Andrew Schneider to Receive 2014 Tom Murrin Performance Award

Dixon Place has announced the recipient of the 2014 (second annual) Tom Murrin Performance Award, a.k.a. "The Tommy." Intended to a transformative career opportunity to an early career NYC-based artistic or company, this year's award will be presented to Andrew Schneider, a performance / interactive-electronics artist who was previously a seven-year member of the Wooster Group. The second annual Tommy Award presentation will take place at Dixon Place (161a Chrystie Street, New York City) on Sunday, April 27th at 7:30PM. The awards celebration - featuring a special appearance by the 2013 Tommy Award winner, talk-of-the-town performance company ANIMALS, as well as Tom Murrin's wife, Patricia Sullivan -- will be the final stop of a parade of spontaneous outdoor performances, which will commence at closing of the Tom Murrin Full Moon Performance Festival at La Mama. The parade will begin approximately at 6:45pm and travel from East 4th Street to Dixon Place. The Tommy Award party at Dixon Place is FREE, with a cash bar all night.

The Tom Murrin Performance Award, aka "The Tommy," is an annual award granted to a NYC-based early career artist or company who embodies Tom's generous artistic spirit and gift for unearthing big, meaningful ideas by creating resourceful, exuberant, mysterious, enlightening, theatrical, luminous, remarkable performance. The award is intended to provide a transformative career opportunity to its recipient, who receives a yearlong residency, followed by a 3­night run at Dixon Place and an honorarium. The Tommy Award was created to honor Tom Murrin, the beloved artist who died in 2012. He was an inspiration, a mentor and a role model for countless young and emerging artists.

Formerly a seven-year member of the Wooster Group, Andrew Schneider is a performance artist and interactive-electronics artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Currently, he is developing YOUARENOWHERE, which will premiere in January 2015 as part of PS122's COIL festival. Andrew's original performance work in NYC includes FIELD (2014) at Roulette, TIDAL (2013) curated by Laurie Anderson as part of the River to River festival; YOUARENOTHERE (work-in-progress, 2013) at the Performing Garage; WOW+FLUTTER (2010) at The Chocolate Factory Theater; five AVANT-GARDE-ARAMA! works (2005-2013) at PS122; PLEASURE (2009) at Issue Project Room; and resident artist (2006) at LEMURplex. Andrew creates wearable, interactive electronic art works such as the Solar Bikini, (a bikini that charges your iPod), and wireless programmable sound effect gloves. His interactive work has been featured in such publications as Art Forum and Wired, among others and at the Center Pompidou in Paris. Schneider has served as an Adjunct Professor at NYU and has taught courses on Technology and Performance at the Interactive Telecommunications Program and at Bowdoin, and Carleton Colleges. Andrew holds a BFA in Theater Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU.

The Panelists for the 2014 Tommy Award are: Noel Allain (Artistic Director, The Bushwick Starr), Arthur Aviles (Artistic Director, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), Michael Burke (Professor, Trinity/La MaMa & Performance Artist), Ellie Covan (Artistic Director, Dixon Place), Alec Duffy (Artistic Director, JACK), Katy Einerson (Program Director, Dixon Place), James Godwin (Performance Artist), Jeff Jones (Curator, Little Theatre), Kristin Marting (Artistic Director, HERE Arts Center), Salley May (Performance Artist & AvantGardeArama Curator), Samara Naeymi (Producing Director, Incubator Arts Project), Nicky Paraiso (Director of Programming, The Club at La MaMa), Brian Rogers (Artistic Director, The Chocolate Factory), Lucy Sexton (Producer, Director, Performer), Patricia Sullivan (Photographer, Tom's wife), Marya Warshaw (Founding & Executive Director, Brooklyn Arts Exchange), Martha Wilson (Franklin Furnace), and Lucien Zayan (Director, The Invisible Dog Art Center).

This year's Tommy Award celebration will be the final stop of a parade of spontaneous outdoor performances, which will commence at closing of the Tom Murrin Full Moon Performance Festival at La Mama. La MaMa will present The Tom Murrin Full Moon Performance Festival April 17 - 27, 2014. The festival will feature performances and appearances by Jonathan Ames, Kate Benson, Steve Buscemi, Erin Courtney, Diana Y. Greiner and Heidi Dorow, Karen Finley, Annie Iobst, Mike Iveson, David Levine, Lumberob, Salley May, Jennifer Miller, Brooke O'Harra and Sharon Hayes, Peculiar Works, Radiohole, Gary Ray, Saint Fortune, Chris Tanner, and others. The festival is curated and organized by Murrin's friends and associates Scott Adkins, Laurie Berg, Erin Courtney, John Gernand, Sarah Maxfield, Lucy Sexton, and Murrin's wife, Patricia Sullivan.