61: Rad Pereira on Ancestry, Imagination & Liberation (Art and Social Change in Practice)

Rad Pereira is an old soul-young heart theater artist, writer, educator, and community activist with a very clear sense of purpose and direction --- defined by questions like: How can we imagine, and manifest alternate futures together? Was my body conditioned to survive in a world not made for me? and Can the natural world function as a moral compass? BIOI am a multi-spirit mixed Black, Indigenous Brazilian, Jewish (im)migrant artist currently based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn). My creative practices range from social sculpture, to popular theatrical and TV/film performance, to participatory liberatory artmaking and healing that weaves together an Afro-futurist longing for transformative justice and queer (re)Indigenization of culture.I put in a lot of hours to get to where, how and why I am today, with the guidance of many mentors and dedication to cultivating an ancestor led, faithful intuition. I was trained up in Eurocentric theatre and dance on scholarship at Interlochen Arts Academy and Pace University. I kept the parts of that training which were useful and shed the constricting parts. Since then I have been building connection with my ancestral modes of creativity, storytelling and next world building. With my community I created The (Im)Migrant Hustle and produced Bang Bang Gun Amok I + II at Abrons Art Center. With their artner at You Are Here, LILLETH, they created Media Tools for Liberation at JackNY, Decolonization Rave and Cosmic Commons. In 2017 I was NYC Public Artist in Residence with my collaborators (Keelay Gipson, Britton Smith, Josh Adam Ramos), at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Children’s Services working with LGBQTIA foster youth;As an actor and director, I have contributed to stories at HBO, CBS, MTV, National Black Theatre, MITU350, The Public Theater, La Mama etc., Shakespeare Theatre in DC, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, ART Boston, The Bushwick Starr, Target Margin, Ars Nova, New Ohio, Clubbed Thumb, The Flea Theatre, Sesame Street, Theatre 167 and various online media platforms.As a cultural organizer and facilitator, I have collaborated with the Disney Theatrical Group, United Nations, Queens Museum, Rio de Janeiro Museum, Instituto Republica, MOCA, SITI Company Thought Center, A Blade of Grass, SUPERBLUE, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, The 8th Floor, Working Woman of Color Conference, Dance/NYC Symposium, and Culture/Shift. I have taught performance classes and workshops at Pace University, Interlochen Arts Academy, NET, Americans for the Arts and The Door.Currently, I’m the Director of Engagement and Impact with New York Stage & Film, while shifting between cultural work in performance, education, social sculpture and community organizing. My book on socially engaged performance and social justice with Jan Cohen-Cruz came out in June 2022 by New Village Press.Recent Work:Meeting the Moment, Socially Engaged Performance, 1965–2020, by Those Who Lived It by Jan Cohen Cruz and Rad Pereira NOWNESS: Every Step is a Prayer: Miami’s newest innovative arts venue, Superblue, first opened its doors in May 2021 to invite in a new era of perception-shifting art. To honor this beginning, Superblue, alongside local community members and in partnership with NOWNESS, created a short film that honors the

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