Johnnie Cruise Mercer & Benedict Nguyen

Benedict Nguyen is a writer, dancer, and curator based on occupied Lenape and Wappinger lands (South Bronx, NY). Benedict's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in AAWW’s the Margins, Flypaper, and PANK. Their fiction writing was supported by an AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship in 2017. They’re at work on a novel. Their criticism has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Shondaland, the Establishment, and Culturebot, among others, and in commissioned profiles for Danspace Project, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Fusebox Festival. As the 2019 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow at ISSUE Project Room, Benedict created the multidisciplinary performance platform “soft bodies in hard places,” which has partnered with Materials for the Arts, Culturebot, the Asian American Writers Workshop, Center for Performance Research, and Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance! (BAAD!). They’ve performed in DapperQ Fashion week and in recent works by Sally Silvers, José Rivera, Jr., Nick Mauss at the Whitney Museum, Monstah Black, and more. They've worked as an arts admin unicorn and grant writer for Jennifer Monson, Donna Uchizono, and John Jasperse. They've served on selection committees for Movement Research at Judson Church, the MAP Fund, and Bronx Council on the Arts. Otherwise, Benedict has worked a tutor, grant writer, Postmate, cater waiter, and more. As a producer, educator, and artistic entrepreneur, Johnnie Cruise Mercer leads as the Company Director of Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC (@jcm_redprojectnyc). His process-memoirs, happenings, and performance events have been commissioned/held at The Dixon Place, Bates Dance Festival (@batesdancefestival), Brooklyn Arts Exchange (@baxarts), AUNTS @NYU Skirball, The NADA Conference (@newartdealers), Abrons Arts Center (@abronsartcenter), The Fusebox Festival (@fuseboxfestival), Gibney (@gibneydance), Danspace Project Inc (@danspaceproject), The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (@theclaricemd), and most recently at the 92Y Harkness Dance Center. Mercer is currently 2019-2021 Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (@baxarts), 2020-2021 Black Artist Space to Create AIR through The New Dance Alliance (@newdancealliance) and a 2020-2021 Ping Chong + Company (@pingchongco) Creative Fellow. Find out more info on the company and the work at www.trpnyc.com. Transcripts of this episode are available at odc.dance/stories.

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