind during his 10+ year long incarceration. The show will consist of an autobiography, testimonials, time-lapsed footage, and live dance presented on screen and in theater.

Six people dance onstage, they are standing in couples with one person behind another miming feeding the front person — Photo: Olivia Moon Photography

Common Circus is an evening of dance theatre and a carnival—all-in-one. It serves not just to place household labor in a high-spectacle three-ring format, but also to question gender and performance industry norms, to entertain and engage viewers, and to de-mystify dance.

Stephanie McKay holds a microphone stand as she performs — Photo: Kim Smith Public Relations

Stephanie will present a live showcase of new music at a live music venue, theatre or via livestream based on the narratives of BIPOC women in leadership and activism. This will be an evening of storytelling, music and photography celebrating and centering the present history of BIPOC women.

Guy Mendilow Ensemble & Regie Gibson — Photo: Elizabeth Friar Photography

Through spoken word, theatrically projected sand animation and string quartet/piano/vocal score, Radio Play(s) Episode 3, “Giants," celebrates the extraordinary stature of often overlooked people in our midst: Those who choose kindness, creative courage, generosity and grace despite upheaval.

On a dimly lit stage, a person is dancing — Photo: Sarah Feinberg

Monkeyhouse will present pop-up performances of _____[10], an interdisciplinary project created by Karen Krolak and inspired by her family’s tangled linguistic history as well as their experiences with disability and grief.

Letta Neely and Greg Allen — Photos: Lauren Miller/Northeastern Univ.

"Pulling It All Into the Current" will be a one-person (many characters) theatre/spoken word piece focusing on the duplicity of the U.S. as both HOME and a political/spiritual/literal Minefield.

Photo: Yaroslavna Chernova

Vadim Neselovskyi

Vadim will present extended composition "Ukrainian Symphony" as their reflection on the current crisis in their home country, Ukraine — meaningful musical experience that will help the listeners to connect deeply to the tragedy of Russian invasion. It will speak about the power of compassion as a foundation of humanity.

Non Event LAB 2022 Grantee — Photo: Peter Gumaskas

Waterworks 2023 will be a multi-day festival of original site-responsive works of experimental music that makes use of the extraordinary acoustics and unique layout of Boston’s Waterworks Museum. The festival will feature performances by local, regional, and national artists, as well as short-term sound installations.

Photo: Jay Pix

Cliff Notez

All Us in Wonderland is a collection of EPs presented in multi-dimensional/Multi-Genre formats, completing the Cliff Notez Trilogy exploring themes of Love, Compassion and Friendship while offering closure to previous themes from Why the Wild Things Are & When the Sidewalk Ends.

Portsha Olayiwola sits on the top of a bench in a park — Photo: Carlie Febo

WET is a theater experiment featuring music, dance, and poetry based on a collection of poems with the same title. This performance seeks to engage Black identity with both water and queerness. The text is an exercise in Toni Morrison’s ‘rememory.’ The performance is the body remembering what was forgotten.

A photo of two people sitting back to back onstage — Photo: Andrea Blesso

Through movement, drawing, and discussion, BELONGING will be an experiential performance workshop series that will creatively engage audiences in the questions: “What does it mean to Belong to a person, to place, to yourself?”

Oompa LAB 2022 Grantee, sits on a stool with one leg stretched in front of him — Photo: Ally Schmaling

Oompa will compose a poetry-infused (it’s been so long), Soul-inflected Hip-Hop/R&B Album, and an accompanying one-woman show for Champ Pain, about navigating chasing a dream in a small city while occupying their particular existence in it.

A collage of photos of the members of Pinwheel — Photos: Andrew Hurlbut, Robert Doyle, Daniel Friedman, Ashley Winkfield

Magic Pearl is an original shadow puppet production with a story based on an ancient Chinese folktale, featuring live original music of flute, cello, and percussion. The story follows two unlikely friends in Dragon and Phoenix who learn to cooperate, deal with loss, and gracefully embrace change.

Four members of PLACE Project perform acrobatics on stage during a show — Photo: Peter Borg

To celebrate Seymour Planetarium’s 85th anniversary as the oldest planetarium in the nation, PLACE Project is creating a series of dance-theatre works inspired by astronomy-based mythology from around the world. These works will be presented both at Springfield Science Museum and at nontraditional venues in Greater Boston.

Renaissance Men, a group of men, stand in the street in Boston — Photo: Derrick Mills

"Renmen" is a music performance created by Renaissance Men which explores Haitian music for tenor and bass voices through both folkloric and art music avenues. Renaissance Men will develop, rehearse, and perform "Renmen" at The Strand Theatre in Dorchester.

Photo: Submitted by artist

ReRooted

The 'Crown of Times' will be a multimodal production focusing on creating a politicized retrospective of Black cultural hairstyles starting from the 60s to the current decade, showcasing how the policing of Black hair is an extension of the power to dehumanize Black people.

Photo: Lucky Lefty Photography

Safarihatking

Safarihatking will produce a musical showcase that will display live performances featuring their live Trap Standards album. The event will also promote live visual artist and culinary art vendors from the Boston community to display their crafts and goods. The showcase will be called Trap Jazz Brunch.

Members of Sheffield Chamber Players stand in a tunnel painted with graffiti. — Photo: Hannah Shields Photography

This performance project explores how issues of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ relate to identity through the commissioning of a new work for String Quartet by Kenji Bunch alongside the presentation of the personal history of activist/Japanese Internment Camp survivor David Sakura, and public conversation between Sakura, the artists, and audiences.

A woman is standing in front of a white wall with drawings of faces projected over her — Photo: Melissa Blackall

“The Mysteries of Life: a Queer Nature Walk” is a multimedia installation and performance that uses true stories of animals’ social interactions and mating rituals to challenge heteronormativity and affirm queerness and transness as natural.

Lonnie Stanton in a forest, she sits between two trees and has her arms outstretched to hold them — Photo: Olivia Moon Photography

Emotive Land will be an augmented reality app. This site-specific installation will allow audience members to watch dances on their smartphones at sites along the Charles River. The project is centering nature's resilience and encouraging all to consider a relationship to land, rooted in stewardship versus hierarchical ownership.

Photo: Selfie by D C Walters

Dayenne C Walters

Dayenne is developing a full-length play on the life of Charlotte Forten. She was an activist, journalist, and poet in the anti-slavery and women’s rights movements of the 19th century. Dayenne will partner with The Poet’s Theatre to present a staged reading of the play in June 2023.

Photo from artist

RJ Walters, representing The Chocolate Factory Band

RJ Walters, representing The Chocolate Factory Band, are creating a live music series called City x Unplugged which highlights the stories of othered artists, (with a focus on Hip-Hop) through a live concert and ted-x - meets- Moth story telling.

Two photos: On the top is a photo of a man, on the bottom is a photo from behind a woman who is sitting onstage playing an instrument and surrounded by other musicians — Photo: Vanessa Embling and Robert Torres

Winsor Music will collaborate with pianist/composer Kevin Harris to present a concert featuring a premiere of his new work, “Pulse.” They aim to stretch their repertoire and foster connection among disparate audiences using improvised and written music, with jazz and classical musicians performing alongside each other.

Fredrick Woodard playing the guitar — Photo: Jaypix Belmer

The Dudley Jazz Festival is a reoccurring event held every year (except 2020) since 2016. It is a festival that will feature 4 bands, each band will perform a 60 to 90 minute set, and this will be an outdoor event.

2022 LAB Reviewers

Live Arts Boston would like to thank our 2022 reviewers - without them, this program could not happen.

Abria
Arts Administrator, Actor, Musician, Writer
Berklee College of Music

Aliza Franz
Freelance Dancer, Arts Administrator
VLA Dance, Zamana Art

Andrea Blesso
Director of Dance & Interdisciplinary Arts
Boston Center for the Arts

Aneesh Kumar
Independent Artist/Administrator

Angela Miracle Gladue
Independent Artist
Miss Chief Rocka, The Halluci-Nation

Ann Gregg
Field Learning
The Lewis Prize for Music

Anson Frazier
Independent Artist
ANSON RAP$

Ashleigh Gordon
Artistic/Executive Director and violist
Castle of our Skins

Ashley Yung
Theatre and Performance Manager
Pao Arts Center

Billy Dean Thomas
Independent Artist

Bonnie Duncan
Artistic Director
The Gottabees

Ché Anderson
Organizer
Food & Convo

Christina Leonard
Director / Choreographer
Center Stage Dance Studio

Despoina
Independent Artist

J. Andrés Ballesteros
Executive Director
Eureka Ensemble

Jasmine Brooks
Freelance Theatre Artist

Jasmine Rush
Actor / Writer / Director

Jason Talbot
Deputy Director
Artists For Humanity

Jean Appolon
Founder and Artistic Director
Jean Appolon Expressions (JAE)

Jha D Amazi
SpaceMaker

Jorge Santiago Arce
Performing Artist (Music,Theater & Dance)/Educator

Josh Bhatti
Vice President
The Bowery Presents

Juana Baez
Founder
The Works of Art

Julia Schachnik
Community Organizing Manager
American Repertory Theater

Juma
Consultant and Independent Artist
The Message LLC

Junichi Fukuda
Artistic Director / Choreographer
FUKUDANCE

Kirjuan Freeman
CEO
www.elevationtheory.org

Kristina Latino
Founder & Artist Manager
Cornerscape Artist Management

Lanelle Sneed
Program Manager
BAMS Fest

Marian Taylor Brown
co-director of collective abundance
Arts Connect International

Moe Pope
Musician, Visual Artist
STLGLD

Ngoc-Tran Vu
Independent Artist and Organizer

Paul Miranda
Independent Artist

Paul Willis
Hip Hop/Spoken Word Artist and DEI Consultant

Rhea Vedro
Independent Artist

Sara Porkalob
Storyteller, Cultural Worker

Shoshona Currier
Director
Bates Dance Festival

Sophie Ancival
Director of Production
MIT

Steve Schroth
Education Manager - Fruitlands Museum/Old Manse
Trustees of Reservations

Steve Theo
Owner
Pirate!

Tanya N Nixon-Silberg
Founder
Little Uprisings

Theo de Castro
Program Assistant
Ford Foundation

Tiniqua Patrick
Founder/Lead Producer
Meraki Productions

tri quach
director of engagement and organizing
masscreative