The TMT Institute is a gathering of a small cohort of artists who seek to radically disrupt and re-examine their practice. It is a place where artists can challenge and question themselves, try new directions in any way at all, without any expectation of result or success.

The Institute intentionally rejects product-oriented work; Fellows pursue no project, no developmental stage, no result of any kind. Our goal is to create a place where artists set aside their assumptions and disrupt their established practice. Artists try new ways of working, new disciplines to explore, and new aesthetic goals and principles. We value directionless exploration; we consider misfires, dead ends, and bad ideas to be a fruitful and joyous part of our work.

Stay tuned for Open Studios coming June 2024.


2023/2024 INSTITUTE FELLOWS

 

Ben Gassman
Ben Gassman (he/him)’s plays include Botte di Ferro, Independent Study, 40s & Chestnuts, Purimacolo, and The Downtown Loop. Sam’s Tea Shack is an interactive performance Ben created with Sam Soghor and Meghan Finn, designed by Normandy Sherwood. Under the banner of Culinary Theater Ben and Brandon Woolf have been building interactive performances that taste and smell since 2015. Ben’s recent work has been developed with the support of Yaddo, Casa Zia Lina, The New Jewish Culture Fellowship, NYU’s Global Research Initiative, the Yiddish Book Center, Queens Council on The Arts & Space on Ryder Farm. www.bengassman.com

 

Cate McCrea
Cate McCrea (she/her) is a scenographer specializing in collaborative development of new works.  Her designs are inspired by and drawn from craft techniques, recycled materials, archival collections, and daydreams. You can find her at the library. Recent work off-Broadway: The Good John Proctor (Bedlam), Corsicana (Playwrights Horizons, co-design with Lael Jellinek), The Collision/The Martyrdom (59E59). Other work at Danspace Project, the Brick, New Ohio Theatre, the Tank; and with The Acting Company, Little Opera Theatre of New York, and the Drama League. Cate is a New Jersey native, a graduate of Williams College, and a member of USA 829. www.catemccrea.com

 

Marie Lloyd Paspe
Marie Lloyd Paspe (she/her) is a Filipina-American dance/vocal performer, choreographer, director, educator, and writer based in lenapehoking/Brooklyn, NY. Bessie-awarded for Outstanding Choreography for contributions to Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane’s Deep Blue Sea, performer with BTJ/AZ since 2018, 2022 Asian American Arts Alliance Jadin Wong Fellow, and 2023 Gallim Moving Artist Resident. Her work re-roots the diasporic Asian body through memory and empathetic belonging in ‘kapwa’ (“shared one-ness”) within foreign environments. Features include international premieres in Philippines, China, Israel, Germany, and US; choreographic director for treya lam at MASS MoCA, and press in The NY Times.

 

Maleek Rae
Maleek Rae (they/them) is a gender queer multidisciplinary artist hailing from the eastside of Detroit, MI. Maleek is a graduate of the BFA acting conservatory at SUNY Purchase. Their most recent credits include The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock), Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), East New York (CBS), and their recurring role on Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC). Maleek’s work can also be seen on stages throughout NYC, national commercials, video games, and their own original multi media creations. All thanks and praise be to God. Instagram: @iammaleekrae Website: www.malikreed.com

 

Sylvain Souklaye
Sylvain Souklaye (he/him) is a French Caribbean Brooklyn-based live artist, sonic maker and author. His craft and mission go beyond and deeper than the question of identity. Following the idea of the rhizome, Souklaye digs in the sensitivity and history laying in the interiority of broken bodies, environmental urgencies and political retribution. Collective intimacy and epigenetic dialogues are the inner spaces where he spends time exploring and inviting the audience (in)to. His shows are self-centered yet collective live experiences that reveal what is left inside him and us. https://www.sylvainsouklaye.com

 


Past Institute Fellows: Avi Amon, Tom Bane, Eliza Bent, Kaaron Briscoe, Stephen Cedars, Tanisha Christie, Sarah Dahnke, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Nelson T. Eusebio III, CB Goodman, Morgan Gould, Noelle Ghoussaini, Ayun Halliday, Irina Kruzhilina, Brian Lawlor, Gulshan Mia, Aaron Minerbrook, Claire Moodey, Kyoung Park, Yoni Oppenheim, Sierra Ortega, Gabrielle Revlock, Barbara Samuels, Cara Scarmack, Jennifer Seastone, Marisol Rosa-Shapiro, Normandy Sherwood, Sarah Cameron Sunde, Ari Tabei, Sugar Vendil, Peter Mills Weiss, Sarah K. Williams, Anthony Wills Jr., Brandon Woolf, and Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li.

Header photo by Antony-De Vecchi