TAKE A TRIP THROUGH OUR HISTORY
SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible (PBS/WNET/All-Arts, 2025)
A collaboration between Deaf and Hearing artists, "SOUL(SIGNS)" celebrates American Sign Language, music and film and offers a behind-the-scenes look at creating an ASL music video for Morgan James' song "Drown."
ABOUT THE ARTIST Brandon Kazen-Maddox is an American Sign Language Artist, filmmaker, choreographer, director, professional acrobat, activist and co-founder of Up Until Now Collective, a multimedia arts production company focused on radical empathy and inclusion.
KATE W. CASSIDY ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM In each year of the Artist in Residence program, multi-disciplinary artists create original programs that bring their unique vision and work to ALL ARTS. Support for the ALL ARTS Artist in Residence program is provided by the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation.
UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time
A multi-sensory, immersive installation exploring intimacy, connection, and Queer community, UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time examines what the future of interactive performance might feel like. In the midst of what may be the most seismic shift in how humankind communicates in our lifetime, many of us are starved for connection. Can technology heighten our emotions and make us feel more connected?
Featuring Up Until Now Collective’s short music film UpUntilNow (commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects) and wearable haptics technology provided by Music: Not Impossible, which translates sound onto the skin through vibrations, midair for some time features the collaborative work of two dozen artists from multiple disciplines. The installation is designed as a 30-minute experience for up to seven people at a time, and designed to be fully accessible to members of the Deaf and Blind communities.
UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time was developed and workshopped at Center For Performance Research (CPR) in September, 2022 with the support of CPR’s Technical Residency program and a Brooklyn Arts Council Grant, and at HERE in partnership with the Reel Abilities Film Festival in May, 2023. It will premiere fully at JACK in March, 2024.
midair for some time was made possible by the Brookyln Arts Council and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
MUSIC VIDEO: "Numbers in a Jar" from the musical Eighty-Sixed
Directed by Kevin Newbury and Brian C. Gonzales
Music and Lyric by Sam Salmond, Book by Jeremy J. King
MUSIC VIDEO: "Nobody's Fool But Mine" from Morgan James
featuring Morgan James and Ephraim Sykes
Directed by Kevin Newbury
Global Citizen 2022 Pride Video Campaign
LGBTQ+ Artists Show Us What Celebrating Visibility & Inclusivity Looks Like to Them.
SOUL(SIGNS) : OPERA
CREATED AND PRODUCED BY UP UNTIL NOW COLLECTIVE
UNHOLY WARS
Spoleto Festival USA, Opera Philadelphia
Unholy Wars closes the dusty history book and reframes the Crusades from a Middle Eastern perspective to reveal a new story of belonging and resilience. Conceived and created by Lebanese American tenor Karim Sulayman, music by Handel and Monteverdi is interwoven with that of composer Mary Kouyoumdjian to explore and reclaim representations of his identity. Reexamining Baroque interpretations of the Crusades and depictions of the Middle East, Sulayman asks "Can we lean into the discomfort of our collective history while forging a new path forward?"
This boundary-breaking piece premiered at Spoleto Festival USA, where critics called it "emotional" and "powerful." The intimate staging directed by Kevin Newbury, with visual narrative by Kevork Mourad, explores the tensions of history, representation, identity, and survival through music and dance.
TIMES SQUARE MIDNIGHT MOMENT: "GEORGIA"
Gladys Knight at the Pips "Midnight Train to Georgia," Nina Simone "Don't Let Me Misunderstood," En Vogue "Free Your Mind," Tina Turner "What's Love Got to Do With It," and Lachi's Bad Choices."
SOUL(SIGNS): An ASL Playlist:
MORGAN JAMES "WHITE CHRISTMAS"
STAGES PODCAST
RADICALLY INCLUSIVE WITH KEVIN NEWBURY & BRANDON KAZEN-MADDOX
In this episode, Kevin and Brandon talk in depth about the founding of the Up Until Now Collective, a New York City based artist collective committed to inclusive, accessible, and equitable working environments. They talk about their new vision for Andrew Lippas THE WILD PARTY, the day they met, and how their collaboration started at a camp in New Hampshire during covid.
