At Great Performances, we believe in nurturing creativity—not just through the incredible events we produce but also by supporting the artistic passions of our team members. That’s why we were thrilled to celebrate the winners of our 2024 Artist Fellowship Awards at a special ceremony at Mae Mae Café and Plant Shop!
This year, we awarded $20,000 in grants to four talented GP team members, each receiving $5,000 to further their artistic careers. The projects they’re working on are as diverse and inspiring as the city we call home.
A Celebration of Creativity and Inspiration
On Monday, February 3rd, we gathered at our Mott Haven campus to recognize the incredible work of our 2024 fellows. The ceremony was filled with heartfelt speeches, shared stories, and an overwhelming sense of support from the GP community. It was a joy to witness the excitement and passion of our awardees as they spoke about their projects.
Check out some highlights from the event below!
Meet the 2024 Artist Fellows
From music to animation, this year’s recipients represent a beautiful cross-section of New York’s creative energy:
Trifon Dimitrov
Trifon Dimitrov’s A View From Today (Ancestors) is a tribute album honoring legendary jazz bassists such as Jimmy Blanton, Sam Jones, Oscar Pettiford, Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, and Ron Carter. The project celebrates their contributions to jazz by featuring their compositions with a contemporary interpretation, performed in duo and trio settings with renowned musicians like Kenny Barron, George Cables, and Lewis Nash. The album aims to highlight the bass as a lead instrument while preserving and expanding the jazz tradition. With over 25 years of performance experience, Dimitrov sees this project as a pivotal step in establishing himself as a bandleader, with plans for recording, release, international promotion, and touring. The album will serve as both a tribute and a launching pad for future collaborations and artistic growth.
Trifon is a Bulgarian-born musician and sound artist specializing in experimental composition and live electronic performance. With a background in both classical and avant-garde music, his work bridges genres, creating deeply atmospheric and textured sound experiences. He is dedicated to exploring the intersection of sound, memory, and cultural identity.
Tira Adams
Tira is a poet, lyricist, and performer whose work navigates themes of exile, resistance, and personal transformation. With a sharp, evocative style, she collaborates with musicians and artists to bring socially charged poetry into new sonic landscapes. Her writing serves as both a personal narrative and a broader commentary on censorship, displacement, and resilience.
Natasia Filiaeva
klonklona is an electronic music project by Natasia, an exiled artist using sound as a form of resilience, protest, and reconnection for the displaced Russian-speaking community. Born from personal upheaval after fleeing Russia due to political repression, klonklona blends environmental sound sampling, haunting vocals, and satire to create a “bedroom rave universe”—a safe space for self-expression and defiance. Through viral tracks like Vo Slavu Satane, which exposed Russian corruption, and How Do You Do, which captured the absurdity of exile, klonklona has built a global community of listeners seeking solidarity. With the GP Artist Fellowship, Natasia plans to elevate klonklona from single releases to full EPs and live performances, requiring essential equipment to continue producing music. Looking ahead, she envisions klonklona as a platform for censored and displaced Russian artists, fostering connection through performances, collaborations, and bilingual songwriting to amplify these urgent stories worldwide.
Natasia is an exiled Russian musician and producer who founded klonklona, an electronic music project exploring resilience, protest, and reconnection through sound. Forced to flee Russia due to political repression, she channels personal and collective trauma into haunting, satirical tracks that resonate with the displaced Russian-speaking community. Her work has gone viral, offering a space for defiance and healing through music.
David Quang Pham
David Quang Pham’s Turnover: A New Leaf is an award-winning plant-based musical that explores themes of immigration, queer identity, and environmental awareness through the story of a mother-son pair of Cilantros navigating life in Dirty City. With a dynamic mix of pop, rock, and Vietnamese folk music, the show has earned accolades at the Philadelphia New Musicals Festival and has been performed at various venues, including The Tank’s PrideFest. David’s proposal for the Great Performances Artist Fellowship focuses on producing a professional studio concept album of Turnover, aiming for a Fall 2025 release. This album would enhance the musical’s reach, support future theatrical productions, and lay the groundwork for an eventual cast recording and a potential animated series. Featuring a talented team of musicians, directors, and producers, the project seeks to bring Turnover’s vibrant world and educational themes to a broader audience through streaming and physical releases.
David is a multidisciplinary artist and composer whose work blends experimental sound design, electronic music, and visual storytelling. Passionate about pushing creative boundaries, he explores themes of identity, displacement, and social change. His compositions weave together diverse sonic textures, inviting listeners into immersive and thought-provoking soundscapes.
We can’t wait to see these projects come to life!
A Tradition of Supporting the Arts
The Artist Fellowship Awards have been a cornerstone of GP’s mission, rooted in our company’s origins. When Liz Neumark founded GP, she was an aspiring photographer, and many of our earliest employees were artists looking for flexible work to support their creative pursuits. That commitment hasn’t changed.
“What started as two $1,000 grants has grown to four $5,000 grants and is a source of company-wide pride,” says Neumark. “We’re delighted to celebrate these artists and our commitment to arts and culture in New York City.”
A Panel of Esteemed Judges
A big thank you to our panel of judges—leaders from NYC’s arts and culture world—who helped select this year’s fellows:
- Ed Lewis – President and CEO, Caramoor
- Kamilah Forbes – Executive Producer, Apollo Theater
- Ryan Hill – Founder and CEO, Apotheosis
- Dr. Meisha Porter – Visiting Senior at the Center for Educational Innovation
- Adam Gwon – Composer and Lyricist
“We were all impressed that the applicants are working outside of their art and yet have created the time to pursue this work that means so much to them,” noted Dr. Porter.
This year, Chef Andrew Smith, Culinary Director, curated our Food Festivals and prepared some delicious recipes to help celebrate the ingredient!
We’re kicking off with Buckwheat Flour, which is gluten-free, grain-free that provides a nutty flavor, tender texture, and darker color to the dishes it enhances. It’s high in fiber, protein, and minerals, making it a great addition to your pantry and can be substituted for up to 1/4 of flour in traditional recipes.
Here Chef Andrew shares a recipe for Buckwheat Pappardelle that you can serve with your favorite sauce.
Buckwheat Pappardelle
Ingredients
- 200 grams toasted buckwheat flour
- 200 grams ap flour
- 300 grams semolina
- 300 grams durum
- 500 grams water
Method
- In a stand mixer with dough hook (kitchen aid) add all ingredients. Turn on mixer to lowest setting and mix till all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the mixture is forming a dough ball. If too dry, add more liquid little bits at a time till hydrated.
- Remove from mixer and wrap in plastic and allow to rest for at least 45 minutes. Once pasta has rested, on a clean lightly floured surface, separate the dough into four equal parts and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent drying out.
- Roll each part of dough into a ball. Then using the palm of your hand press the ball flat. Using a rolling pin roll the dough out moving horizontally then perpendicular till dough is a sheet about 1/8th of an inch thick.
- With a pizza cutter square off the dough reserving trim for further use. Then cut dough into one inch strips, dust with flour, and set aside.
- Repeat this method till all dough has been shaped.
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and season to taste with salt. Shaking off excess flour place pasta into water gently stirring to avoid sticking together. Allow to cook for five minutes then strain off water and serve with your favorite sauce.
I started sewing in 2019. I had taken a costuming class in my undergraduate program and enjoyed it. As time went on things started to press on me:
- The prevalence of human trafficking in the supply chain of my clothing
- The water and environmental cost of fast fashion
- The fact that I just didn’t like so many things being sold in stores
I decided I wanted to give it a try.
Cut to the fall of 2020*. The pandemic was driving on, and I exhausted my options for painting by numbers**. I decided to put more concerted effort into making my clothes. I bought more supplies, patterns, pattern paper, fusible interfacing, the works.
I started with a simple t-shirt, and it went well enough to make want to get better. I gave myself milestones:
- Making a 3-piece suit
- having 50% of my wardrobe being of my own making
Once I did those, I could consider myself having “graduated” as a clothier (atelier? tailor? seamster?***).
While both of these milestones are still in the future, I have gotten better and better. I’ve made some pieces that I very much enjoy. I’ve made pieces for friends and loved ones. I’ve made shirts and pants, overalls and jumpsuits, dresses and skirts, and cloaks for LARPing. My next project will be a pair of double-knee jeans from a pattern I received from Lorraine Polchinski.
* Many are drawn to the assumption that sewing was a pandemic venture. Was it? It was definitely pandemic related that I did as much as I did when I did, but I find myself clashing with the idea of sewing being my sourdough. I’d been dabbling.
** THIS was my sourdough.
*** This is not my first bout with the lack of a gender non-specific word for “one who sews”. I have not found a suitable option. While it is not necessarily one of the reasons for my wanting to sew, gender subversion is a big influence on my drive to be GOOD at sewing. Therefore, I’m not interested in name that leans toward gender reinforcement. Boo gender reinforcement!
****Gender Affirmation refers to the phenomenon of individuals, feeling their gender identity is challenged or questioned, exaggerating or strongly reaffirming behaviors and attitudes traditionally associated with their gender, in an attempt to reassert their sense of belonging within their gender category.
In the sprawling web of all our venues, Book Club emerged to bring GP employees together. It grew out of our Women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG), a space we carved out to amplify and mentor each other. The ERG has hosted mentorship, networking, and leadership events, often at cultural and historical venues that sparked interesting conversation. Book Club felt like a natural extension – a gender-inclusive group to share stories and ideas. For the launch, we looked for stories about the powerful role of food. We had a shortlist that claimed our attention, but we landed on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
Picking a first book felt like scrolling through a never-ending To Be Read pile in late December. We started with a few contenders: The Kamogawa Food Detectives, a cozy, intrigue-laden escape, My Year of Meats, at the intersection of TV and agriculture, and Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line, 300 pages of adrenaline which at absolutely no point takes its foot off the gas. Each had its claim to our attention, but we landed on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
It wasn’t just the food-centric narrative, but it’s both deeply familiar and unexpected. The story follows Tita, the youngest daughter in a rigidly traditional Mexican family. It’s a story we’ve seen countlessly: duty taking precedence over desire, especially in the kitchen – a place long known for confinement to women. Yet, we can understand what it feels like to pour energy and emotions into food. Tita reveals her rage and declaration of selfhood through it. She grows prolific in her cooking which – through the lens of magic realism – finds its power to leave her family weeping, or euphoric, or moved in whatever chaotic ways.
Esquivel touches on a common modern narrative, one with women, in her words, “radically abandoning the kitchen space”. Through Tita, however, she highlights the beauty of reclaiming these traditions on her own terms.
Of course, reading this in the context of the food industry feels a little different. There’s not as much room for catharsis in the middle of a dinner service. Yet, the book plants the idea that food, even in its structured, utilitarian form, carries intense emotion. Part of the pleasure is discovering how this unfolds, and as book club conversations start taking shape, leaves us with plenty to think about.
Bring back childhood memories:
- 0.5 oz Vanilla Syrup
- 3 oz Orange Juice
- 1 oz Coconut Cream
- Fill with Ginger Beer
A green tea twist with a floral touch:
- 2 tsp Matcha Powder (frothed in hot water)
- 0.5 oz Raspberry Syrup
- 1 can Kin Euphorics Bloom
A crisp, floral highball with refreshing cucumber notes:
- 0.75 oz Hibiscus Syrup
- 2 slices of Cucumber (muddled)
- 0.75 oz Lemon Juice
- 2 oz Club Soda
A creamy, fruity delight:
- 1 oz Almond Milk
- 1 oz Pomegranate Juice
- 0.5 oz Strawberry Puree
- Fill with Sprite
For a playful nod to nostalgia:
- 0.5 oz Chocolate Syrup
- 0.5 oz Orgeat Syrup (contains nuts)
- 0.5 oz Coconut Cream
- Fill with Root Beer
Dry January, the annual tradition of forgoing alcohol for the month, has grown into a celebration of creativity, health, and inclusivity. For many, it’s an opportunity to reset and explore a vibrant world of non-alcoholic (N/A) beverages. From bottled delights to inventive mocktails, there’s never been a better time to sip and savor without the spirits.
For Starters: Bottled Excellence
St. Agrestis Phony Negroni
Brooklyn-based St. Agrestis brings the sophistication of a classic Negroni to the N/A scene with their bottled Phony Negroni. Bold, balanced, and slightly bitter, it’s perfect for those seeking a taste of Italy without the alcohol.
Ghia – Le Spritz
This aperitivo delivers a botanical blend with hints of rosemary and yuzu, creating a refreshing, lightly fizzy experience. It’s the essence of Mediterranean evenings in a glass.
Hella Bitters & Soda
Owned by a women- and minority-owned business (WMBE) in NYC, Hella Bitters & Soda combines aromatic bitters with sparkling water for a sophisticated sipper that’s as versatile as it is delicious.
Spiritless Old Fashioned
Another WMBE gem, Spiritless offers a beautifully crafted N/A Old Fashioned that lets you enjoy the depth and richness of the classic cocktail without the buzz.
Mocktails with a Touch of Magic
Check out some delicious mocktails you can make at home!
Celebrate the Art of N/A Beverages
This Dry January, the options for alcohol-free enjoyment are limitless. Whether you’re exploring innovative bottled beverages or experimenting with mocktail recipes at home, you’ll find that stepping away from alcohol doesn’t mean stepping away from fun or flavor. Cheers to creativity, community, and a refreshing start to the year!