DEEP: Sustainability Project

Facilitated by David Thomson and Kate Watson-Wallace

Continuing their research on sustainability in the dance world, David Thomson and Kate Watson-Wallace lead an event where artists share strategies of creative sustainability. Focused on presenting strategic solutions and dialogue, the gathering aims to look to new models and issues of sustainability in the arts.

From the Facilitators:
Our first panel at New York Live Arts included mid-career artists discussing how they navigated their careers and the issues they are presently negotiating. For this event at Gibney Dance we are focusing on younger artists of color and how they perceive a sustainable life. Each artist will present strategies and ideas that they have been using to build and guide their goals as artists within this context. Invited artists include Jonathan González, Jay Bouey, Ali Rosa-Salas and Niya Nicholson. Please come out and be part of this ongoing conversation and strategy sharing.

Kate Watson-Wallace is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been funded by the Map Fund, Doris Duke Foundation, Creative Capital, Independence Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. She is a Pew Fellow in Choreography. She has toured internationally as a performer, choreographer, and educator. She has choreographed music videos for St. Vincent, Animal Collective & Black Dice. She is a graduate of the Low Residency MFA in Studio Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently a Movement Research AIR. She has worked as a facilitator for Artists U for the last 10 years, a program dedicated to the sustainability of individual artists throughout the U.S. www.katewawa.org

David Thomson has worked as a collaborative artist in the fields of music, dance, theater and performance with a wide range of artists including Bebe Miller, Trisha Brown, Marina Abramović, Yvonne Rainer and Ralph Lemon among many others. His own work has been presented and supported by various organizations and funders. Thomson is a Bessie award-winning artist for Sustained Achievement (2001), a US Artists Ford, NYFA, MacDowell and Yaddo Fellow. He has worked as an Arts Administrator and/or Database Consultant for several non-profit organizations and was one of the founding members of Dancer’s Forum. He has served on several boards including New York Live Arts. He holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies in Languages/Linguists and Dance from SUNY Purchase. www.davidhamiltonthomson.com

About DEEP: Dancers’ Economic Empowerment Program
DEEP investigates the points in an artistic career where dancers most need support and provides opportunities for learning and skill-building through a series of free sessions. DEEP was developed by Gibney Dance Artistic Associate Devin Oshiro as an Advocacy Fellowship project. Advocacy Fellowships are projects initiated by Gibney Dance Company members which aim to engage the dance community and advocate for pressing issues in the field.