Joe's Pub Announces 2022-2023 Artist Development Programs

Joe's Pub has unveiled a new year, kicking off in September 2022, of its expansive artist development programs and special programming: The Vanguard Residency, Joe's Pub Working Group, New York Voices and the Habibi Festival. Taking place both on and off the iconic Joe's Pub stage at The Public Theater, these programs support the overarching mission of the venue, which is to support artists on a cellular level, give rise to underrepresented voices, and provide the joyous thrill of discovery to audiences. Director of Joe's Pub Alex Knowlton said, "It's more important than ever to support performing artists on a deeper level. We are very fortunate to continue these programs alongside anchoring the trailblazing Habibi Festival in our annual Fall season after its phenomenal debut in 2021. I am thrilled to welcome many longtime friends to our stage and build new relationships into the future."

The 2022-23 Vanguard Residency will be dedicated to the memory of the late vocal coach, Barbara Maier Gustern. Throughout the year, Gustern's beloved students and collaborators will perform live shows, beginning with Murray Hill in September and Machine Dazzle in October, which are now on sale. More shows are to be confirmed and announced.

Murray Hill: Let's Call It A Comeback!

Thursday & Friday, September 29 & 30, 9PM
Let's Call It A Comeback is an ecstatic and heartfelt comedy show about a man who loves to perform and performs to live. After working in showbiz for 300 years, Murray Hill is back at Joe's Pub to celebrate with his old-school comedy, ad-libs, light crooning, and original music by his band The Rimshots! This year, Hill's apartment burned down and he lost everything. Well, everything but his love for showbiz! So he's coming back like a phoenix rising from the ashes, or a middle-aged man rising with the help of Viagra.

Machine Dazzle: Treasure

Friday, October 21, 7PM
Produced with music director Viva DeConcini, Machine Dazzle's Treasure is a future psyche-sex-adelic synthe rock experience with stories about Machine's mother, their relationship, and the legacy she left to him. At the root, Treasure explores how stories, narratives, and beliefs are enforced and reinforced in the home. The show undresses layers of the past to make sense of the present.

The Joe's Pub Working Group 2022-23 cohort with violinist, composer and producer Sita Chay; writer, vocalist and performance/sound artist LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs; singer-songwriter, musician and bandleader Olivia K (Of Olivia K & The Parkers); singer-songwriter and prolific collaborator J. Hoard; performer, writer and theater educator Lama El Homaïssi; and tabla player, teacher and composer Roshni Samlal. This program serves the sustainability and growth of New York-based artists' careers by providing administrative resources, physical space and curatorial services, further cultivating a community wherein those artists can create and sustain new and developing work.

New York Voices is an artist commissioning program that helps musicians develop original theatrical works. Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, has said, "New York Voices has become an indispensable addition to The Public's programs for developing new work." This year's commissions are Liza Paul & Bahia Watson's MASHUP ting! (now on sale), Sunny Jain's Love Force, treya lam's otherland, Daniel J. Watts & Nick Blaemire, and Chris Pattishall & Vuyo Sotashe. The program encourages artists to explore storytelling, narratives and songwriting processes, and includes a variety of resources. Each commission culminates with a run of live shows at Joe's Pub. New York Voices is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. More performances are to be announced.

The spectacular Habibi Festival immerses New Yorkers in the music that comes from the living rooms, radios, and dance clubs of the Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) region. Having made its debut in 2021, the five-night festival returns this fall Tuesday-Saturday, October 11-15, and features the sounds of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Palestine and more. Curated by producer Meera Dugal, musician Yacine Boulares and Knowlton, the lineup includes Lebanese/Syrian duo Bedouin Burger, Marrakech's all women Chaabi and Houara ensemble Bnat El Houariyat & Esraa Warda, Moorish griot torchbearer Noura Mint Seymali, Palestinian Kanun musician/composer/educator Firas Zreik, Moroccan artist HAT, who blends experimental-electro techniques with traditional music, and Boulares's Night in Tunisia supergroup, which explores the continuum of North African and African-American music.

Dugal said, "Whether you're from these cultures or not, you can feel the history in the music, it's a visceral experience. When it's hard to find footing in a world that is constantly in flux, it's grounding and humbling to experience a sound that is hundreds of years in the making. It reminds me that humans have been birthing beauty and wonder since the beginning. Your body can't deny the connection it feels to these sounds!"

About Joe's Pub

JOE'S PUB, a program of The Public Theater, was named for Public Theater founder Joseph Papp. Since it opened in 1998, Joe's Pub has played a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting artists at all stages of their careers with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community, and artistic freedom. In addition to one-night-only concerts and multi-night engagements, Joe's Pub is home to the annual Habibi Festival, which hosts artists representing contemporary and traditional music of the SWANA (Southwest Asia/North Africa) region, and The Vanguard Award & Residency, a yearlong curation series that celebrates the career, and community, of a prolific and influential artist-including Nona Hendryx, Judy Collins, Laurie Anderson, and Barbara Maier Gustern. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents over 700 shows featuring artists from all over the world and hosts over 100,000 audience members annually. Beyond public performances, Joe's Pub also leads artist development programs like New York Voices, a commissioning program that helps musicians develop new performance projects, and Joe's Pub Working Group, an artist-led development and collaboration cohort. Current commissioned artists include Daniel J. Watts, Liza Paul & Bahia Watson, Sunny Jain, Vuyo Sotashe & Chris Pattishall, and treya lam. Joe's Pub is supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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