HI-ARTS CONTINUES 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH 2026 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
From left: Nikhil Mahapratra, Maleek Rae, Luz Lorenzana Twigg, Leah Tubbs (MODArts Dance Collective), Nathan Yungerberg
Hi-ARTS is thrilled to announce its Spring 2026 Artists in Residence. Following Echoes of the Future, Hi-ARTS’ 25th Anniversary Celebration, and the organization’s timely return to Brooklyn, this artist cohort represents a milestone in Hi-ARTS' continued commitment to supporting artists of the Global Majority in the growth and development of new work.
Joining Hi-ARTS as CRITICAL BREAKS Artists are Nikhil Mahapatra, Maleek Rae, and Luz Lorenzana Twigg. CRITICAL BREAKS supports artists at a pivotal point in the development of their work. This season's SKY LAB Resident is MODArts Dance Collective, and their residency projects Collective Thread Residency and Move to Change. SKY LAB supports artists who center community at the root of their creative development. Nathan Yungerberg also joins the cohort as a Space Grant Recipient. Nathan will have access to Hi-ARTS’ rehearsal spaces and conference rooms for the ongoing development of his work.
While in residence, artists will receive support as they experiment, grow, and create. Audiences can look forward to WORK IN PROCESS programming in the coming weeks, where residents will invite audiences into their creative process through readings, dance, talks, and more. This announcement comes at a critical time, as artists and arts organizations face unprecedented funding cuts and shrinking support. Having been hit with a loss of funding in recent months, Hi-ARTS is steadfast in its commitment to supporting artists and arts administrators of the global majority.
Core to Hi-ARTS mission – and reflected in this cohort – Hi-ARTS nurtures the space for Artists, Audiences, and Arts Administrators of the Global Majority to engage in creative process, through developmental residencies, civic engagement, education, and artistic programming. While placing an emphasis on process, care, and humanity, Hi-ARTS is committed to transforming how Artists, Audiences, and Arts Administrators of the Global Majority engage in Artist support and creative development.
Nikhil Mahapatra is a multi-disciplinary writer based in Brooklyn, who writes about queerness/race/power/family/non-family/existence/politics, but most of all, where grief and joy meet together. Nikhil will continue developing SWEETFISH!, a play with music that deals with themes of race, colour, gender, and sexuality, but really about the silent power that exists behind relationships — all with a strong dose of camp and drag.
Detroit-born, and New York-based Maleek Rae is a multi-disciplinary artist, and recent recipient of the 2025 Princess Grace Foundation’s Theatre Honoraria, the New York Stage and Film Founders' Award, and an inaugural recipient of the 2025 MC Libby Commission with Playing on Air. Maleek will develop GUTTAH: PART II, the second installment of the trilogy play series that catalogs the assignment of many Black bloodlines to tread upon serpents.
Playwright, dramaturg, doula, and folk herbalist Luz Lorenzana Twigg will work on America is in the Heart, an adaptation of the 1946 lost American classic of the same name. Adapted for performance, the work serves as a means of building solidarity across class, age, and race; shedding light on how forgotten ancestors contributed to and built the labor movement in 1930s California, while asking, “how can we follow in their footsteps?”
Harlem-based nonprofit multicultural professional dance company MODArts Dance Collective will continue the growth and development of the Collective Thread Residency and Move to Change. Collective Thread serves as an incubator for BIPOC women-identifying* dancers and choreographers, supporting their reconnection to all forms of self—emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical—and their creative practice through seasonal themes.
Brooklyn-based Afro-surrealist Nathan Yungerberg writes for television, audio drama, and theatre. As a space grant recipient, Nathan will develop an Untitled Afro-Surreal Project, grounded in Afro-surrealism, and draws on narrative, sound, movement, and visual symbolism to explore memory, interiority, and the porous boundary between the real and the imagined.
This announcement follows Hi-ARTS’ 25th Anniversary Celebration, Echoes of the Future, and the organization’s move to Downtown Brooklyn at the L10 Arts and Cultural Center, marking a moment of both reflection and momentum. “This cohort embodies the values that have sustained Hi-ARTS since its founding; artistic rigor, cultural plurality and deep care for process. Celebrating 25 years while returning to Brooklyn is not just about looking back, but about setting the conditions for the next chapter of experimentation and collective imagination. We are honoring our roots while recommitting to a future shaped by bold, process-driven work. This moment is about continuity, care and forward momentum affirming our commitment to evolving alongside the artists, administrators and communities we serve,” says Hi-ARTS Executive Director Aaron L. McKinney.
Residencies kick off this month with MODArts Dance Collective, with WORK IN PROCESS programming beginning late February. To learn more about Hi-ARTS and their programming, visit www.hi-artsnyc.org.
About Hi-ARTS: Hi-ARTS nurtures space for Artists, Audiences, and Arts Administrators of the Global Majority to engage in the creative process through developmental residencies, civic engagement, education, and artistic programming. While emphasizing process in all we do, Hi-ARTS is committed to creating an environment where artistic experimentation and process are valued and celebrated. Hi-ARTS primarily supports multidisciplinary artists working in the performing and/or visual arts, and who are at a pivotal moment in their career and/or creative practice. Through developmental artist residencies that place an emphasis on process rather than product/ion, Hi-ARTS provides artists with financial and administrative support, professional development, mentorship, time, and space — allowing artists to concentrate on the development of their work.
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