Press Release 4/29/2025

MEDIA CONTACT

For Immediate Release: April 29, 2025
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DNAWORKS Receives Grant from the Mellon Foundation
supporting leadership transition and capacity building

Seema Sueko-Low joins as Managing Co-Curator May 5, 2025
rounding out the co-curation team of
Daniel Banks, Parag S. Gohel, Troy Lambert,
Sarita Ocón, Morgan Overton

(Honolulu, HI / Austin, TX / Pittsburgh, PA / New York, NY) DNAWORKS announced today that it is the recipient of a $300,000.00 multi-year grant from the Mellon Foundation to support leadership transition and capacity building. As part of this award, the arts and service organization is engaging Honolulu-based theater artist Seema Sueko-Low to lead the organization as its Managing Co-Curator.

“When Adam McKinney and I co-founded DNAWORKS in 2006, shared artistic leadership was at its core,” explained Co-Founder Daniel Banks. “After Adam was appointed Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2023, we experimented with an expanded idea of artistic leadership for DNAWORKS. Troy Lambert, Sarita Ocón, and Seema Sueko-Low were invited as Co-Curators, but we didn’t have the resources at that time to fully implement this structure. This grant from the Mellon Foundation is a significant step forward in that vision, and we are adding Parag S. Gohel and Morgan Overton to the co-curation team.”

As Managing Co-Curator, Sueko-Low will oversee daily operations and management of the programs, fundraising, and finances of DNAWORKS. She will also initiate artistic initiatives in Hawai`i. Banks, based in Pittsburgh, is focused on DNAWORKS’s projects currently in development, The Secret Sharer and We The Messiah. Gohel and Overton join Banks in growing the Pittsburgh artistic initiatives, with a focus on arts and health.

Lambert, based in New York, focuses on the visual communications of the organization. And Ocón, based in Austin, will focus on DNAWORKS’s activities in Texas.

According to Sueko-Low, “On the cusp of DNAWORKS’s 20th anniversary, this two-year funding support from the Mellon Foundation is providing the team with resources and much needed time to embody this new structure, test ideas, cherish the organization’s history, and scout new ways to serve people through art.”

Biographies & Links

DNAWORKS (https://www.dnaworks.org/) is a Pittsburgh, PA-based arts and service organization dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts. Founded in 2006 by Daniel Banks and Adam W. McKinney, DNAWORKS centers Global Majority and LGBTQQ2SPIAA+ voices and experiences to create more complex representations of identity, culture, class, and heritage through dance, theatre, film, writing, and art installation. DNAWORKS has led its award-winning programming and performances, promoting dialogue-based social justice action and community building, with arts, educational, and community organizations in 39 states and 18 countries. The organization believes that art = ritual = healing = community and that this philosophy and practice lead to a more peaceful world. DNAWORKS was founded to create performance works that are liberatory, adhering to the motto: “Slow life, slow art.” By moving mindfully, and compassionately, DNAWORKS endeavors to create resilient, healing spaces—for the company, its audiences, and the planet.

Daniel Banks, Ph.D., (Co-Founder/Co-Curator) is a director, deviser, dance dramaturg, and community organizer. He has directed, led workshops, and/or instigated projects in 39 states and 23 countries. He is recipient of: TCG’s Alan Schneider Director award; MacDowell fellowship; and College of Fellows of the American Theatre. More info at https://www.danielbanksdirector.com/.

Parag S. Gohel (Co-Curator, Pittsburgh) is an artist, performer, director, and sound designer with 15+ years experience in devised theater and arts education. A TCG Rising Leaders of Color member, he champions equity and joyful collaboration. Learn more at linkedin.com/in/paragsgohel.

Troy Lambert (Co-Curator, Visual Communications) is a NYC-based artist-educator and researcher for city, state, federal agencies, and local CBOs/NGOs. His paintings, illustrations, and designs have appeared in several independent feature films and The Queen's English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary.

Sarita Ocón (Co-Curator, Texas) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist, media arts educator, and producer. Currently collaborating with Glass Half Full Theatre in Austin, Texas. Regional credits: Alley Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among others. More info at https://www.saritaocon.com.

Morgan Overton (Co-Curator, Pittsburgh) is a Pittsburgh-based artist who blends portraiture, abstraction, and symbolism. With a background in social work, psychology, and politics, her work reflects a commitment to healing and reimagining liberation. www.MorganOvertonArt.com

Seema Sueko-Low (Managing Co-Curator / Hawai’i initiatives) is an award-winning theater artist from Honolulu, Hawai`i. She has worked as a director, writer, actor, and producer across the U.S. You may read about her here: https://www.seemasueko.com/about.