June 2025 News
July 11, 2025 • 9 minute read
Rebuilding Connections
At NPN, our mission includes a commitment to fostering reciprocity between individuals, institutions, and communities. In shorthand, we say “we’re about relationships” — yes, we provide material support to artists and arts organizations to create and present artistic work, but how we practice this is an essential part of our identity as an organization. While this work is often invisible, we know building trust and shared understanding is necessary for fueling collective change. Connection leads to transformation.
Today, we are experiencing “a fundamental breakdown in how people connect with and understand each other,” as colleague Laura Zabel writes in the recent essay Investing in Creativity as Social Infrastructure. “With this backdrop of polarization, isolation, and economic insecurity — and in the face of shrinking budgets and federal policies that prioritize the needs of the mega-wealthy and extract resources from urban and rural places alike — what can Americans do to reclaim power and rebuild social connections and local economies? The answer is to start…with the everyday work of re-knitting community relationships through investments in creativity and culture.”
This month we share stories from NPN’s network about reciprocity, about the rigor of resisting divisiveness and building human fellowship, and about the power of cultural spaces as public commons and connection. We hope you’ll join us this October for in-person connection as well, as we convene in New Orleans at our 40th Anniversary Conference (more details to come later this month).
How Artists Make Artists’ Lives Sustainable: Two Accounts of Artists U Workshops
Artists U, in founder Andrew Simonet’s own words, is an organization developed to help “change the working conditions of artists,” by providing a space for them to share triumphs, obstacles, and strategies for building sustainable lives over their careers. “It’s peer-to-peer learning rooted in shared power,” he writes in his recently published post about artists’ reactions to workshops from Artists U.
Read “Sheesh. Amen.” by Andrew Simonet
But what do artists think about these workshops? “In all honesty,” Mary Prescott writes in her first-person account of participating in multiple Artists U workshops since 2021, “I fully expected to be confronted with a collection of overly optimistic self-help mantras and sickly saccharine positive affirmations. Instead, I was met with what felt like genuine gratitude, followed by some very real, very difficult questions I had also been asking: Why is it so hard? Why are so many talented artists exhausted and broke?”
Looking back on her experiences, she writes, “We were there to learn from, build community for, and provide support to one another; and, simply, to hear each other as we voiced our needs, concerns, joys, and sometimes despair. The honest dialogue that is essential to movement-building was ever present in each Artists U session.”
Read “The Sustaining Power of Conversation” by Mary Prescott
This fall, Artists U will lead a series of artist-to-artist workshops at NPN’s 40th Anniversary Conference in New Orleans — all are welcome!
Bvlbancha Public Access Amplifies Indigenous Voices in the Gulf South
“The heart of Bvlbancha Public Access lies in its community-driven ethos,” writes Southern Artist for Social Change awardee Carey Fountain in his profile of the media group created by fellow SA4SC awardees Hali Dardar of the United Houma Nation, Ida Aronson of the United Houma Nation, and Jean Luc-Pierite of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe.
“The project is shaped by the voices and visions of the Indigenous people it represents. The name ‘Bulbancha,’ derived from the Choctaw word for ‘the place of many tongues,’ reflects the project’s mission to celebrate and amplify Indigenous culture.” Fountain explores the origins of the group, projects like their biennial 24-hour live-stream Indigenous Gulf Stream, and the ways in which they provide support to Indigenous communities during emergencies like Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Read “Bvlbancha Public Access” by Carey Fountain in our Voices from the Network blog
2025 Documentation & Storytelling Fund Awardees
NPN is pleased to award $105,000 and leverage an additional $131,172 in partner matches to 35 artists and projects through the 2025 Documentation & Storytelling Fund, which supports artists to document, promote, and share their work. Through immersive experiences, film, digital curation, community outreach, novel applications of developing technologies, and more, this year’s fund recipients are exploring innovative ways to bring their work to new communities and preserve it for future audiences.
Spring 2025 Development Fund Awardees
The National Performance Network (NPN) is pleased to award $55,000 and leverage $219,124 through the Spring 2025 Development Fund to further support six Creation Fund projects that advance racial and cultural justice. As the second phase of NPN’s Creation & Development Fund (CDF), the Development Fund assists in offsetting managerial, artistic, or technical needs when developing projects. These needs can include supporting technical residencies, deepening community engagement, relationship building, expanding storytelling, or studio time to prepare a project for travel.
“Questions We Did Not Know We Had”: Pregones Theater and the Power of Collaboration
“We are more committed than ever to the practice of collaborative theater across cultures,” said Rosalba Rolón in a stirring message to theatermakers across the globe for Theater Communication Group’s celebration of World Theater Day. She told the story of her own life in theater and shared the origin and legacy of Pregones + Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (PregonesPRTT), an NPN National Partner.
Inspired by the Latin American popular theater movement and the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Rolón co-founded Pregones in 1979, ushering in decades of local, regional, and international collaborations rooted in the conviction that theater can “break down barriers that once seemed immovable.” In 2014, Pregones merged with Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, intertwining the legacies of the two seminal companies.
Rolón’s remarks are both inspiration and invitation. They remind us that theater’s power lies not only in its ability to respond to what is, but also to create amidst what is unknown. Theater, Rolón tells us, helps us “answer questions we did not know we have.” This is part of what makes theater such a powerful medium for collaboration during times of uncertainty.
Amidst ongoing global crises, Rolón’s address is a timely reminder of the power of collective effort. Take a moment to learn about how her grandmother’s conviction inspired her love of theater, how the legacy of the Latin American Popular Theater Movement lives on, and why she is now “more convinced than ever that no one can do it alone.”
La Peña Celebrates 50 Years of Art and Resistance!
La Peña Cultural Center, an NPN National Partner, has been a hub of community strength, joy, and liberation in Berkeley, CA since 1975. Its name and mission come from the South American tradition of peñas — community gathering places offering food, music, intellectual exchange, and popular education to revolutionary artistic and political movements. Committed to being a brave and welcoming space for all, La Peña centers and celebrates the Bay Area’s Latinx, Caribbean, and Indigenous diasporic communities.
In June, La Peña celebrated its 50th anniversary with a day-long festival of music, art, storytelling, and food; and a week of beginner-friendly classes from many of the rich traditions that have shaped the center over the years, including San Jarocho, Bomba y Plena, and Afro-Cuban Rumba. La Peña also launched a 50th anniversary fundraising campaign to ensure it can continue to serve as “a center of transformative gathering for generations to come.”
La Peña’s founding was in direct response to the US-backed military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende’s democratically elected socialist government, and the cultural center was at the forefront of US-based resistance to Pinochet’s dictatorship. As authoritarianism continues to rise domestically and globally, La Peña’s legacy of resistance offers a powerful model for artistic and cultural practices as central to grassroots movement building. Here’s to their 50 years, and many more to come!
Announcements
“New Ways of Thinking About the Universe”: NPN Artists and Partners Explore Symmetry Through Art and Science
The Simons Foundation recently announced Open Interval, an interdisciplinary program in which fifteen teams of three — an artist, a scientist, and a producing partner from a host arts organization — explore the symmetry between art and science. In this inaugural cohort are three NPN Creation Fund artists — Sage Ni’Ja Whitson, Ain Gordon, and Kaneza Schaal; and four NPN National Partners — DiverseWorks, Fusebox, New York Live Arts, and PICA. Trios’ topics range from exoplanets as the settings for speculative trap music operas to how sleep can foster cultural healing.
Stanlyn Brevé, NPN’s Director of National Programs and a member of the selection committee, shared, “It’s rare to see real investment in research and experimentation, especially when it brings together scientists, artists, and arts organizations. When both the arts and science are under attack, it’s refreshing to see funders like the Simons Foundation stepping up their support.”
Human Fellowship and the Duke Artist Awards
The Doris Duke Foundation recently announced the recipients of its 2025 Artist Awards, celebrating innovative and risk taking performing artists. Recipients receive an unrestricted $525,000, as well as support for professional development and financial planning. Among the awardees are three NPN-supported artists:
Trajal Harrell, Raja Feather Kelly, and
Kaneza Schaal.
“If we are to invite and find new possibilities for our human endeavor and togetherness, then having a fellowship is a lucky step on the road working toward deeper and wider human fellowship,” said Trajal Harrell, a dance artist and choreographer based in Douglas, GA.
2025 Write It Out! Prize, for Playwrights Living with HIV, Now Accepting Applications
Write It Out!, which provides resources and support to those living with HIV in the theatre and beyond, is now accepting applications for both the 2025 Write It Out! Program (a free 10-week virtual playwriting workshop) and Prize (an unrestricted $10,000 plus access to a dramaturg for a year).
Applications are being accepted now through Wednesday, July 30th. Click for more details.
NPN is the fiscal sponsor for Write It Out!
Upcoming Creation Fund Activities
Invisible Cities, Ragamala Dance Company
July 11, 7:30 pm
Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, ME)
Invisible Cities reimagines Italo Calvino’s metaphysical novel into an epic 10-person performance that combines multiple dance styles with original animation by Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad.
Árabe Mahrajan: A Community Gathering, Amanda Ekery
July 12, 1:00 pm
SUMUD Mural (Oakland, CA)
Árabe Mahrajan – a community gathering of live music, cross-cultural performances, food, crafts, and togetherness – is built around the album release and live performance of Amanda Ekery’s latest work, Árabe.
Harlem Canary/Tokyo Crow (staged reading), Andrew Saito
July 13, 7:00 pm
PlayPenn (Philadelphia, PA)
Harlem Canary/Tokyo Crow is a satirical comedy about WWII’s “Negro Propaganda Operations,” in which captured African American POWs were forced to record radio plays contrasting Japan’s supposed racial freedoms with the brutal realities of racism in the U.S.
What We’re Reading
Each month, NPN’s staff and board engage with a reading that helps shape our analysis of our sociopolitical landscape and deepen our understanding of how to embed liberatory practices throughout our work. The Collective Learning Series is organized by NPN’s Department of Racial Justice and Movement Building (DRJAM).
In June, we’re exploring 5 Tools for a Post-Truth World by designer, artist, and cyberethnographer Ruby Justice Thelot. This brief manifesto on what it means for us to reside in a technofuture is helping us orient our relationship to technology and truth, to memory, skepticism, and mystery.