Jury Members
Peter DiMuro
Executive Artistic Director | The Dance Complex
Peter DiMuro has woven a career as a dancer, actor, choreographer, director, teacher, facilitator of creative practice and as an arts engager.
His current creative platform is Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion (PDM), a company that develops and performs original artistic works of dance and dance/theatre most often through collaborative methods. The company cultivates arts literacy, advocacy and engagement - often due to the nature of intersectionality and collaboration that is a hallmark of the company's work. PDM is intergenerational and multi-abled, often engaging guest community and professional performers as partners in creation. PDM was formed in the early 2000's and ramped up production with Peter's return to Boston in 2013. Recent support for PDM has included a Bessie Schönberg Fellowship at The Yard; a Next Steps Grant/Boston Foundation/ Aliad Fund, two Creative City Boston/New England Foundation for the Arts commissions, a Boston LAB Grant.
As Executive Artistic Director of The Dance Complex, Peter continues to invest in advancing the craft of choreography and the field of dance, creating an arc of programs for young-to-established dance-makers. Peter was Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange 2003-2008, capping a 15-year relationship as performer and lead-artist. He was named the 2018 inaugural choreographer in residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Peter has received three commissions from Boston Landmark's Orchestra, each premiered at the famed Hatch Shell on Boston's Esplanade. Commissioned by public art presenter Now +There, Peter has created performance installations for the visual artists Liz Glynn and Nick Cave. A long relationship with The Rose Kennedy Greenway has produced 3 new site specific works, and a site specific dance festival. Peter is the recipient of an Arts Fuse Award in 2016; and a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Salem State University.
Rashin Fahandej
Assistant Professor | Emerson College
Rashin Fahandej is an Iranian-American multimedia artist, immersive filmmaker, futurist, and cultural activist. Fahandej's artistic initiatives are multiyear experimental laboratories for collective radical reimaginations of social systems, using counter-narratives of care and community co-creation to design equitable futures. A proponent of "Art as Ecosystem, her projects center on marginalized voices and the role of media, technology, and public collaboration to drive social change. Fahandej is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies including the Prix Ars Electronica Festival Award of Distinction in Digital Musics & Sound Ars, the Institute of Contemporary Arts' James and Audrey Foster Prize; Artist in residence with Boston Mayor's office, Boston Center for the Arts, ThoughtWorks Arts and Scatter VR, Mass Cultural Council, and Framingham Cultural Council. As a 2020 lead artist at American Arts Incubator-Austria with ZERO1, Ars Electronica, and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Fahandej launched "Future of Inclusion Lab" a virtual incubator that utilizes community-driven digital and new media art projects to instigate dialogue, build communities, and further social innovation to address local and global social justice challenges.
Fahandej is the founder of “A Father’s Lullaby, “ a multi-year, co-creative initiative that interrogates racial bias and structural racism in the United States criminal justice system. Fahandej defines the project as a “Poetic Cyber Movement for Social Justice”. Fahandej is a Senior Co-Creation Research-Practitioner at MIT Open Documentary Lab and an assistant professor of emerging and interactive media at Emerson College where she launched a pioneering XR Co-Creation initiative focused on mass incarceration; where students, probation officers, formerly incarcerated fathers, and their children co-create personal documentary projects using AR, VR, Volumetric Filmmaking, and 360° technology.
Fahandej serves as a consultant in the field of emerging media storytelling, emphasizing equity-based technology integration. She provides mentorship for various initiatives, including the Indigenous Immersive Incubator and the Climate Future Worlding project at MIT's Co-creation Studio, and also mentors fellows at the MIT Open Documentary Lab. Fahandej is an active contributor to initiatives that focus on Access and Disability Innovation, as well as the Augmentation and Future of Public Spaces working groups. Additionally, she holds a board position at the Boston Center for the Arts and the New Media Caucus, where she advances initiatives dedicated to racial equity, decolonization, and internationalization efforts.
Yvette Janine Jackson
Assistant Professor | Harvard University, Department of Music
Yvette Janine Jackson is a composer and installation artist who brings attention to historical events and social issues through her radio operas and narrative soundscape compositions. Her album Freedom, produced by the Fridman Gallery, debuted as Contemporary Album of the Month in The Guardian where John Lewis wrote, "Any smart Hollywood producer would immediately snap up Jackson to provide film soundtracks, but her work requires no visual explanation." She is currently scoring Barclay DeVeau's The Cassandra Project film trilogy, and upcoming and recent projects include T-Minus for the International Contemporary Ensemble; Extant, an interactive composition for bass clarinet, cello, and game engine at ZKM Center for Art and Media which was developed at SWR Experimentalstudio; Hello, Tomorrow! for orchestra and electronics co-commissioned by American Composers Orchestra and Carnegie Hall; sound and light composition, RETURN, for the James Turrell, "Twilight Epiphany" Skyspace at Rice University; and her Radio Opera Workshop intermedia ensemble. Yvette's permanent installations Underground (Codes) and Destination Freedom can be experienced at Wave Farm in Acra, New York, and the International African American Museum in Charleston, respectively. She has presented on soundscape and memory at the Goethe-Institut Boston. Yvette is an assistant professor in Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry in the Department of Music and teaches for the Theater, Dance & Media program at Harvard University.
Carlos Vargas
Instructor of Music | Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Carlos Manuel Vargas's performances have received accolades from both audiences and critics in the United States, South America and Europe.
Recent reviews have praised Mr Vargas for his “highly emotional and thoughtful” playing and his “striking energy and uncompromising honesty”. Highlights of the upcoming 2023 season include a series of recitals in New England and California featuring music of what is to be his debut album titled “Souvenirs” as well as his debut with the National Symphony of Ecuador performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in honor of the composer’s 150th birth anniversary.
Besides his concertizing, Mr. Vargas is involved in several exciting projects that demonstrate the wide spectrum of his musical interests: The Roxbury Piano Program, Festival Esmeraldas and Roxbury Concert Series.
Find out more:
www.carlosmanuelvargas.com