MISSION
TRIBE’s mission is to cultivate a space of discovery and a platform for artists – most specifically artists of color – with huge inspiration from the Afrofuturism movement. This movement states that we have a responsibility through our work to tell new stories and create a brighter future that is different, and shines more luminously, from our past.
Understanding that performance art and live art are practices of human connection, TRIBE acts nationally and internationally by developing art exchanges in collaboration with other artists and institutions, with a focus on the African diaspora.
Ultimately, TRIBE aims to bring audiences and communities into experiences that humanize Black and Brown bodies and share the colorfulness within Blackness that allows us to be multiplicitous.
ABOUT THE COLLECTIVE
TRIBE (TRI314 Multidisciplinary Visual Performances, d.b.a. TRIBE), is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary arts collective founded by MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellow Shamel Pitts in December 2019. The collective, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is composed of international and local artists working across mediums such as movement, choreography, lighting design, video mapping projection, poetry, spoken word, cinematography, scenography, dramaturgy, costume styling, and music composition.
TRIBE art projects include, but are not restricted to: movement-based work, live multidisciplinary performance, video art, video documentary, photography, exhibitions, commissioned dance choreography, art residencies, and workshops.
Members & Collaborators
FOUNDER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Shamel Pitts
Artist, Choreographer, Performer, Teacher
2024 MacArthur Fellow
2024 Doris Duke Artist Award
2024 Knight Choreography Prize
2024–25 CBA at NYU Artist Fellow
2023 Bessie Award Nominee
2021 Bessie Award Winner
2020 Guggenheim Fellow
2019 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow
2018 Princess Grace Award
Mirelle Martins
Creative Director, Founding Artist
Brittany Wilson
Managing Director
Eric Umble
Development Director
E Katrina Lewis
Artistic Administrator
Rus Snelling
Artistic Production Manager, Lighting Designer
Lucca Del Carlo
Transmedia Artist, Video Light & Mapping Designer
Pam PAnozzo
Digital Creative Associate
Tushrik Fredericks
Performer, Stylist
Ashley Pierre-Louis
Performer, Dramaturg
Marcella Lewis
Performer
Itai Zwecker
Photographer, Cinematographer
Taylor Antisdel
Photographer, Cinematographer
The Adeboyé Brothers
Matthew Adeboyé & David Adeboyé
Photographers & Cinematographers
Alex Apt
Photographer
Sivan Jacobovitz
Musician, Composer
Mimi Lien
Scenic Design
Kaz Russell
Stage Manager
Chanel Pinnock
Stage Manager
Naomi Rapaport
Costume Designer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MARCEL PRZYMUSINSKI – President
ALEXANDER KIPKA – Vice President
LOREN BAILEY – Treasurer
GLENN ALAN STISKAL – Secretary
CLAUDIA RANKINE – Board Member
SHAMEL PITTS – Board Member, Founding Artistic Director
For the past several years since leaving Batsheva Dance Company in 2016, I’ve been asked whether or not I would start a dance company. And I’ve always felt the answer to be no way! However, after the creation of my trilogy of works known as the “BLACK SERIES”, which engaged 11 artists from all over the globe, I realized that I had an immense passion towards creating space and giving platform for diverse artists to cultivate and share ideas through performance art. Each creation process became a revelation on my artistic directional path. It allowed me to focus my passion on what I already had, and that was a multidisciplinary performance arts TRIBE!
Art by: Synthia Saint James
GRANTS, PRIZES & AWARDS
Mid Atlantic Arts
Mellon Foundation
Arison Arts Foundation
Howard Gilman Foundation
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Harkness Dance Foundation
Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund
National Performance Network
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA)
Artis Discretionary Grant
Princess Grace Foundation
Trust for Mutual Understanding
American Dance Abroad
Best out of Town Production – ArtsATL
Audience Choice Award – STOFF
ART FESTIVALS
Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2023
Belgrade Dance Festival 2023
Live Artery 2023, 2022
Times Square Live Arts 2021
Adelaide Festival 2020 – Adelaide / Australia
Colours Festival 2019 – Stuttgart / Germany
Cross Festival 2019 – Verbania / Italy
Cena Brasil Internacional 2019 – Rio de Janeiro /Brazil
Machol Shalem Dance International 2018 – Jerusalem
Aura Dance Festival 2018 – Kaunas / Lithuania
Binary/ M1 Contemporary Festival 2018 – Singapore
ImpulsTanz 2018 – Vienna / Austria
Pool International Dance Film Festival 2017 – Berlin
Stockholm Fringe Festival 2017 – Stockholm / Sweden
ART RESIDENCIES
BOFFO Performance Festival Fire Island (2023)
The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (2023)
Baryshnikov Arts Center 2023
JACK 2022
CAP UCLA 2022
Miami Light Project 2021
New York Live Arts – Artist in Residency 2023 / 2022
Catskills Mountain Foundation 2021
Bridgestreet Theatre 2021
GIBNEY 2021
New York Live Arts 2020
Jacob’s Pillow 2020
92 Street Y / Harkness Dance Center 2021 / 2020
YoungArts 2020
Dock 11 / Eden Studios 2019 / 2018 / 2017
gloATL 2019 / 2018
Derida Dance Center 2018
Cross Award 2018
funding
International Tour to Belgrade Dance Festival 2023 supported by:
International engagements are supported in part by Mid Atlantic Arts through USArtists International, a program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Additional TRIBE commissioning, development and core operating support is provided by the Mellon Foundation; Arison Arts Foundation; the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; The Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance/NYC’s Dance Advancement Fund, made possible by the Howard Gilman Foundation and Ford Foundation; 92Y Harkness Dance Center; National Performance Network (NPN) Creation, Development & Artist Engagement Fund Project. The Creation, Development & Artist Engagement Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency); New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.