FIELD STAFF
PELE BAUCH is a choreographer, dance dramaturg, and arts manager. Pele joined The Field in 2004 after benefiting from its programs for six years. As Associate Director, Programming she manages The Field's career and creative development curriculums and residencies, oversees our international Field Network of sites offering Fieldwork. In 2007 she received a Passing it On BAXten award for her work at The Field. She has published articles on artist services in BackStage and Contact Quarterly. From 2001 to 2004, Pele was Development Officer for government and individual support at The Joyce. She has also held development positions at the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and Young Dancers in Repertory. As a choreographer, Pele has received residencies from The Joyce Theater Foundation, Dance Theater Workshop, the Chocolate Factory, and 92Y Harkness Dance Center. Her choreography has been selected for presentation at many NYC venues including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Chocolate Factory, Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, HERE's American Living Room and the Best of the American Living Room, Performance Space 122, Dixon Place, and BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Pele has also received funding from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Harkness Foundation for Dance, and Brooklyn Arts Council. Pele pronounces her name "pelly." www.pelebauch.org
JENNIFER WRIGHT COOK, Executive Director, has worked on both coasts in arts management and as a dance/theater performer for more than 15 years. Jennifer was Director of Development for the Working Theater (95-98; 05-07) and Vector Theater (CA 00-02). She has also consulted for LightBox Theater, SITI, Pam Tanowitz, Dancers' Group and Banana, Bag & Bodice. Jennifer got her early administrative training at New York University (Gallatin, BA, 1995) and then at The Field in their Arts Manager Partnership program. Jennifer returned to The Field in 2006 as Co-Director and was promoted to Executive Director in 2007. Her work has been recognized by published articles in Backstage and AM New York, interviews on WNYC Public Radio, and by participation on panels, seminars, and at roundtables (CUNY Prelude Festival, Americans for the Arts, Future of Music, Center for an Urban Future, Pew Charitable Trust's New York State Cultural Data Project Task Force). The Field's Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists program (ERPA), initiated and implemented by Ms. Cook, received an inaugural award from The Rockefeller Foundation's Cultural Innovation Fund (2007). Jennifer is a proud participant in the 2009 Coro Leadership New York XX1 program. As a performer, teacher and art-maker, Jennifer has performed/created with the Joe Goode Performance Group (97-04 San Francisco), and with Neil Greenberg, Sarah Skaggs, Wendy Blum, Victoria Mendoza, Kenn Watt, Mark Dendy and others (NY 90-06). She has performed her own work in Madrid, New York (Danspace Project, The Bridge, Chez Bushwick, Gene Frankel Theater, Estrogenius), San Francisco and Portland, OR. She sings in a gospel choir and lives in Brooklyn.
SHAMA DAVIS, Online Systems Manager, has worked in website development for more than 15 years and is a children's fiction writer. She trained in dance, theatre, and music at Walnut Hill School of the Arts and Northwestern University, and went on to complete an M.A. in the writing and critical analysis of Children's Literature.
CARA ANGELA LIGUORI is a dancer/choreographer, teaching artist, and freelance arts administrator with a focus in grantwriting and development strategy. She is clearly a multi-tasker with a keen talent for organization and planning but she also likes to improvise and travel. Cara began her work at The Field in 2007 during a fundraising-focused internship and is now thrilled to be devoting more hours and time as Development Associate. She is a co-founder of Propel-her Dance Collective, an all female, resource-sharing group of dynamic emerging choreographers (2006-present) and is also Development Manager for the fabulous Faye Driscoll Dance Group. Currently a member of Aviva Geismar/Drastic Action, Cara travels to Germany once a year with the group (and Battery Dance Company), to perform and work in German Public Schools. Her own choreography has been presented by Propel-her at the Merce Cunningham Studio Theater, and by the NYC FRINGE Festival (in collaboration with PurpleMan Theater Group), Envision Chamber Orchestra, GrooveMamaInk, and most recently, at the Galerie Hans Mayer in Dusseldorf, Germany. Cara has performed for many independent choreographers in NYC including Kathy Wasik, Ani Javian, Stefanie Nelson, and Natalie Desch. A personal performance highlight of her's was dancing at Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival in 2009 with DendyDance Theater. Cara writes all the time, sometimes here.
AUDRA DIAHANN LANG welcomed the opportunity to continue her service to New York City's performing arts community by joining The Field staff as Manager of the Sponsored Artist Program in 2007. Audra received a crash course in the challenging needs of independent performing artists, while working with the multi-disciplinary, Williamsburg art space CAVE. In 2004, she helped CAVE make the transition from a studio/gallery space, supported financially by the artists-in-residence, to a non-profit organization. Along with assisting in the day-to-day administration of CAVE's gallery space and four artist studios, she managed a year-long residency program for Vietnamese artists sponsored by The Ford Foundation and produced the 2nd New York Butoh Festival (NYBF). In the first year of fundraising ever for the NYBF, she secured grants from the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, MAP Fund, Goethe-Institute, and the Japan Foundation; corporate support from UNIQLO clothing, Sapporo Beer, and the Village Voice; and co-presented events with the Japan Society, Yale University, Purchase College, the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Pancetta Movement, and Theater for the New City. Prior to CAVE, Audra primarily worked within the visual arts community, including work for Paris-based Yukiko Kawase Gallery, NY-based M.Y. Art Prospects, and the art magazines, Art & Auction, the International Guide to Art Fairs & Antique Shows and the contemporary Flash Art. She attended Barnard College/Columbia University focusing on East Asian Religious Study and Sanskrit.
SAIFAN SHMERER, Communications Manager, graduated from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts in 2008, with a focus in Dance and Feminist Thought. Concurrent with her studies at Lang, Saifan served as the assistant to the Office of Student Development and Activities at The New School. Saifan was the 2008/2009 recipient of the Van Lier Fellowship at Dance Theater Workshop, where she served as Artist Services Assistant and helped manage the College Partnership Program. Saifan is the Artistic Director and self-producing queen of saifan shmerer | SASSON, a pick-up, collaborative effort of post-post-modern dance on the rocks with a twist. SASSON has performed work at a number of space-specific locations, as well as LaMama Theater, The Tank, AUNTS and The Great Friends Dance Festival. www.dontyousass.me
CASSIE TERMAN is a performer, writer, and teacher. Since moving to New York in 2004 she has performed her improvisations and physical theater work at CRS, Issue Project Room, Solar One Festival, Chelsea Art Museum, The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Cave, and Symphony Space among others. She works extensively with Ruth Zaporah in Action Theater and is a Senior Teacher of that form. Currently she is a member of Company so.go.no and the Reflex Ensemble, as well as producing solo works. She holds an MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University and is on Faculty at JFK University in Berkeley, CA. She has a long history of arts administration and is delighted to be serving The Field as Finance Manager. www.cassieterman.com
PROGRAM LEADERS
KAREN BERNARD is an eclectic creator and solo performer whose work has appeared at the Royal Albert Hall as part of Captain Beefheart's Magical Band British tour to conceptual live performance at the Tate Gallery in London in collaboration with artist David Tremlett. In New York she produced several full-length concerts of her work between 1986 and 1998 at Dia Center for Arts and produced at numerous venues including BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, PS122 and The Kitchen. She has performed, taught and lectured throughout the United States, Canada and abroad. In 2005 she co-published a handmade book "Removed Exposure", based on her live performance of the same name in collaboration with Montréal artist Gray Fraser/Production Gray, her daughter Alex Wixon and Newfoundland photographer Sheilagh O'Leary. She has received support through the Experimental Television Center, Meet the Composer, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Puffin Foundation, The Field's Independent Artist Challenge Program Grant and Movement Research Artist in Residence. She received a 2006 BAX10 award for the founding and development of New Dance Alliance's Performance Mix Festival. Since 1992, Karen has created twenty solo works and one group work in Fieldwork and continues to be inspired as a participant and facilitator.
BRIAN BROOKS moved to New York City in 1994 from his hometown of Hingham, MA. His dance group, the Brian Brooks Moving Company, has been presented since 2002 throughout New York, North America, South Korea and Europe. Most recently, he has been awarded with major support from the National Dance Project for the development and performance tour of his next work, BIG CITY. Following its premiere at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, CA, the piece will be presented by venues including The Joyce Theater and the American Dance Festival. A part-time faculty member of the Dance Department at Rutgers University, Brooks is also teaching and creating new work this year at Princeton University. He has been an Adjunct Associate Professor of Dance at Barnard College of Columbia University and a Guest Artist at the University of Maryland and Illinois State University, among others. www.brianbrooksmovingcompany.com
TANYA CALAMONERI came to New York after nearly a decade of working in the San Francisco Bay Area arts scene as an arts administrator and performer. Among her roles, she was Executive Director of Dancers' Group, a Co-Director at 848 Community Space and Temescal Arts Center, Founding Faculty Member of the Experimental Performance Institute at New College, and a company member of inkBoat, a Butoh performance company, and Kim Epifano's Epiphany Productions. In New York, she has helped found Studio 111, and is a member of The Fifth Floor, so.go.no. and CavEnsemble performance companies.
ROYD CLIMENHAGA is actively involved in the New York City theater and new performance community as an artist, teacher, development consultant and administrator. He currently teaches in the Theater and Interdisciplinary Arts program at Eugene Lang College - The New School for the Liberal Arts, after working as an Assistant Professor at Trinity University and Connecticut College. He researches and writes about intersections between dance and theatre, publishing work on Pina Bausch, Anne Theresa de Keersmaeker, Big Dance Theatre, and Anne Bogart and SITI Company, with a second book on Pina Bausch coming out through Routledge in 2012. Royd has created and presented over 20 new performance works in Chicago and NYC and co-founded Human Company in 2006 with Kelly Hanson, where he continues to explores developmental and cross-disciplinary models for performance in creating new work for the stage. Royd also works as a Senior Associate at David Bury & Associates, a development consulting firm helping arts and cultural non-profit organizations realize their largest visions. He holds a BA in English from Oberlin College, and an MA and PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.
MAURA NGUYEN DONOHUE has been making work in NYC since 1994. Her work with her troupe Maura Nguyen Donohue/inmixedcompany has been produced by Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, Danspace Project, and Mulberry St.Theater. She has toured her solo and group work extensively across the US and to Canada, Europe and Asia including a collaboration with Perry Yung, Yoshito Ohno and the late, great Kazuo Ohno at their studio in Yokohama, Japan. As artistic advisor for DTW's multi-year Mekong Project, she facilitated several workshop residencies in SE Asia and the US. She has written about live performance for Culturebot, The Dance Insider, HK Dance Alliance, American Theater Magazine and Dance Magazine. She's an assistant professor of dance at Hunter College, served on the board for DTW for several years, currently serves on The Bessies Committee and on the board for the Congress on Research in Dance, and has two children. www.inmixedcompany.com
SARA JULI is the Founder/Director of Surala Consulting, a NYC-based fundraising consultancy specializing in strategic fundraising solutions. She is fortunate to work with individual artists, small non-profit organizations and for-profit companies looking to donate funds. Prior to starting her own company, Sara was the Director of Development at Dance Theater Workshop in New York City where she was responsible for coordinating all aspects of their major gifts program including Institutional Giving, Individual Giving, Board Development, stewardship, planned giving, and cultivation of top tier donors. Prior to Dance Theater Workshop, she worked as a grant writer for American Dance Festival. She has also been creating and performing innovative solo work in New York City for the past nine years and has toured her work in New York City, nationally and internationally to Holland, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. She holds a B.A. in Dance and Anthropology from Skidmore College. Her email is sarajuli1@hotmail.com
FRAN KIRMSER has worked for over twelve years, producing, promoting and fundraising for dance and theater. Collectively she has raised millions of dollars in institutional funding and corporate sponsorships for hundreds of companies. She has held positions in Development, Public Relations, Management, or Booking and Representation with the following organizations: Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall, Doug Varone and Dancers, Sandra Cameron Dance Center, Pentacle. She is a founder of manhattan theatre source where she served as Producing Artistic Director. Currently Fran is producing August Wilson's Radio Golf on Broadway nominated for four Tony Awards. Recently she founded Made to Move, Inc. - a non-profit dedicated to the advancement of public knowledge of the art of dance and theatre and co-created and produced the commercial musical "SIDD" based on the novel "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse. Additionally Fran has worked on the development of new theatrical works with Circle in the Square Repertory Theater and Musical Theatre Works among others. She is a graduate of Skidmore College with continuing education at NYU Tisch School of Dance and Columbia University. www.frankirmser.com
THOMAS O. KRIEGSMANN/ ArKtype was founded in 2006 toward production and touring of acclaimed international work. His work as producer has been seen worldwide, including projects withdirectors Yael Farber, Peter Brook, Jay Scheib, Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin and Mikhail Baryshnikov / Krymov Laboratory (New York/Moscow); Theatre for a New Audience (New York); Nalaga'at (Tel Aviv); Phantom Limb (New York); Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen's Aftermath (NYTW); CiRCA (Brisbane); T.P.O. (Italy); Superamas (Vienna); KMA (London); Rude Mechs (Austin); World/Inferno Friendship Society (Brooklyn) and Jay Scheib (Cambridge), as well as producing the Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota. Upcoming premieres include: Phantom Limb's "69˚S.," Yael Farber's "Ramayana" and Jim Jarmusch and Phil Kline's "Tesla in New York." www.arktype.org
SHALEWA MACKALL, choreographer, dancer and educator has studied, performed and created dance from childhood. She has named her work as a contemporary choreographer and her dance company, Movement for the Urban Village. It is a style of dance grounded in the varied social and spiritual movement traditions of the African Diaspora from the Ancient Mali Empire to Hip-Hop and Club Dance. As a dancer, Shalewa has performed nationally and internationally with many companies including, Maimouna Keita African Dance Company, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Giwayen Mata, Ballethnic, Nadia Dieudonné and Feets of Rhythm and Harambee. Additionally, Shalewa has lectured on contemporary social dance at leading universities across the country and regularly teaches West African Dance in New York City.
BRIAN MCCORMICK is a writer, educator, and the Producing Director of Nicholas Leichter Dance. He has written for Dance Magazine, Dance Studio Life, MR Journal, BAM Publications, etc., and is contributing editor for Gay City News. He is part-time Assistant Professor at The New School in the Media Studies graduate program. He also teaches for the Teen Reviewers and Critics program of Arts Connection/High 5, a 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Award finalist. He received a Mayoral citation and Presidential nomination for volunteer work with homeless youth at The Streetwork Project, and earned Gay City News a New York Press Association award for arts coverage. Brian has been a panelist, moderator, guest curator, or adjudicator for New York Foundation for the Arts, Joyce Theater Foundation, CMJ Music Marathon, Queer Art Impact, Brooklyn Arts Council, The Field, Hunter College Dance Department, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Young Dance Makers, Movement Research, The A.W.A.R.D. Show, and Dance/NYC; he has done marketing, & audience engagement work for ADF, Long Island Arts Council, and Scholastic Arts; and served on the New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies) committee from 2002-2011. Brian is currently a guest curator on technology resources for the National Performing Arts Convention website. @bmacmedia
BETH MORRISON PROJECTS (BMP) identifies and supports the work of emerging and established composers and their collaborators through the commission, development, and production of their work, taking the form of opera-theatre, music-theatre, and multi-media concert works. Relying on the core values of collaboration, exploration, experimentation, artistry, and excellence, BMP provides a nurturing structure that allows artists to push the boundaries of their art form. Founded in 2006, BMP rapidly developed a reputation for “envisioning new possibilities and finding ways to facilitate their realization.” (New York Times) In 6 years, BMP has commissioned, developed, and produced more than 24 operas and music-theatre pieces that have premiered or been performed in New York, across the country, and around the globe. The Wall Street Journal said, "Ms. Morrison may be immortalized one day as a 21st-century Diaghilev, known for her ability to assemble memorable collaborations among artists." BMP’s ability to recognize emerging talent, invest in the vision of living composers and their collaborators, and partner with presenters to bring new work to life has allowed it to become vital in the landscape of new music and opera.
SUSAN OETGEN performs new music and experimental theater as a solo artist, as the leader of the band Likeness to Lily, and as a member of Accinosco. She is also the host and producer of the Opera Salon @ Caffè Vivaldi and Operations Associate at American Composers Orchestra. Susan is currently participating in the Brooklyn Philharmonic's 2007 Composer Mentorship Program.
ESTHER ROBINSON has worked on behalf of America's artists for more than 15 years in many capacities including: foundation program officer, film/television producer, film director, technology entrepreneur and arts activist. Currently, she is the founder of ArtHome (www.ArtHome.org) an entrepreneurial nonprofit that helps artists build assets and equity through financial literacy, homeownership, self-sufficiency and the responsible use of credit. Previously, Esther served as the Director of Film/Video and Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation (1999-2006) and was one of the principal architects of its innovative grant-making system. Robinson is also an award-winning filmmaker/producer. Chosen as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” her critically acclaimed directorial debut A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory took top prizes at The Berlin, Tribeca and Chicago film festivals; is currently in international theatrical release; and is available domestically in stores, on The Sundance Channel, Netflix and iTunes.
JAMES SCRUGGS was awarded a Franklin Furnace grant in 2002. In 2003 he became a resident artist at HERE Arts Center. Disposable Men his solo performance piece juxtaposing images from Hollywood monster movies with black men in America was produced by HERE and he received a NJSCA grant in 2005. In 2005 He was awarded the first ever NY IT Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for Disposable Men. In 2007 Disposable Men completed a four city tour. His mixed media play (RUS)H, another collaboration with Kristin Marting explored the dark world of a male sexworker, told with video, tango and salsa. In 2010 he had a reading of his work Touchscape, a series of monologs of men and touch at Harlem Stage’s The Gatehouse. Tickets To Manhood a work about how men irresponsibly mature into men was commissioned and performed at Dixon Place for three weeks in July 2011. He has a BFA in Film from SVA.
Recent program leaders have included Laura Colby, Arlene Goldbard, Andy Horowitz, Amy Kail, Jodi Kaplan, Jaki Levy, Arwen Lowbridge, Morgan von Prelle Pecelli, Rachel Schroeder, Janet Stapleton, and more.
