Monarch Butterfly by rocío sánchez (2026 AIR) features Melissa Almaguer (tap dance and percussion) and Kenneth Jiménez (double bass). Together, the trio explores the elusive monarch’s migratory journey through sound and movement, with each instrument articulating distinct states of motion.
Isabella Thorpe-Woods presents "Envelop/e," her second program as ISSUE’s 2026 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow. Bringing together choreographers Jade Manns and Ella Dawn W-S for site-specific duets, they navigate presence and absence, repetition and rupture, and the tension between inherited geometries and shifting landscapes.
"Spiriting Off" is a new solo work by luthier Webb Crawford (2026 AIR) for electric guitar, tenor banjo, and five-string banjo.
ISSUE closes the summer season with the return of Matana Roberts (2009 AIR). Opening the evening, Ben Vida (2013 AIR) will perform music from his 2026 release, "Oblivion Seekers" with vocalist Sara Magenheimer.
"Histories" is a new collaborative evening-length work by Sleeping Giant, a companion piece to L’Histoire du Soldat that examines and contrasts our personal histories with Stravinsky’s seminal 1924 work.
Legendary pianist and poet Cecil Taylor is one of the greatest improvisers in the history of modern jazz. A Brooklynite for thirty years now, Cecil Taylor performs a spellbinding solo evening in his “back yard” at ISSUE Project Room’s unique new historic Downtown Brooklyn theater.
Cecil Taylor: A Celebration of the Maestro
In this evening dedicated to Cecil Taylor’s mastery and influence, virtuoso pianist Thollem McDonas will perform solo and with bass clarinetist Arrington de Dionyso, followed by a set from the thunderous percussionist and powerhouse bandleader William Hooker, joined by Mark Hennen, Larry Roland and Matt Lavelle.
"Pastor Pasture" is a revolving expanse of glory and shame. Through research into aural and visceral structures, this work harnesses the performers in all its queerness–as soft, ecstatic, plural, unknown and full of desire.
ISSUE Project Room presents a rare live performance with Klyd and Linda Watkins, co-founders of Poetry Out Loud-- a series of ten LPs released between 1969 and 1977 as a sort of “magazine of oral poetry.” Joined special guests Tom Carter, Keith Connolly, Dave Nuss and Messages.
The legendary literary performance tour, Sister Spit, comes to ISSUE Project Room with a vanload of multimedia, queer-centric brilliance! Don't miss this gathering of taste-makers, novelists, luminaries, chanteuses, performance artists, poets, and musicians.
Harvestworks produces an investigation into the phenomena of no-input, a style of sound art using internal mixer feedback to generate sound. Presentations will feature No-input icon Toshimaru Nakamura who will be joined by sound artists Philip White, Bob Bellerue, Bonnie Jones, and Phillip Stearns.
