A project of HERE
MADE HERE is a documentary series and website focusing on performing artists based in New York City. A collage of intimate interviews, performances and behind-the-scenes footage, MADE HERE mirrors the rich diversity of the artists and communities they serve. The website has more than doubled initial projections, with over 23,000 unique visitors from 77 countries.
The first season was launched in May 2010, and by the end of September, had released 15 short episodes featuring 40 artists and covering five major issues: Creative Real Estate, Day & Night Jobs, Family Balance, Activism and Technology. Season Two rolled out from March through July 2011 with 28 additional artists and three episodes each month on: Identity, Creative Practice, Money, Lifework, and Home. Season Three will be from April through June 2013 with 25 additional artists and three episodes each month on: Art & Commerce, Criticism, and Health. The website provides a platform for audiences to offer feedback on the episodes, artists to share and discover resources, and communities to engage on the issues. In addition, each issue is accompanied by a monthly live screening and panel event. MADE HERE is supported by a 2009 Rockefeller Cultural Innovation Fund award with renewed funding for Seasons Three and Four. Additional support was provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the New Generations Program administered by Theatre Communications Group.
HERE has been a premier arts organization in NYC and a leader in the field of new, hybrid performance work since 1993. Under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Kristin Marting and Producing Director Kim Whitener, HERE has served over 12,000 emerging to mid-career artists developing work that does not fit a conventional programming agenda. Work presented at HERE has garnered 14 OBIE awards, including the 2009 Ross Wetzsteon Award, an OBIE grant for artistic achievement, five Drama Desk nominations, four NY Innovative Theatre Awards, an Edwin Booth Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. HERE proudly supports artists at all stages in their careers through full productions, artist residency programs, festivals and subsidized performance and rehearsal space. Work at HERE is curated based on the strength and uniqueness of the artist’s vision. HERE’s Artist Residency Program (HARP) provides development, commissions and full production for 15-18 artists over one-to-three years. HERE is located at 145 Sixth Avenue, one block below Spring Street. For more info, http://visit www.here.org.
Kristin Marting is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of HERE and a director of hybrid work based in NYC. At HERE, she cultivates artists and programs all events for two performance spaces for an annual audience of 30,000. Under her leadership, HERE has garnered 16 OBIE awards, 2 OBIE grants for artistic achievement, an Edwin Booth Award, five Drama Desk nominations, two Berrilla Kerr Awards, four NY Innovative Theatre Awards and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. She was recently named a nytheatre.com Person of the Year and honored with a BAX10 Award. She lectures at various universities and serves on grant panels for various agencies. She graduated from NYU with honors in 1988.
Kim Whitener joined HERE as Producing Director in February 2007. She works in partnership with Artistic Director Kristin Marting to co-curate and co-produce HERE’s performance programs and activities. HERE supports the work of mid-career artists working in hybrid forms through commissions, developmental activities, and fully produced works as part of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), and presents Visiting Artist works through its presenting programs. Ms. Whitener has also been an independent producer working with a diverse range of artists in the contemporary theater, dance-theater, and multi-media worlds, including The Builders Association, Big Dance Theater, Martha Clarke, among others. Previously, Ms. Whitener was Managing Director of The Wooster Group.
Tanya Selvaratnam is a producer, writer, theater artist, and activist. Since 2008, she has also been the Communications and Special Projects Officer for the Rubell Family Collection. Recent film productions include Mickalene Thomas’s HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, Catherine Gund’s WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE?, Chiara Clemente’s OUR CITY DREAMS and the Webby Award-winning BEGINNINGS. As a theater artist, Tanya has performed around the world in shows by The Wooster Group, The Builders Association, Jay Scheib and many others; appeared in films and video installations by Carrie Mae Weems, John Malpede, Sharon Hayes, Andrea Geyer, David Michalek, and Jennifer Reeves; been a fellow at Yaddo and Blue Mountain Center; and a guest actor at New Dramatists, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Voice & Vision Theater, and the Institute on Arts and Civic Dialogue. As an activist, she has worked with the World Health Organization, Ms. Foundation, NGO Forum on Women, Third Wave Foundation, and Groundswell Community Mural Project. Her book, THE BIG LIE, is forthcoming from Prometheus Books in Winter 2014. about.me/tselvar
contact: tanya@here.org
Chiara Clemente is a film director who explores identity, cultural contrast, and the creative process. In 2000 she directed her first art documentary for RAI in Italy. Chiara continued to film and collaborate with artists, and in 2005, she started making her first feature documentary, Our City Dreams, following five women artists (Nancy Spero, Marina Abramovic, Kiki Smith, Ghada Amer and Swoon) who live and work in New York City. Critically-acclaimed, Our City Dreams premiered at New York City’s Film Forum in February 2009, screened in more than 30 cities worldwide, and was broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Since making her feature Chiara has directed for Saatchi and Saatchi, T Magazine of The New York Times, Levi’s, Apple, Wieden + Kennedy and Persol. Most recently she has created and directed two seasons of Beginnings, an original short film series for the Sundance Channel, which won a Webby Award in 2012. www.chiaraclemente.com
Russell Greene is a New York film editor of seven feature films as well as numerous commercials, short films and promotional videos. His most recent films include Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (Venice Film Festival and SXSW) and Ordinary Miracles: New York’s Photo League. In addition to editing, he also wrote and directed the short film Easy Street, winner of six awards for Best Short Film on the 2012 festival circuit. He served as First Assistant Editor on several additional films including the Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning The Betrayal and the Sundance Award-winning Patti Smith: Dream of Life. He is currently editing a feature doc on the legendary Coney Island restaurant Nathan’s Famous. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Heather Greene is a New York-based producer that works in Feature and Documentary Film, Television, and Live Events. She has been a part of numerous and varied projects such as the live shows and film projects of Fischerspooner and Vanessa Beecroft, Vice’s “Guide To Travel”, the television series "How's Your News?”, the Sundance web series "Beginnings", and documentary features “Of All The Things” and “What’s On Your Plate?” to name just a few. Heather lives with her husband and two sons in Brooklyn, NY.
Karina is a New York-based producer and filmmaker, whose projects include an original web series, an interactive online documentary series, promos, how-to videos, and event videography. She has produced, shot, and edited videos for Howcast.com, Downtown Community Television, 13 Playwrights Inc., EmcArts, art.party.theater.company, and is the Associate Producer of "Flag Football," a feature documentary about the journey of four teams in the National Gay Flag Football League to Gay Bowl X. Currently, Karina is the Online Cultural Producer at EmcArts, Inc. Prior to joining EmcArts, she was a producer for Season One of the documentary series "MADE HERE: Performing Artists on Work and Life" for HERE, where she also served as General Manager/Associate Producer from 2008 to 2011. Prior to HERE, Karina served as General Manager for 13 Playwrights, Inc., Management Associate for Liz McCann/Tony Awards Productions, and Producing Assistant for Carole Shorenstein Hays Productions. Karina has an MFA in Theater Management and Producing from Columbia University, where she wrote her thesis on the strategic use of online tools and technologies for arts organizations. She holds a BA from Harvard College.
SEASONS THREE AND FOUR ONLY
Camera: Omar Mullick
Assistant Camera: Jorge Arzac
Sound Mixer: Richard Levengood, Joshua Tucker, Coleman Wenner
Assistant Editor: Erin Taylor Kennedy
Trailer and Graphics: Alex Meillier and Tanya Ager Meillier
Website Manager: Trevor Martin
Research & Outreach Associate: Kelsey Ryan
Theme Song: Sxip Shirey
SEASON TWO ONLY
Assistant Producer: Erin Taylor Kennedy
Camera: Frank Stanley
Sound Mixer: David Pruger, Jarett Livingston
Assistant Editor: Erin Taylor Kennedy
Website Manager: Matthew de Leon
Research & Outreach Associate: Cassie Wagler
Theme Song: Reggie Watts
Additional Music: Moby
SEASON ONE ONLY
Camera: Miklos Buk, Theo Stanley
Sound Mixer: David Pruger, Michael Reilly, Christopher Reifeiss
Assistant Editor: Cat Tyc, Kelly Bray
Production Interns: Debby Brand, Brian Bauman
Theme Song: Reggie Watts
Additional Music: Moby
Art Direction & Design
Open
New York, NY
Design & Production
Rich Watts
Brooklyn, NY
SEASON THREE: Joey Arias, Arthur Aviles, Eisa Davis, Mohammed Fairouz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill T Jones, Cherry Jones, Mia Katigbak, Lisa Kron, Ethan Lipton, Carolina Penafiel, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Sxip Shirey, Elizabeth Streb, Clyde Vanletin, Reggie Watts
SEASON TWO: Jen Abrams, Kahlil Almustafa, Thomas Bradshaw, John Collins, Brendan Coyle, Amanda Curtis, Dana Edell, Oskar Eustis, Miguel Gutierrez, Joan Jonas, Aaron Landsman, Elizabeth LeCompte, Young Jean Lee, Kate D. Levin, Sheila Lewandowski, Abby Marcus, Qui Nguyen, Brian Rogers, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, Steven Sapp, Betty Shamieh, Black-Eyed Susan, Chandra Thomas, Basil Twist, Kate Valk, Reggie Watts, Natasha Williams, Caroline Woolard
SEASON ONE: Moe Angelos, Arthur Aviles, Jess Barbagallo, Anne Bogart, Wally Cardona, Hai-Ting Chinn, Ping Chong, Gabri Christa, Chinese Theatre Works, Toni Dove, Yehuda Duenyas, James Tigger! Ferguson, Kuang-Yu Fong, Ximena Garnica, Roselee Goldberg, Ain Gordon, David Gordon, Miranda Hardy, Mikéah Ernest Jennings, Melanie Joseph, Ben Kerrick, Mari Kimura, Peter Ksander, Taylor Mac, Kristin Marting, Jennifer Miller, Paul D. Miller, Shige Moriya, Julie Atlas Muz, Erin Orr, Vernon Reid, Laine Rettmer, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Rokafella, Elizabeth Streb, Valda Setterfield, Xiaojun Song, Charlie Todd, Kate Valk, Marianne Weems, Jennifer Wright Cook, Ying Zhang
A.R.T./New York
Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
Brooklyn Arts Council
Brooklyn Arts Exchange
The Chocolate Factory
Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island
The Field
Harlem Arts Alliance
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
New York Theater Workshop
Joe's Pub
Queens Council on the Arts
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
Anne Bogart
Thomas Bradshaw
Una Chaudhuri
Boo Froebel
Elinor Fuchs
Roselee Goldberg
Frank Hentschker
Jay Scheib
Mac Wellman
MADE HERE needs your support so we can continue capturing the lives of performing artists. Every donation helps us expand the project to more issues, episodes, artists, contributors, and audiences.
For questions or information on corporate sponsorship, contact info@madehereproject.org.
MADE HERE is supported by a 2009 Rockefeller Cultural Innovation Fund award.
MADE HERE explores the importance of activism in the performing arts. The artists in this issue have used their creativity to define their places in the world, while building and sometimes healing a community. They are bold risk-takers who deliver political messages and sometimes break the rules, but often with a healthy dose of humor.
The three episodes for this issue are: Community, Without Permission, and Artist as Activist.
Click for relevant news, organizations, and research.
Do you consider yourself an artist/activist? How do you incorporate activism into your art? How has your work elicited change? Tell us about your favorite activist art.
Submit a resourceThese artists are connecting the performing arts with issues relevant to citizens of New York City and the world. At the heart of their bold work is civic dialogue about gentrification, class, race, neighborhood politics, and community building.
A video interview with John Waters where he talks about his work and the connection between art and politics.
The Times -- Are They A-Changin'?How diverse is the up-and-coming generation? This article by Wendy Perron tries to answer this question by talking to young artists to get their opinion on diversity in the artistic realm.
The New York Times interviews Foundry Theatre's Artistic Director Melanie Joseph.
‘Hair’ Closes for One Day So Cast Can March in RallyThe Broadway production of ‘Hair’ closed down for a night risking a financial loss in order to enable the cast and crew to attend a gay rights march in Washington DC.
Repast, Present, FutureAmerican Theatre magazine profiles four theater projects that use food in an effort to make an impact on their communities.
Not There YetAn essay by playwright Marsha Norman on the lack of equity concerning gender balance in theater and what can be done about it.
Twelve Positions on Cultural SanctionsAmerican Theatre Magazine asks twelve theater artists of Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish American and Palestinian American descent to share their reactions to the possibility of a cultural boycott of Israel.
Political and Social Theater in NYCA blog posting followed by a range of comments on what makes successful political theater.
Participation in Art and Entertainment Empowers Arab AmericansAn excerpt from a presentation by Palestinian American playwright Betty Shamieh to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee on the importance of strengthening the arts in the Arab American community.
Face to Face Encounter on Race in the TheaterArticle about the controversial 1997 debate between August Wilson and Robert Brustein about race in American theater.
Out of the Fringe? Out of the Closet Latina/Latino Theatre and Performance in the 1990sThis article from The Drama Review looks at theater made by Latina/o artists in the United States at the end of the last century, and in particular how the work deals with issues of gender and sexuality.
Res(Crip)ting Feminist Theater Through Disability TheaterThis article looks at theater made by individuals with disabilities through the lenses of feminist theater.
Dance MagazineThere are several accounts of dancers and organizations from The Francesca Harper Project, Ballet Memphis, Houston Ballet, The Latin Choreographers Festival, TU Dance, Singh & Dance trying to incorporate racial diversity into the dance world.
Imagining America’s mission is to animate and strengthen the public and civic purposes of humanities, arts and design through mutually beneficial campus-community partnerships that advance democratic scholarship and practice.
Take PartTake Part provides a framework for educators to develop programmes to help adults gain the knowledge and skills they need to become empowered as members of their communities.
A theater company that produces readings of Greek plays to military communities across the United States.
The Foundry TheatreAccording to their mission The Foundry Theatre aspires to assemble a community of artists with revolutionary ideas for theater and the world in which it is situated.
The Living TheatreSince 1947 The Living Theater has pioneered work by unconventional writers and on issues facing society.
The Working TheatreA NYC theater with a mission to create work that reaches out to Americans at all economic, cultural and class levels.
Great Small WorksA collective of artists based in New York who perform and produce a variety of works and view theater as “a model for reanimating the public sphere and participating in democratic life.” The recently working with other groups helped to get the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights signed into law.
Bread and PuppetBased in Vermont, Bread and Puppet has been doing large scale puppets and political theater since the early Eighties.
The Pen and BrushMembership organization dedicated to women in the visual, literary and performing arts since 1894.
Broadway ImpactA community of theater professionals and audience united for equal rights to marriage.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDSSince 1987 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has been raising money and awareness to support those suffering with AIDS.
American Civil Liberties Union of New York StateThe New York arm of the American Civil Liberties Union, with a mission to defend the rights of Americans.
Move On.orgA family of organizations looking to bring Americans back into the democratic process.
Not An AlternativeA non-profit organization based in Brooklyn whose mission aims to integrate art, activism and theory in order to affect popular understandings of events, symbols and history.
Planet Connections Theatre festivityEco-friendly theatre festival in New York City.
Provides internet resources to and about activist organizations in New York State.
Americans for the Arts: Institute for Community Development and the Arts monographs and special reportsThis site provides a number of Monographs and special reports including information on Creative Economies, Arts Programming for At-Risk Youth, Arts in Hospitals and Arts and Religion.
Documentary from PBS looks at the history of Political Theater in America.
Know Your Rights: Demonstrating in New York CityA booklet from the NYCLU outlining the rights involved in coordinating demonstrations, public protests and parades in NYC.
Hemispheric InstituteA consortium of institutions, artists, scholars, and activists throughout the Americas working to promote vibrant interactions and collaborations at the level of scholarship, art practice, and pedagogy among practitioners interested in the relationship between performance and politics in the hemisphere.
Fostering Civic Engagement through Culture & Arts Animating DemocracyAmericans for the Arts Animating Democracy project provides case studies of projects which successfully used civic engagement and the arts. It also provides a publication with a collection of worksheets and tools to help plan engagement activities.
Made Here project is a fantastic way of creating a community and supporting inspiring infrastructure for NYC Artists, as well as educating other artists, students and academics outwith the city. Genius! This is a great resource I have emailed the info out to all my students. Fantastic!
I just wanted to say that I have been glued to the website for MADE HERE this past hour. It’s a truly inspiring documentary and fascinating to watch. This work creates an important legacy of what is happening right now and it is a gift to the community. Congratulations to you all.
I really enjoyed the videos, lovely work, witty and funny and I can’t wait to see more.
Congrats on Made Here! It’s really great and fantastically well filmed/produced. I can see that once all of these films are made it will make a more than compelling case for the importance of artists in this city…and why they should be better supported forever!
I love this. well made. important. thanks for adding to the conversation!
I saw the first episode today. It’s sooo good!! It’s really exciting to see such an intelligent and well conceived documentary series on NYC theater artists. And I love the theme song.
Great stuff!
Amazing website with the kind of support I need. Keep going guys!!
Thanks for providing a great platform to all artists! All artists face the same basic problems at some point in their career and this website offers valuable advice on balancing a family, finding a space and working in a crap-job in order to supplement your income. Thanks!
very cool….grazie!!!
Love it! Thank you for such these awesome conversations. After years in New York, I’m working on a specific set of projects in solitude in Chicago, where the pressure to make rent is a little less intense. I’m looking forward to coming back to the city soon, though! There’s nowhere like New York.
Check out this essay about the history of the plot of land on which the Ohio Theatre stands and also discusses the relationship between artists and real estate developers:
Re-examining the Soho Effect
From a freed slave to a theater company; how the poor and creative made 64-68 Wooster Street more valuable.
http://bit.ly/c9nONU
Thank you!!
Baadaass!
oooooh! I do not even know how I got here, but this is GREAT! I am a theatre loving
Architect and this is site is built beautifully. THank you.
Thank GOD you’re taking on this task of generating dialogue about what it MEANS to be an artist and how to make it happen on the daily. This particular segment brings together some amazing voices of artists struggling (successfully) to remain relevant in the avant garde arts world while also engaging in community-building, political activism, race & class at the same time. As perfomer-turned-community organizer, I would love to see more in depth investigation into how artists define their activism, the communities they collaborate with, and the concrete effects they wish to have. I would also like to hear more from artist-activists working on the ground in marginalized communities. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! AND KEEP PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES!
Jake Margolin rates his activism as a 8 on a scale from 1 to 10.
Aaron Landsman discusses how he views himself as an activist artist.