Pioneers Go East Collective, is an arts and cultural grassroots organization inspiring a lively exchange of queer art and culture by connecting people to ideas and experiences. We empower a collective of thought-provoking, adventurous, and proud LGBTQ artists, and we are dedicated to BIPOC and immigrant artists and teaching artists and their communities in all 5 boroughs. We explore stories of vulnerability and courage for social change. Built on the social and political principles of inclusion, justice, and visibility, we support artists that reflect and advance these values. Through the creation of devised multimedia works, including high-energy theatrical works and video-art combined with popular culture and infused with joy, the collective celebrates and shares our community’s achievements.
Pioneers Go East Collective is a radical Queer laboratory collective dedicated to dance-theater and video art to empower the LGBTQ experience. An artist-driven collective, we create works of high artistic merit, speak out about social issues and build a platform to positively impact the LGBTQ community. Inspired by W. Whitman’s poem Pioneers, O Pioneers!, an homage to the pioneers' search for a brighter future – the collective is comprised of thought-provoking artists from diverse backgrounds who come together to share their experiences. In residence at two historical institutions - La MaMa and Judson Church - the collective centers the voices of LGBTQ and Feminist artists to build deeper relationships with members of lesser-heard communities in New York City and beyond.
Since 2012, the collective of art-makers, educators, and social practitioners has been in-residence at arts and cultural centers throughout New York City. Presenting original works by a collective of artists, our creative and social platforms of inclusion bring to the forefront the vulnerabilities still faced by our community. Since 2012, Pioneers Go East Collective has been an incubator of 15 dance-theatre works, produced over 10 series and arts festivals, and has presented works by more than 500 dance and theatre artists to date. The Collective presents a regular season of live performance, video art, educational and mentorship programs, and curated series including CROSSROADS SERIES, and OUT-FRONT! Festival examining LGBTQ and Feminist experiences. The collective has crossed paths and collaborated with over 500 artists and created platforms of inclusion that have linked audiences in all five boroughs and in communities in New York State, through personal storytelling that blends heartfelt, humorous experiences infused with joy and high-energy.
History
Pioneers Go East Collective creates interdisciplinary performances that merge storytelling and video documentary of real events. Since 2018, we are in residency at Judson Church, one of the first avant-garde dance theater in New York City since the 1950s. Since 2021, we are in residency at The LGBT Center. We received residencies at BAM / Brooklyn Academy of Music (2023), Collar Works (Troy, NY) 2023, BRIC ARTS MEDIA (2021-22), Center for Performance Research (2022), and Governors’ Island/ LMCC Process Space Residency (2014).
The collective has been widely presented in NYC at BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Judson Church, Abrons Arts Center, JACK, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, The LGBT Center, La MaMa, Ars Nova, Center for Performance Research, The Exponential Festival, A.R.T./New York venue, Chez Bushwick, St Ann’s Warehouse, Governors Island as part of Process Space Residency, Incubator Arts Project/ Ontological-Hysteric, Performance Mix/New Dance Alliance/ HERE, Chashama Gallery in Harlem, Goethe Institut Gallery/ Wyoming Building. Additionally, the collective presents work at Time Space Limited (Hudson); Lumberyard (Catskill); Collar Works (Troy); and Buddies in Bad Times, Toronto. Upcoming: Kaatsbaan (Tivoli, NY) residency in 2024.
The collective explores LGBTQ and Feminist stories that are not usually investigated and reflect social-political vulnerabilities and otherness as a way of provoking thought, casting impressionistic shadows. Inspired by Walt Whitman’s powerfully evocative poem “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” that pays homage to fearless courage, we are a collective pioneering art for social change. We are set out to find a brighter future and record memories of collective and individual vulnerability and resilience. As pioneers on a long journey, the collective finds and records memories of collective and individual courage to challenge audiences in emotionally charged yet accessible performances.
Daniel Diaz, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Anabella Lenzu, Symara Johnson, Joey Kipp, Agosto Machado, Jo Wiegandt, and Philip Treviño, lead the collective in collaboration with a community of like-minded writers, performers, musicians, and visual artists. Current collaborators include syd island, Vanessa Rappa, Symara Johnson, ALEXA Grae, Darrin Wright, Mark Tambella, Azmi Mert Erdem, Maria Eisen, and Bryan & Shaina BAIRA.