Charmaine Lee (b. 1991) is an Australian composer and vocalist based in New York City. Using the voice, feedback, and live processing, Lee’s practice is primarily concerned with risk-taking, playfulness, and improvisation. As a composer, Lee has been commissioned by leading institutions including Kronos Quartet and International Contemporary Ensemble. She is an Emergent Ventures winner (2024), an Artist-in-Residence at ISSUE Project Room (2019), and a Van Lier Fellow at Roulette (2021). Her long-standing collaborators include Conrad Tao and Ikue Mori (MacArthur Fellow). Lee frequently guest lectures on building a personal language and creative agency at undergraduate and graduate-level composition programs around the country. She serves on the Artistic Advisory Council of ISSUE Project Room and runs a record label, Kou Records, dedicated to pioneering artists in music and sound.

Fellowship Statement

During the Fellowship, I plan to hone my technical and conceptual approaches to the voice, body, and technology while exploring my use of feedback, recording techniques, and thematic ideas for film and other mediums. Inspired by Foley artists, I am developing a “cinema in sound” concept using a variety of compositional techniques to create new temporal and sonic textures. This exploration will be documented in a series of self-released projects under my new label, Kou Records. My goal is to activate a productive creative community through new relationships with artists, illustrators, engineers, and distributors. In addition, I will continue to expand my live practice, including embarking on a 50-state self-organized tour around the U.S. in the fall of 2025.

Photo by Cameron Lee Phan.

Mo Kong is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher currently residing in NYC. Their work usually takes the form of large-scale installations involving scientific research and multiple journalistic perspectives. Kong challenges key issues of the day using complex narratives that bring together the past and the present. They have had solo exhibitions at Queens Museum, Smack Mellon, CUE Art Foundation, Cuchifritos Gallery, Artericambi Gallery (Verona), and Gertrude Gallery. They also received fellowships and residencies from Sharpe Walentas, Macdowell Colony, Skowhegan, Triangle Art Association, The Drawing Center, City Artists Crops Grant, Mass MoCA Studio, Vermont Studio Center, Lighthouse Works, and Artists Alliance LES Studio Program. Kong’s work has been written about in Hyperallergic, Artforum, Art in America, Cultured magazine, Artnet, Bomb magazine, Artpapers, CoBo Social, Wall Street International, SFMoMA Public Knowledge, and more. They received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Fellowship Statement

My work reflects my long-standing interest in the natural sciences, uses a self-research process, and accounts for our position in complex historical and social events. The focus of my work revolves around "Slowbalization"—the opposite of globalization—which is characterized by xenophobia, economic isolation, and environmental collapse. The work explores the effects of these phenomena on the daily life of immigrants. I plan to continue working on my current series called Personal Ark®, which envisions this Asian immigrant-owned survival company and showcases the brand's apocalypse survival technology through site-specific installations. The series combines historical research, architecture, performance, cutting-edge technology, and biomaterials to reimagine Asian futurism and Asian pessimism. Through the lens of technological orientalism and olfactory orientalism, my works aims to help the Asian diaspora to navigate and survive the apocalypse.

Photo by Justin Baez.

Kengchakaj Kengkarnka is a Thai diaspora, Bangkok-born, Lenapehoking-based artist, pianist, improviser, and synthesist. His practice engages with composing and improvising sounds from personal experience that draw inspiration from ancestral soundscapes, knowledge, and modes of collaboration and expression rooted in Southeast Asian tradition and lineage. His medium of expression spans acoustic piano, electronics, Southeast Asian retune analog synthesizer, multichannel spatial audio, and live coding—a practice of writing and executing code in real-time—utilizing technologies to produce a multisensory live performance. Kengkarnka is a Manhattan School of Music (MM) graduate, a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, and a Gold Award Lumen Prize winner. He is a Collider Fellow and a Y11 NEW INC member. His projects have received development funds and support from the Lincoln Center, NEW INC, Queens Council on the Arts, City Artist Corps, Rhizome, Processing Foundation, CultureHub, Babycastles, Eyebeam, and Institute for Electronic Arts. He is one-half of elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ, a collaborative duo with interdisciplinary media artist, Nitcha Tothong.

Fellowship Statement

With the Fellowship, I plan to travel through Southeast Asia to learn from elders, teachers, and traditional practitioners while continuing my study with Kru Amp, a Thai traditional music practitioner in the U.S. When researching Southeast Asia's diverse sound cultures, I often encounter a challenging political landscape marked by the historical silencing of sound cultures and activists’ voices. Through my work, I aspire to honor these stories and foster a deeper understanding of these critical issues, ensuring that the unheard voices of the past and present resonate in our collective future. I’m also committed to continuing the work of decolonizing my approach by unlearning and relearning through meaningful research in my artistic practice. This involves investigating recent and ancient history, actively listening, and reinterpreting wisdom, practices, and systems offered by ancestral and heritage: to hack contemporary tools, foster experimentation, and explore alternative futures rooted in care.

Photo by Nitcha Tothong (@nitchafame), courtesy of artist.

JuCoby Johnson (he/him) is a New York-based playwright, actor, and screenwriter originally from Jacksonville, FL. His plays include How It's Gon Be (Echo Theater, 2023; Underdog Theater, 2019), ...but you could've held my hand (CATCO, 2022; O'Neill NPC Summer Season, 2022), 5 (Jungle Theater, 2023; O'Neill NPC Summer Season, 2022; Seven Devils Finalist), Heritage (International Black Theater Festival, 2024); I'll Be Seeing You Again (Jungle Serial Audio Series, 2021) and Revelations (Playing On Air, 2021). He is the recipient of the 2020 McKnight Fellowship, was a member of the 2022 Sony Pictures Television Diverse Writers Program, and a member of the inaugural Artist Cohort at The Jungle Theater. Johnson has been seen onstage at The Guthrie Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Jungle Theater, Theater Latté Da, Theater Mu, Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company, and many more. He is currently participating in The Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program.

Fellowship Statement

I write poetic, lyrical, magical love stories centered around Black people and Black communities. I try to conjure the people I grew up with, people who never imagined they would see themselves in a play, and make their existence as beautiful, as epic, and as complex as any piece of Shakespeare or Greek literature. I'm particularly fascinated by complicated relationships and by the struggle to figure out how to love each other better. My greatest dream is that a young Black person sees my work and feels seen, heard, and less alone in the world.

Photo by Isabel Fajardo.

Orlando Hernández is a choreographer, tap dancer, and theater-maker based in NYC. He has presented his work at New York Live Arts, On the Boards, Joe’s Pub, Brown University, the Judson Church, and La Casa Ruth Hernández Torres. He was a 2022-23 Fresh Tracks Artist at New York Live Arts, a 2023 Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Performance Research, and has received grants and residencies from the New England Foundation for the Arts, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Yaddo, the CUNY Dance Initiative, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, and Snug Harbor. Hernández holds a B.A. in English from Yale University. He is a member of the tap dance and music companies Music From the Sole, Subject:Matter, and Michela Marino Lerman's Love Movement. His play La Broa’ (Broad Street) premiered in 2024 at Trinity Repertory Company.

Fellowship Statement

In my current work, tap dance conspires/collides with text, devised theater, mask-work, and live music to tell stories of metamorphosis and ecstasy. In particular I have been digging into Indigenous histories of the Caribbean from my perspective in the Puerto Rican diaspora. I strive to honor my tap dance teachers and the roots of this transformative Black American art form. I believe rhythm can be a guiding force and tool for understanding power, geography, and processes of cultural formation.

Photo by Michael Rosas.

Dickie Drew Hearts is a Deaf, gay, multiracial actor and filmmaker dedicated to amplifying representation for Deaf, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC communities by showcasing American Sign Language onscreen. He recently created, wrote, directed, and co-starred in the Deaf/disabled-centric, LGBTQ+ romcom mini-series Passengers: New York City, which is now entering post-production. This series evolved from his short film Passengers, which won the 2015 Best Filmmaker award at the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, earning him mentorship with Oscar-winning Director Peter Farrelly. In 2016, he won Project Greenlight’s LGBTQ "See Yourself" contest with his pitch Save The World, leading to a development deal with Adaptive Studios and GLAAD. Hearts also won the $20,000 Grand Prize in the 2017 AT&T Create-A-Thon for The Deaf vs The Dead, before Deaf characters first appeared on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Hearts also is a television and stage actor, and he received an Obie Award in 2024 and a Lucille Lortel nomination for The Public Theater’s Dark Disabled Stories. Hearts is the recipient of the 2021 Sundance Institute’s Uprise Grant and the 2022 Ford and Mellon Foundations Disability Futures Fellows Grant.

Fellowship Statement

I am passionate about bringing more visibility to Deaf, LGBTQ, and American Sign Language stories in scripted narratives. I believe these stories deserve to be told and am committed to creating content that entertains while highlighting Deaf and disabled experiences. With this Fellowship, I plan to produce a mini-series, with the goal of expanding it into bigger projects or having it picked up as a network TV show. I am ready to push boundaries and tell more cinematic stories that amplify disabled, queer, and BIPOC voices.

Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Wendell Gray II is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, dancer, and educator. Raised in Atlanta, GA, in an immersive, multidisciplinary arts environment, he studied dance, music, and theater. Since relocating to New York, Gray’s choreographic works have been showcased at venues such as Danspace Project, PAGEANT, Coffey Street Studios, Kinosaito Arts Center, Gibney Dance, and Movement Research at Judson Church, among others. Gray is a 2024-2025 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and has additionally been supported by residency programs, including the Sightlines Dance Festival (2023), STUFFED Artist-in-Residence at Judson Church (2021), Work Up 6.0 Artist at Gibney (2020), and Chez Bushwick (2017). His artistic journey has led him to work with choreographers/ artists such as Miguel Gutierrez, Tere O’Connor, Juliana May, Joanna Kotze, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Pavel Zustiak, and Kevin Beasley, among others. He graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in Dance under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield.

Fellowship Statement

I make dances that are episodic and rhythmic, and that juggle various performative and qualitative intentions. I look to highlight both the public nature of performance and the private essence of being human. I focus on movement, organizing it into different choreographic structures while layering this with theatrical elements such as props and texts. I find it radical to be many things at once, both absorbing and transcending my identity. I use my formal dance training as a springboard for experimentation, both poking at the western throughlines while also navigating the tropes and signifiers within it. My work asks you to listen and form curiosities, to move into the unknown, the unanswerable, and the felt. I’m in the early stages of a new group work. It is a continuation of my most previous piece in the port’s mouth which dealt with the fantasies around the unknown parts of my lineage.

Photo by Amelia Golden.

Caroline Garcia is a transpacific, interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She works across performance, moving image, and installation through a hybridized aesthetic of cross-cultural movement, embodied research, and new media. Her practice weaves together ethnotraditional forms of knowledge including botany, poetry, dance, and ceramics with digital technologies such as green screening, robotics, motion capture, extended realities (AR/VR), and 3D processes. Garcia is a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow: Digital/Electronic Arts, New York Artadia Awardee, Franklin Furnace Fund recipient, and the American Australian Association’s AUSART Fellow. She has presented work at The SHED, Lincoln Center, Creative Time Summit X and HQ, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney Opera House, Manila Biennale, among others. Caroline is currently an A.I.R. Gallery Fellow and was formerly in residence at the EMPAC, MASS MoCA, ISCP, Pioneer Works, Recess, Alfred IEA, and LMCC’s Workspace program.

Fellowship Statement

My artistic research inquiries create unique constellations that intersect the past, present, and future. Using found footage, archives, and artifacts, I digitally sample popular culture and colonial imagery to critically re-appropriate problematic narratives of cultural representation. I am committed to centering Indigenous protocol and addressing diasporic ontologies and its privileges. I experiment with new media in order to outmaneuver forces of oppression. I utilize digital technologies as tools to transmit gestures and rituals into disembodied landscapes. I welcome the transgressive potency of rage and refusal to render critical awareness for communities confronting the status quo in politics, culture, history, and other areas of life. By initiating my own recuperation of violence, I (co)generate gateways for both the self and collective to engage with systemic themes of identity, immigration, and safety. 

Photo by Alex Wisser.

Melanie Dyer is a composer, violinist, and trans-disciplinary musician working in creative-improvised music. She is the recipient of awards including the 2024 New York Council on the Arts Support for Artists, the 2023 Herb Alpert Foundation Ragdale Prize, the 2022 Jazz Road/South Arts, and a 2022 and 2019 Chamber Music America award, among many others. Current projects include Incalculable Likelihood, an operetta for 12-piece ensemble (Vision Festival 2024), Siren Xypher Trio, and collaborations with several NY-based musicians. She convenes the improvising string/rhythm collective WeFreeStrings, Dyer has performed and recorded with the Sun Ra Arkestra under Marshall Allen; Tomeka Reid's Stringtet; and on William Parker’s projects. Her appearances include Vision Festival, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Festival Sons d’hiver, and Lincoln Center Outdoors, and many more.

Fellowship Statement

Creative risk and expanding my vocabulary as a violist, composer, and trans-disciplinary musician will feed me over the next three years. My immediate project is to expand and stage Incalculable Likelihood at Mabou Mines black box experimental theater in December 2025. Over the next two years, I envision studying approaches to composition marginally familiar to me (privately), composing for new and existing ensembles, becoming a better improviser and violist, co-producing two trio recordings, and pursuing a sound project involving mass spectrometry. I live for new ideas. The Fellowship will support plans, purposes, and pursuits that inhabit and excite me. The Fellowship also represents the tangible possibility of generating new work, and being in conversation with creative thinkers and the participating public. 

Anooj Bhandari is an artist creating experimental performance and theater. He believes deeply in art as a process to ask quiet questions publicly. He is an alumnus of EmergeNYC, the Hemispheric Institute’s Fellowship for Emerging Political Performance Artists, the Lighthouse Residency at the BEAM Center, and The Bandung Residency with the Asian American Arts Alliance and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Arts. Bhandari is a 2023 MacDowell Fellowship recipient in the Theater Arts. He is also an ensemble member of the New York Neo-Futurists, where he writes, performs, and directs in their weekly show, The Infinite Wrench.

Fellowship Statement

During the Fellowship, I intend to expand on a larger body of work titled A Geometric Proof for Changing the Shape of a Dollar, exploring the intersections between grief, migration, and spirit through the counterfeit dollar. The work will utilize puppetry and multi-media installation to weave together narratives of global end-of-life ritual, mutualism within nature, and histories of geometric tiling, to explore two central questions of counterfeit practice: How will we replicate the shapes we make? And where does the impact of our work begin? I also intend to develop an immersive, mobile puppetry unit that will build site-specific performance around New York City in the aesthetics of a mystical chai stall. I am interested in creating art that extends the future of theater as a significant cultural tool, rather than a future of the “great American theater.”

Photo by Chan Lin.