Kyoung's Pacific Beat Announces 2023 Story-Based Digital Programming

Kyoung's Pacific Beat, a peacemaking theater company based in Brooklyn, NY, is proud to announce its 2023 Story-based Digital Programming, recipient of $10,000 of Recovery Funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

"The COVID-19 pandemic caused tremendous changes in our company - the shutdown of theaters, loss of jobs, and on-going racialized violence challenged us to find new ways to create theater that could keep our artists, community partners, and audiences together in a virtual space. Our hybrid, digital model has made our company's work more accessible and racially just given the circumstances we're still grappling with today," said Kyoung H. Park, KPB's Artistic Director.

NYSCA's support of KPB's digital programming includes funding for the marketing and community engagement efforts towards the World Premiere of NERO, a Shakespearean, five-act epic that tells the story of George W. Bush's Presidency and the War on Terror through the subversive, and anachronistic, theatricalization of the rise and fall of Nero's Roman Empire. NERO's World Premiere, slated for summer 2023, will be a hybrid event that includes a live screening of this five-hour long, filmed theatrical production - like a "movie on the lawn" evening - produced jointly with live, community-driven, cultural invocations of a post-white supremacist world. Following the premiere of NERO, KPB will resume pre-production of PILLOWTALK, a community-based new media series made by and for queer people of color, based on KPB's Off-Off-Broadway hit of the same name.

"We are honored to receive direct support from the New York State Council on the Arts for the first time, affirming the ways KPB has incorporated technology and new storytelling strategies to further our peacemaking theater company's mission. With this support, we will resume projects halted by the pandemic and continue to build opportunities to bring theater and filmmaking artists together, while providing our community radical access to our productions next year," concluded Park.

The responsive funding of NYSCA is providing nearly 1000 organizations with over $13 million in recovery support in FY23, as part of their historic FY93 $90 million in grant making and $150 million in multi-year capital support.

"This unprecedented funding continues our investment into the vital role that the arts contribute to the health of our economy, our communities and our citizens," said Governor Kathy Hochul. "As we continue our comeback, we applaud the strength and innovation of arts organizations across the state and are all the better for their hard work and dedication." "NYSCA applauds Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature for their historic investment of $240 million for the nonprofit arts and culture sector," said Mara Manus, Executive Director of NYSCA, "As we continue rebuilding the arts across our New York, Kyoung's Pacific Beat will play a vital role in the renewal of our state's economy and creative ecosystem. Congratulations on your award from the entire NYSCA team."

"Council congratulates Kyoung's Pacific Beat on their grant award! These grants are from the people of New York State, for the future of New York State," said Katherine Nicholls, Chair, NYSCA. "Arts and culture are crucial to the health of our citizens and the economic vitality of our communities, and we recognize the contributions of NYSCA grantees to the lives of all New Yorkers."

About the New York State Council on the Arts

The Council on the Arts preserves and advances the arts and culture that make New York State an exceptional place to live, work and visit. The Council upholds the right of all New Yorkers to experience the vital contributions the arts make to our communities, education, economic development, and quality of life. To support the ongoing recovery of the arts across New York State, the Council on the Arts will award record funding in FY 2023, providing support across the full breadth of the arts, including dedicated support for arts education and underrepresented communities.

The Council on the Arts further advances New York's creative culture by convening leaders in the field and providing organizational and professional development opportunities and informational resources. Created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1960 and continued with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Council is an agency that is part of the Executive Branch. For more information on NYSCA, please visit http://www.arts.ny.gov, and follow NYSCA's Facebook page, Twitter @NYSCArts and Instagram @NYSCouncilontheArts.

About Kyoung's Pacific Beat

Kyoung's Pacific Beat (KPB) is a peacemaking theater company based in Brooklyn whose mission is to work with artists, non-artists, and local communities to transform experiences of oppression into peace messages through public performance. Founded by playwright/director Kyoung H. Park, KPB collaborates with an interdisciplinary and multicultural ensemble of artists--our Mondragons--to uplift communities of color to create a culture of peace through non-violent practices that provide social cohesion, spiritual healing, and radical knowledge. Since 2011, KPB has devised three full-length plays-disOriented (2011), TALA (2015), PILLOWTALK (2018)-and created over 40 community-based, experimental projects including performances for new media. KPB's work centers stories of (im)migration, queerness, trauma and the ways these intersect in communities of color; it's described as "intensely personal" by American Theater Magazine and "very much of this moment" by the New York Times. For more information on KPB, please visit www.kyoungspacificbeat.org, and follow NYSCA's Facebook page, Twitter @kpacificbeat and Instagram @kyoungspacificbeat.

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