2025 Emergence Artist
Residency Program
Culture Lab LIC is excited to announce our 2025 Emergence Artists in Residence!
These diverse and exceptional performace based artists will be a part of Culture Lab LIC's New Works Festival coming this Fall!
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Culture Lab LIC's Emergence Artist Residency is a developmental performing arts program geared toward the support and creation of new work.
Started in 2021 by former Director of Performing Arts, Tana Sirois, the Emergence Artist Residence began as a desire to offer free rehearsal and performance space to performing artists. Since its conception the residency has been further developed and led by Artistic Director Tess Howsam expanding the program to include peer review sessions during the artists year and culminating in Culture Lab LIC’s New Works Festival November and December.
Emily Batsford
Emily Batsford (they/them) is an NYC-based puppeteer and theater maker. Their artistry prioritizes inclusion & accessibility, and takes inspiration from immersive and physical theater practices, puppetry, and experimental forms.
As a passionate theater deviser, Emily has also participated in countless work-in-progress showings at incubators like PuppetBlok, Concrete BOOM, Special Effects Festival, Object Movement Festival, LabWorks, The Tank, and the Henson Carriage House. When not performing, Emily is a Teaching Artist for Child's Play NY, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New York City Children's Theater, and CO/LAB Theater Group.
Kizuna Dance
Kizuna Dance uses a blend of street dance and contemporary floorwork to connect the American and Japanese cultures through the performing arts. The company has performed nationally and internationally at prestigious institutions and festivals such as the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo, Kobe College, The Japan Society, Performatica, the Let's Dance International Frontiers Festival, and Middlebury College's Japanese Language School, among many others.
With 19 years of Japanese language study, Kizuna Dance Artistic Director Cameron McKinney has received fellowships from the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, The School at Jacob’s Pillow, the Asian Cultural Council, Princeton University, and the Alvin Ailey Foundation. He has also presented work and taught in twenty states and in Mexico, Germany, Belgium, France, and the UK.
Obremski/Works
Founded by Jesse Obremski and associate founders on July 28, 2018, and given deepened purpose after the spate of hate crimes against the AAPI community in 2021, Obremski/Works (O/W) is a hub for Jesse Obremski’s choreography, and a internationally presented contemporary ensemble and community of AAPI equity-minded individuals, with a deep dedication to life-affirming/why-driven performance art, support fellowships, and AAPI culture.
Obremski/Works continues to enhance its programming and artistic outreach toward the expanded presence and artistry of AAPI individuals and communities and was described as “more than a dance company, it is a vehicle for social change” and a company that “already displays a signature style and emotional resonance” by The Dance Enthusiast.
Forager Theatre Company
Forager Theatre Company is an independent nonprofit organization that builds spirited, joyful, holistic experiences from the objects, spaces, viewpoints, contributions, and people it can gather from any and everywhere. Founded in 2022 by Jennie Hughes, Iris Rodrigo and Alex Parrish, Forager proudly brings freaks, geeks, and drama queens together for unforgettable experiences. Artists with Forager participate in any of its four branches or can build a pathway through them, beginning with compassionate donation-based education donation-based education (Take Root) and productive content development (Unearth), then expanding into diverse one-night experiences (Blossom) and innovative mainstage productions (Harvest). “Art starts with what you have.”
