Recent Projects

The IndieSpace's Mental Health Initiative aims to empower artists to be advocates for themselves and their mental health while organizing a safe space for conversation, inclusion, and raising awareness. I developed this program in the summer of 2021 in response to the on-going need and lack of mental health resources centering artists. As part of this initiative, we began hosting monthly lotteries for $500 Mental Health Micro Grants, hosted bi-annual mental health resource lotteries, and cultivated mental health centered monthly newsletters. Since July 2021, we have been able to give out over $150,000 and serve 300 artists with our grants, I have hosted two resource lotteries offering artists access to physical body treatments, one-on-one movement sessions, and creative retreats, and curated and written 13 newsletters.

The Indie Theater Fund/IndieSpace in partnership with the League of Independent Theater (LIT), the NY Innovative Theater Awards (NYIT), and Partake Arts developed and launched The Big Learn-a series of Anti Racism trainings for independent theater makers and small companies. Our goal was to create space for anti-racist learning, training, and community healing that will address the needs of the large and diverse community of “downtown” and “indie” theatre artists living and working in New York City. These group trainings provided a place for individual artists that didn't have a home company to train with and/or for small companies without a budget for this type of work. This long term training included sessions lead by Coming to The Table and Nicole Brewer, as well as pod work, individual reading and assignments, and a lifetime membership to Coming to the Table's community sessions. This first round of training was graciously funded by the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

The Big Mini Give and Take was a riff off of the Indie Theater Fund's annual Big Give event. With the state of the pandemic I worked with the organization to pivot and create a virtual event that still centered the indie artist community in a celebratory way and gave funds to those in need. This was a fantastic opportunity for the community to gather, connect, enjoy some entertainment, and make an offering--and to also receive a little boost in Emergency Funds, if they were needed.

As a celebration of the merger of IndieSpace and the Indie Theater fund, I was asked to produced a wedding to solidify the coming together of this special couple. This wedding served as both a fundraiser and celebratory gathering where artists, community members, funders and donors come together to honor their commitment to each other and to highlight the work of the indie theater community. It was an opportunity for artists and funders and community members to network and for IS/ITF to increase awareness of this important merger. And no wedding is complete without A drag queen flower girl, a 9-piece big brass band, and a burlesque harpist!

Miss STI: A Drag Pageant is an annual drag fundraiser for the Norman Women's Shelter. This was my third year producing this event, and it was the biggest one yet! In my three years leading the production of this fundraiser, we grew from filling out a 60 seat venue to selling out an almost 400 seat venue and more than tripling out first year donations.