January 2020 Meet Our Artists: Shannon Reynolds/eSKay Arts Collective

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!

Name & Pronouns: Shannon Reynolds, she/her/hers

What inspires you?
Humans. How can our everyday events, social interactions, and life stories be transformed into art? How can art influence our everyday events, social interactions, and alter our life stories?

What are you proud of?

eSKay Arts Collective! Six years ago, my Co-Director Kelly and I said, "One day we will have our own company,” and then chuckled at the idea, which we’d always thought would be only a dream. (Follow eSKay Arts Collective on Facebook to learn more about upcoming events and watch videos of previous performances.)

Dance studio photo by Shannon Reynolds.

What are your goals?

To engage individuals through art.

Do you have any advice for your fellow artists?
This is a job which includes administrative responsibilities. Treat it as a job and set aside a specific time each week to complete the administrative tasks which will allow your company to grow.

How does The Field help you?
The Field has allowed us to expand the size of our collective and reach an audience outside of New York City.

 

Dancer on a subway platform photo by Rick Perez.

©2020 Shannon Reynolds / eSKay Arts Collective
  

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July 2019 Meet Our Artists: Emily Kikta and Peter Walker

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!

What inspires you?
We’re inspired by music and what visuals can be created through different sonic qualities or arrangements. We’re also inspired by the potential created by controlling the perspective of the audience through the camera. Dance for camera gives us complete control over the audiences’ experience in a way that nearly impossible in a large theater. We’re excited about what this can inspire us to create.

What are you proud of?
We’re proud of being able to be the sole creators through every step of our work. On most projects we film, direct, choreograph, edit, produce and even sometimes perform in our own videos. We’re proud that even if it’s only us on board for a project, we can still make it happen.

What are your goals?
We hope to expand what ballet can be through video and how video can impact how audiences experience live performance. We also hope to get more collaborators interested in exploring this other side of ballet creation with us.

Do you have any advice for your fellow artists?
Just start making the work. Stop thinking about it and just start figuring out how to make it a reality. Ask all the questions you can of anyone who might be able to answer them.

How does The Field help you?
The Field helps us direct potential donors to a legitimate and reputable site. We find people are more willing to give when they learn we’ve taken the time to set up an established account with The Field.

 ©Emily Kikta and Peter Walker

 Additional Viewing: SPAC Project 2018

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April 2019 Meet Our Artists: Jane Jerardi

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!



Name: Jane Jerardi

What do you do?
Dance, Performance, Video, and Installation Artist

What inspires you?
The creative process. And seeing other artists’ work. Seeing artists begin and continue and persevere through the questions of their own work never ceases to amaze me.

What are you proud of?
That we re-started The Field in Chicago. We have 18 people in our current Fieldwork group here! Pretty exciting.

What are your goals?
To keep creating interesting art and to support fellow artists in the process.

Jane Jerardi and Dao Nguyen's Six Acts of Witness (2015) participatory event. Photo by Slaveya Minkova

Any advice for fellow artists?
I find making is a lot about getting out of the way. Convincing the parts of you that want to procrastinate and the part that thinks your ideas aren’t very good – to tell them to just slowly step back. And, you keep going despite them, while they’re there waiting in the background.

Then once you have something – that’s usually kind of terrible – you at least have something which is certainly better than nothing. And then you start to negotiate with it and then get weirdly into it and wonder about it and expand it, change it, or manipulate it and multiply it, or teach it to a friend, and get them to change it into something better. And then, you start having strong opinions about it – that it needs to be a certain way and you’re not really sure why but you’re fairly convinced of it.

And then, the project has somehow become bigger than you and you’re just following its lead. And you’re still not sure if you’re worthy – or your ideas are any good, but you do it anyway for some reason.

And despite it all – you realize that what’s beautiful about this is that you can make something without really much of anything at all. There are dances waiting to be made, photos waiting to be taken with your phone, your dollar-store notebook waiting to be written in, music waiting to inspire. Your art is as worthy as anyone else’s and we certainly need it.

(Excerpted from Jane’s recent essay about studio practice, “on beginnings,” published by The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Go read the full piece! We love it!)

Jane Jerardi and Dao Nguyen's Six Acts of Witness (2015) interview photo by Slaveya Minkova

How does The Field help you?
The concrete nature of the (Fieldwork) process really aids so many different kinds of artists, no matter what stage their project or work might be at. It never fails to surprise me how often different artists connect to it.

©Jane Jerardi

Additional Viewing:

excerpts from Nocturne

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January 2019 Meet Our Artists: Melanie Greene

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!

Name: Melanie Greene

What do you do?
Choreographer & Performer (Methods of Perception), Writer, Podcast Host

What inspires you?
I'm inspired by strength, power, love, and vulnerability. I create dance works to tell non-fiction fantasies and superwoman truths.

Photo by Larry Rosalez

What are you proud of?
I'm proud of my perseverance. I receive a lot of no(s), but the yes(es) continue to shift my perspectives and career exponentially. Receiving one yes in a sea of no gives me strength.

Recently, I've moved forward on two major projects that feel very risky. I'm in a very vulnerable space. Nonetheless, being overcome with fear and not pushing these projects forward never felt like an option. So, we will see!

I have 6 grant/residency applications, a book proposal, and a desire for funding for an upcoming project out in the world. A couple of no(s) have trickled in, yet I remain hopeful that a yes is on the way.

What are your goals?
My primary goal is to build a sustainable platform for my art-making through commissions, residencies, performances, panels, and writing. It's also my goal to advocate for artists to recognize their power and push against racist and inequitable practices that continue to prop up non-profit arts institutions.

Do you have any advice for your fellow artists?
Drink plenty of water, there is work to do.

How does The Field help you?
The Field offers a centralized platform to support visibility, community, and fiscal sponsorship.

Photo by Ian Douglas

Photo by Bogliasco Foundation

Photo by Bogliasco Foundation

Photo by Scott Shaw

All content © Melanie Greene / Methods of Perception

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November 2018 Meet Our Artists: Candice Segarra

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!

 Name: Candice Segarra

What do you do?
Choreographer, Poet, Director of Segarra Dance Theatre Projects

What are you proud of?
I am proud of being able to evolve my work from where I began years ago as a choreographer. I am definitely not the same person or artist I was back then when I first started. I am much freer in terms of dance-making and more out of my head. I am proud of getting my dance collective into major dance festivals and showcases that I never thought my work would qualify for, sometimes I can be my own worst critic. I'm proud of being able to afford rehearsal space so far in my choreographic career although it has been super challenging and my wallet is falling short now; the more my company's opportunities grow. It's fascinating to see your hard work cultivate into something bigger than yourself! I'm also super proud of my dancers and other artists who collaborate with me and give me their time and energy to grow our company.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by hard-working fellow artists of any kind that make a living creating and inspiring others. I love colors and the complexity of human emotions and thoughts; they really intrigue me. My environment and nature inspires the way I think and create and human relationships inspire me to write. My work is based on these concepts as well as how society's treatment of certain classes and races- these really ignite the ideas in my mind and transform them into my artwork.

What are your goals?
I have so many goals! For my company, I aspire to take my company in a tour nationally and maybe even perform internationally if possible. I also hope to have our own full-length evening show where we showcase our repertoire at a NYC venue within the next year!

Do you have any advice for your fellow artists?
I wish someone had told me how hard it was going to be to be a professional dancer and a professional choreographer growing your own company in these times. It's hard! But if art – whether it’s music, dance, theatre, or visual – is what you truly love to do, it is totally worth it to be at times, broke, hungry, exhausted and stressed out. We only got one life, so we have to do what we absolutely love to do.

How does The Field help you?
Since I'm new to The Field, I am excited to see what we can do together. I am very much looking forward to receiving help with fundraising and grantwriting and to see how much my collective will grow under the sponsorship of The Field.

Click to enlarge images.

All content © Candice Segarra / Segarra Dance Theatre Projects

Additional Viewing:

SDTP at the Sans Limites Movement Fest (WE THE ARTISTS Excerpt A)

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September 2018 Meet Our Artists: Ranardo-Domeico Grays

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!

Name: Ranardo-Domeico Grays

What do you do?
Choreographer, Founder/Artistic Director of VISIONS Contemporary Ballet (VCB), an ethnically diverse company committed to presenting spiritually uplifting contemporary ballet works.

What are you proud of?
I am proud to be a four-year brain cancer survivor...and to be creatively flourishing. After taking two years off for treatment I returned to VCB with even more of a story to share. I have completed past works in progress and I'm presenting new work. I created Roots, a new work presented in 2016 and Through the Valley, presented in 2017 for our 10-year anniversary performance, Healing Works. Currently I am working on our fall 2018 Healing Works II program, which will include the newly completed Dash - Between, and will be presented at The Theatre at The Riverside Church in NYC on November 10.

For the first time since leaving my hometown of Detroit, Michigan to attend The Juilliard School in New York, I will be returning to present my company in a concert dedicated to the "Queen of Soul," Aretha Franklin at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on December 19 – bringing my company home to share my work with the community that first nurtured dance in my life!

What inspires you?
I feel that The Lord has given me the opportunity to present VISIONS Contemporary Ballet to the community with more focus and even more passion than ever. I choreograph to inspire and motivate people from all walks of life in the local community and beyond. I feel that art can be used for healing. When people see themselves in my work or tell me that they were moved, it motivates me to keep going and creating.

What are your goals?
My goal is to build VISIONS Contemporary Ballet to be a strong contemporary ballet company with a voice of encouragement and inspiration and to embark on a multi-city US and international tour to share my work on a broader spectrum.

Do you have any advice for your fellow artists?
We each have our own path. Continue to persevere, especially when you feel like giving up. As long as you are putting forth your best efforts, everything will fall into place eventually, even if it may not appear that way. Don't be distracted by things that don't seem to come through. They just may not be meant for you at that time.

How does The Field help you?
As an artistic director and choreographer, I am able to take advantage of opportunities that would not be available to me if I was not a Sponsored Artist of The Field. I was recently awarded the 2018-2019 UMEZ Grant as an inaugural recipient. I would not have been able to receive this important grant without the support of The Field.

Click to enlarge images. Photography by Andrew Williams

© Ranardo-Domeico Grays / VISIONS Contemporary Ballet

Additional Viewing: 

VISIONS Contemporary Ballet 10-year Anniversary Performance

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July 2018 Meet Our Artists: Nicola Bullock

Our Members, Fiscally Sponsored Artists, and other program participants represent a wide range of career stages and disciplines. We love them - and, as fellow artists, we're always inspired by them. With this monthly feature, we hope you'll feel the same way!

Name: Nicola Bullock

I am…
A dance-maker, performer, teacher, and student

I’m inspired by…
The people who have come before me - back to the first humans to ever walk upright – and by the generations yet to come. I am inspired by the fact that dance has always held an important role in connecting people to themselves, each other, the world, and the cosmos. I am inspired by the endless wealth of ways that different bodies move as they seek to lead fulfilling lives.

I’m proud of…
Championing the voices of local dance-makers in Durham NC by producing shows, cofounding an organization that curates a season of dance, and working with theater companies to bridge the theater and dance communities.

My goals are…
To hear the ancient wisdom of the body; to learn how to transmit a visceral sensation to others through dancing; to adventure places outside of prescribed roles and movement patterns; and to keep a good sense of humor while at it.

How does The Field help you?
I'm excited to be a Fiscally Sponsored Artist at The Field! This allows me to fundraise and apply for grants with the backing of an incredible organization.

Any advice for fellow artists?
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett

Click to enlarge images. Couch photo by Noah Rosenblatt-Farrell. Bullock. Mustache photo by Mayra Wallraff. Field photo and other content ©Nicola Bullock

Additional viewing: Creative Block 

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Field Leadership Fund: Meet Eric Lockley& Rachel DeGuzman

Artist Fellow, Eric Lockley is a Baltimore native and NYC - based actor, writer and producer. Regional theater credits include Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy at the Studio Theatre in DC, How We Got On at Cleveland Playhouse, Game On at the National Black Arts Fest in Atlanta and black odyssey at the Denver Center Theater. New York stage credits include The Colored Museum, Hope Speaks, Holes, CATO and The Winter’s Tale. Lockley will also be featured in upcoming films Assisted Living starring Olympia Dukakis and Macy Gray, and Knockout Game. Television credits include features on HBO, MTV & BET. Lockley’s written works include his “affirmative action” comedy Blacken the Bubble and the sci-fi thriller, Without Trace. As a solo performer, Lockley has written and performs Last Laugh, exploring the mental health of 2 black entertainers, and Asking for More, an educational solo show that encourages health consciousness in urban youth.

As a founding member of two Harlem-based organizations, The Movement Theatre Company and OBIE-award winning, Harlem9, Eric has produced numerous productions, events and theatrical presentations that over the years have showcased over 400 artists of color at various stages in their careers. Stand-out achievements have been, Harlem 9's annual one-of-a-kind event "48 Hours in . . . HARLEM", and The Movement's acclaimed productions of Bintou and Look Upon Our Lowliness.  Eric’s most recent endeavor has been writing and producing his first film, “The Jump” – which explores one black boy’s special relationship with the water. www.ericlockley.com

"Sustaining a career in the arts without institutional or commercial support requires a significant amount of focus, faith, prioritizing, negotiating, creativity, patience, flexibility and determination. I’ve been able to sustain thus far and I look forward to thriving with the support of FLF."

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Manager Fellow, Rachel Y. DeGuzman is president & CEO of 21st Century Arts, a Rochester, NY based arts consultancy. She is the founder and executive producer of A Call to Action symposiums and the recently launched A Street Light Festival.

DeGuzman is an active member at VisitRochester and Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council Tourism/Arts Work Group. Rachel is a program partner of Janklow Arts Leadership Program at Syracuse University. She serves as an ongoing pro-bono advisor to several local arts and cultural organizations. Rachel writes a community arts blog at democratandchronicle.com and is the host of a weekly radio show, Up Close and Cultural, on WAYO 104.3 FM where she also serves on its leadership team..

Ms. DeGuzman was 1 of 14 national arts professionals selected by Association of Performing Arts Presenters for 2012/2013 Leadership Development Institute - where she spent a year in collective inquiry focused on the theme of Knowing and Connecting Art with Community. Her past positions include director of advancement/external relations at Rochester City Ballet and marketing and publicity manager of Nazareth College Arts Center.

She was director of development/communications at The Commission Project and director of development at Garth Fagan Dance. Rachel served on Mayor Warren's Neighborhood: Quality of Life transition focus group; was a grant panelist for Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester and NYSCA/REDC. She was a member of the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester’s Cultural Diversity Initiative Committee.  DeGuzman was a past member of William Warfield Scholarship Fund board.

"The barriers that prevent us from creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable field are systemic and must be addressed collaboratively and sector-wide. I am committed to owning leadership in that transformation."

Learn more about the Fellows here.

Learn more about the work the paired Fellows are doing here.

Field Leadership Fund: Meet Emily Berry & Jehan Young

Arts Organization Fellow, Emily Berry is the Artistic Director of B3W Performance Group, which has performed in the US, England, Greece, Italy, Thailand, and Mexico. In New York City, B3W has performed at Henry Street Settlement, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, BAAD!, the 92nd Street Y, The Irondale Center as part of FlicFest, and the Manhattan Movement Arts Center among others.

B3W received the Mondo Cane Commission from Dixon Place where we premiered Confined in September 2010 with a three-week run. Spin Art, B3W’s newest evening length work premiered at the Irondale Center January 30th, 2014 with live music by DBR. Spin Art inside of a cube with flying paint premiered in Queens in November of 2014.

Eva Yaa Asantewaa (InfiniteBody) describes Berry’s work as “Memorable, intelligent, strong”. “Violent but engaging” are the words attached to Berry’s work by Clare Croft in the Washington Post. Maura Donahue (Culturbot) writes about Confined as, “Clear expression of idea in movement”.

Emily has performed with danceTactics Performance Group/Keith Thompson, Boris Willis Moves, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh & Company, Restless Native Dance/Tamieca McCloud, Lesole’s Dance Project, and Ashe Moyubba/Alafia Afro-Cuban Folkloric Dance Ensemble. Emily is a Certified Movement Analyst. She also has a MFA in dance from George Mason  University. Her Bachelor of Dance Arts was earned from the University of Michigan along with a Bachelor of General Studies in Women’s Studies and Political Science. She is currently an assistant professor of dance at Queensborough Community College.

"FLF will give us the help, support, and community to be more effective and efficient in our commitment to resource sharing, addressing issues of diversity, and developing B3W Performance Group as a company making work and engaged with communities in New York City, nationally, and internationally"

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Manager Fellow, Jehan O. Young, Born in Northern California, a week early and in time to attend my own baby shower, I have not been on time for anything since. 

My family eventually headed south of the Alameda County border and in the valley of the shadow of Big Bear Mountain I began to exhibit a certain penchant for performance. Caught in an exclusive living room engagement of lip-synched Peter Alsop covers, adorned with the luxurious cotton mane of a t-shirt belonging to a basket of laundry I was supposed to be folding cascading down my back, I was duly enrolled in ballet.

As a rising fifth grader and the latest transplant to a new school, I managed to land a part in the annual summer camp musical; not the lead, per se, but the character with the most lines; yes, 37 versus the mere 24 spoken by the main character. 

After a fierce audition process comprising each hopeful going to the back of the cafegymtorium and shouting: O Say Can You See By The Dawn’s Early Light (the one line only, nothing further) I won the part, a boy, due to my voice being considerably deeper than any other prepubescent. 

Two years out of college I landed in the Delta terminal of La Guardia airport with one degree, in pursuit of another and a suitcase full of things destined for a charity bin or the nearest curb. I haven’t looked back since. To Be Continued...

"I believe FLF is an opportunity to create a safe space for artists and arts supporters to experiment, to fail and then, to have failure inspire growth. As I endeavor in my own artistic pursuits and work towards gainfully supporting other artists, I am hopeful that I will be empowered to become a more resourceful and active participant of the arts."

Learn more about the Fellows here.

Learn more about the work the paired Fellows are doing here.

Field Leadership Fund: Meet Kyoung H. Park & Aya Lane

Artist Fellow, KYOUNG H. PARK was born in Santiago, Chile and is the first Korean playwright from Latin America to be produced and published in the United States. He is author of Sex and Hunger, disOriented, Walkabout Yeolha, Tala, Pillowtalk and many short plays including Mina, which is published in Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas by Duke University Press. For over a decade, Kyoung has worked internationally in Brazil, Chile, England, India, and South Korea in search of contemporary theatrical models that integrate his passion for peace studies and playwriting. Kyoung writes and directs his own work as Artistic Director of Kyoung’s Pacific Beat, a peacemaking theater company.

Kyoung is currently under commission by Mixed Blood Theater Company (Minneapolis) and is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Theater Writer’s Lab and Soho Theatre’s Writer’s Hub (London). Kyoung is recipient of an Edward Albee Playwriting Fellowship, Theater of the Oppressed International Exchange Fellowship (Rio de Janeiro), Target Margin Theater’s Institute for Collaborative Theater-Making fellowship, grants from the Arvon Foundation (London), Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, GK Foundation (Seoul), and was named a 2010 UNESCO-Aschberg Laureate (Paris).

Kyoung received his BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, MA in Peace and Global Governance from Kyung Hee University, and MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University, where he was a Dean’s Fellow. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband, Daniel Lim, and continues his self-education in Buddhism, following his refuge vows with His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India.

"...having the opportunity to work with a professional arts manager is a game-changer. I look forward to working with someone who not only understands the field, but the context, values, and community for which my work is created."

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Manager Fellow, Ayanna Lane, who goes by her given name, Aya, is a creator hailing from Atlanta, GA. As a queer woman of color from the South, her story is a unique one. She tells it through writing, pole dancing, DJing and healing. She’s a performance artist who combines these mediums mentioned above and is a dance teacher. She firmly believes in art as a way to connect to your innermost truths and using those gifts to connect to people in your community. She lives in East Harlem, owns every Outkast CD ever recorded and is obsessed with avocados.

"For me, it’s critical for me to be on the other side. I want to know how to assist other artists, whose stories are so often ignored. These stories, this work, and this art, are the building blocks to transform our society."

Learn more about the Fellows here.

Learn more about the work the paired Fellows are doing here.

Field Leadership Fund: Meet Bryan Glover & Kendra Ross

Manager Fellow, Bryan E. Glover, is an award-winning arts producer, filmmaker, writer and professional coach. As an arts producer, he is particularly focused on showcasing alternative, contemporary voices. He is a co-founder of Harlem9, producers of the Obie award winning “48Hours in…Harlem,” the highly anticipated annual showcase featuring emerging and established Black theater artists in New York City. Bryan has supported the arts and emerging artists for over 25 years, having worked with musicians, choreographers, performance artists, and playwrights in a variety of contexts and cities. He has also worked previously for over two decades in the social service sector in a variety of capacities and professional environments both in private and non-profit organizations.  He is committed to using his skills to enhance and promote the careers of artists, and lending his prior management experience to strengthening arts organizations. He is especially interested in enhancing and promoting the voices of LGBT artists of color, having served as a founding board member of Freedom Train Productions, the groundbreaking Black LGBT theater company based in Brooklyn, NY from 2006 - 2011. He has also served on the board and executive committees of several community based organizations over the years, supporting a variety of social justice and organizing efforts. Bryan has recently opened his practice as a trained professional leadership and life coach, supporting people in adopting a leadership stance in their life and manifesting their vision.

"Artists are indeed activists, as their work often reveals to us things about our world – and ourselves – that we may not see, moving us towards action. "

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Arts Organization Fellow, Kendra Ross is a proud Detroit native working as a dancer, teaching artist, choreographer, arts administrator and community organizer in her current home, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. As a dancer in New York City, Kendra has worked with Urban Bush Women, Andrea E. Woods/ Souloworks, Vissi Dance Theater, Monstah Black, MBDance, Moving Spirits Dance Company and Oyu Oro. In 2013 she also danced in a European tour with DJ Kid Koala in Vinyl Vaudville 2.0.  Kendra is currently a company member of Ase Dance Theater Collective. Kendra’s choreographic work has been presented at the Detroit Performing Arts High School, Joffrey Summer Intensive, Halftime Performances at Florida A&M University, the off Broadway show 7 Sins, and Museu de Arte in Salvador, Brazil. Her community work began as a member of Urban Bush Women’s B.O.L.D Network co-teaching dance workshops and co-facilitating community engagement workshops.  Along with sharing her art world-wide, Kendra serves as the Founder and Director of STooPS, an outdoors-based community building event that uses art as a catalyst to strengthen ties between different entities in Bed-Stuy.

Additionally, Kendra currently serves as the Director of Programs and Administration at Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance who offers dance and music classes and cultural events that educates and celebrates the joy of African cultures and cultures descended from Africa.

"For Cumbe, we are at a pivotal moment as we enter into an intense strategic planning process.  As we delve into critical critique and change in various aspects of our organization, we welcome the fresh perspective that the FLF Arts Manager assigned to us will bring. "

Learn more about the Fellows here.

Learn more about the work the paired Fellows are doing here.

Field Leadership Fund: Meet Alexis Convento & Sydnie Mosley

Manager Fellow,  Alexis Convento is a New York City-based, Filipino-American producer, administrator and manager working within the dance and performance art worlds. Her interests include artist and programming development, brand identity and strategy, and performance curation; her creative direction has led to sold out houses, close artist relationships and cultivation of an audience with an enduring interest in the performing arts. Alexis hopes to further locate collaboration between organizations, to create dialogue across genres, and to develop partnerships between the art communities and its public.

Alexis is founder and producing director of the CURRENT SESSIONS, a performing arts organization that develops and presents the work of emerging “contemporary” dance artists through the production of curated performances, residencies, artist-led laboratory sessions, and open discussions. She is also on faculty of the Joffrey Ballet's Jazz & Contemporary Trainee Program, teaching composition and improvisational movement techniques to the next generation of dance movers and makers.

Previously, Alexis was administrator and production coordinator at Gowanus Art + Production, former arts division for Gowanus Hospitality Group; has written about artists, creatives and food on the blog Union x Bond; and was one of three speakers at a Dance Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for the senior class of Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Alexis holds a BFA in Dance from Fordham University with the Ailey School, with additional training from the LINES Ballet and the Contemporary Traditions Program at Jacob’s Pillow.

She is honored to be one of twelve fellows in the 2015-2017 pilot cohort of the Field’s Field Leadership Fund.



“As a daughter of first generation immigrants, a female Filipino-American working in the arts and a self-taught administrator, my success is frequently hampered by other’s acknowledgement of my managerial capacity and my recognition within the arts.”

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Artist Fellow, Sydnie L. Mosley is an artist-activist and educator interested in work that is both artistically sound and socially aware. Currently she is a 2015-2016 Artist in Residence at The Performance Project at University Settlement where she produced her second evening length work BodyBusiness. She is also currently a 2015-2016 Dancing While Black Fellow. She is an alumna of the Create Change Fellowship with The Laundromat Project, and the Gibney Dance Institute for Community Action Training. With her 2012 work, The Window Sex Project, which uses movement to respond to the sexual harassment of women in public places, she became the inaugural Barnard Center for Research on Women Alumnae Fellow. She earned her MFA in Dance Choreography from the University of Iowa, and earned her BA in Dance and Africana Studies from Barnard College at Columbia University.

As a performer, Sydnie danced with Christal Brown's INSPIRIT: a dance company from 2010-2013, and continues to be a guest artist for Brooklyn Ballet, since 2009. She is a teaching artist for the DreamYard Preparatory School, YMCA and designed and teaches Barnard College's Dance in the City Pre-College Program for high school students. She is currently consulting with the Barnard College undergraduate humanities course, “The Worlds of Ntozake Shange and Digital Storytelling,” to develop a movement curriculum to accompany the study of Shange’s work.

An advocate for the field, Sydnie served on the Dance/NYC Junior Committee 2011-2015 leading as Vice Chair in her last year. She has also contributed writing to Dance Magazine and The Dance Enthusiast.


"I am committed to being a dance artist working in New York City for the long term - and as a woman of color, without a partner, without family wealth and without major institutional support - answering these questions through my creative/advocacy work for myself and for other often marginalized artists is urgent."

Learn more about the Fellows here.

Learn more about the work the paired Fellows are doing here.