Dear Friend,
It has been an unusual and remarkable year for us. Landing in a new city and joining a thriving and innovative cultural scene, we have accomplished so much in a short amount of time.
With our new leadership model of co-curators, we have honed and refined the values and culture of the organization, with the clear priorities of care and healing.
Some 2024 highlights include:
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We held a productive and pivotal residency for The Secret Sharer at Pittsburgh Public Theatre, including an LGBTQ+ storycircle that we facilitated in partnership with three local organizations.
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After many years of development and relationship building, we have secured the venue for our design residency and premiere for The Secret Sharer. An official announcement is forthcoming.
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Pittsburgh-based City Theatre, which is nationally recognized for its support of new work, programmed The Real James Bond…Was Dominican for January 18 to February 16, 2025. We hope you will consider a roadtrip if you are not already in the area!
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HaMapah/The Map Dance-on-Film and Promise Me You’ll Sing My Song continue to win awards and be screened at film festivals.
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Co-Curator Sarita Ocón and I made two trips to San Marcos, TX, courtesy of the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University, to begin to lay the groundwork for an intergenerational, public art project that will bring together multiple constituencies and communities.
In addition, our ongoing work with Transform 1012 N. Main Street is the realization of a bold and seemingly impossible vision that is well on its way to coming to fruition. As Board Co-Chair, I am so proud of what DNAWORKS instigated, which has grown into a community coalition non-profit with its own dedicated team of paid staff, volunteers, committee members, supporters, and board of directors.
Given all that is happening politically in the U.S. and around the world, the work we do to bring artists and communities together to catalyze creativity and dialogue feels as crucial as ever. Now is the time for bold thinking—not to fix old systems, but to innovate with new approaches to community collaboration, healthy relationships, and spreading compassion and understanding with all we do.
As many of you know, in May, I was diagnosed with leukemia. As I get back on my feet after six months of chemotherapy, I’m fired up for what lies ahead. And I am thankful for how we are carried personally, artistically, and organizationally by you, our extraordinary international community of supporters, believers, and co-creators.
As always, we take inspiration from the words of our great friend and mentor Yavilah McCoy, who introduced and married Adam and me. She urges artists and activists in these times to “create spaces for people to fall in love with one another.”
Thank you for all you have done to bring us to our 20th year, starting in January 2025; and for all you continue to do to bolster our work of dialogue and healing through the arts.
With love and appreciation,
Daniel Banks
Co-Founder and Co-Curator
P.S. Thanks to you, DNAWORKS will begin its 20th year in January 2025! Please help us expand our crucial art and dialogue programming by making your donation today.
