CALLING MIAMI'S LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY: THE ARSHT CENTER AND MIAMI CHOREOGRAPHER PIONEER WINTER INVITE SOUTH FLORIDA'S DIVERSE QUEER COMMUNITY TO BECOME ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Suzette Espinosa Fuentes       Gino R. Campodónico
786-468-2221                   786-468-2228
sespinosa@arshtcenter.org      gcampodonico@arshtcenter.org

          CALLING MIAMI’S LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY:
     THE ARSHT CENTER AND MIAMI CHOREOGRAPHER
    PIONEER WINTER INVITE SOUTH FLORIDA’S DIVERSE
   QUEER COMMUNITY TO BECOME PART OF NEW DANCE-
        THEATER PROJECT “BIRDS OF PARADISE”
  “Birds of Paradise” will premiere in 2021 as the culmination of Pioneer Winter’s
         two-year collaboration as the Arsht Center’s Artist-in-Residence

Miami, FL – June 11, 2020 – The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade
County (@arshtcenter) and Miami’s Pioneer Winter Collective (@pioneerwinter) are
collaborating to bring the real experiences of South Florida’s LGBTQ+ community to life on
stage at the Arsht Center. Beginning in June 2020, in honor of Pride Month, queer people of all
ages, abilities and experiences are invited to share personal stories of identity, resiliency, rebirth
and transformation to create a new dance-theater work, titled “Birds of Paradise.” For details on
how to submit stories, click here.

Through these stories, “Birds of Paradise” will explore gaps in our collective history and raise
LGBTQ+ voices, particularly those who have been excluded from the gay liberation movement’s
symbolic domination by white, able-bodied men. Perched on the tension between praise and
protest, celebration and rage, “Birds of Paradise” seeks out a new narrative to empower the
marginalized and regain control over the truth by which we live.

“Birds of Paradise” was commissioned by the Arsht Center and its world premiere in late 2021
will mark the culmination of a two-year artist-in-residency program with choreographer Pioneer
Winter and Pioneer Winter Collective which began in December 2019. As the Center’s first
artist-in-residence in more than a decade, Winter and his company have been provided with
space at the Arsht Center to rehearse and develop new work and commissioning support for
“Birds of Paradise.” In the last year, Winter and the Collective have held over 40 free community
workshops and developed a foundation for how community engagement informs the artistic
process.

“The Arsht Center remains committed – especially at this time – to keep local artists engaged
and employed and to support the creation of new work that reflects the hardships and victories
of our community,” said Johann Zietsman, Arsht Center president and CEO. “The arts have the
incredible power to generate understanding and empathy – for the diversity of experiences in
the gay liberation movement that will be showcased in “Birds of Paradise,” but also globally
across all experiences.”

Initially inspired by the anniversaries of the Stonewall Riots and the subsequent first Pride
March, “Birds of Paradise” migrates beyond an abridged truth that memorializes the
experiences and efforts of some and erases others. It is formed under a canopy of oral history
and community engagement and motivated by the anonymity of queer resistance. At the same
time, this project confronts our notions of dance by exploring movement with people of varied
physical ability, body type, gender identity, race, ethnicity, and experiences. This radical
assemblage of birds living in our paradise will challenge our arts ecosystem’s traditional views
of dance and invite our community to explore its own humanity.

“Birds of Paradise” is also made possible through the support of Knight Foundation as a Knight
Arts Challenge Award recipient, New England Foundation for the Arts as NEFA’s National
Dance Project Production Grant and The MAP Fund.

“We are believers in the beauty of vulnerability and humanness. This piece continues our
mission of highlighting the enduring nature of the queer community - to transform themselves
through hardships into something that is desirable, vulnerable, fierce and reborn at the same
time,” said Pioneer Winter. “I am grateful that the Arsht Center has supported my artistic
process and, most importantly, for their partnership in amplifying the voices and experiences of
marginalized communities.”

Winter became the Arsht Center’s artist-in-residence in late 2019 – an evolution of an ongoing
collaboration between the Arsht Center and Winter that dates back nearly a decade. Winter was
first invited in 2011 to choreograph for the Arsht Center’s Miami Made Festival. Since then,
Pioneer Winter has become one of the leading artistic voices to emerge from and extend
beyond South Florida. He and his dance collective have performed in the Arsht Center’s annual
Communi-TEA Dance and Winter has served as an instructor for the Center’s AileyCamp
Miami, Accessing the Arts and other arts education programs.

Pioneer Winter Collective is a company of allies that democratize performance through
unexpected bodies in unexpected places, producing unexpected social change - powerful
stories and voices that transform the cultural landscape. Described as avant-garde,
experimental, fearless, and "as diverse as Miami itself" (Miami New Times), the Collective blurs
the line between physical theater and contemporary dance. Pioneer Winter is a Miami-based
choreographer and dancer, recognized in Dance Magazine's 2019 “25 to Watch". He directs
Pioneer Winter Collective, a contemporary dance and physical theater company of allied bodies,
who democratize performance in public spaces, museums/galleries, stage, and film. For more
information, visit http://pioneerwinter.com/

Pioneer Winter Collective is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' (NEFA)
National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the The MAP Fund, also supported by the Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the support of the Miami-Dade County
Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor
and Board of County Commissioners.

Pioneer Winter Collective - concept image         Pioneer Winter Collective - concept image
           for Birds of Paradise –                           for Birds of Paradise –
           Photo by Karloz Torres                           Photo by Karloz Torres

                             Pioneer Winter mid-air in Pioneer Winter
                             Collective's most recent project Reprise –
                                  Photo by Katherine Richardson

              To download high-resolutions versions of the photos above, click here.

                                  @ArshtCenter              #ArshtCenter

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is made possible by the public
support of the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners, the Miami-Dade County
Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Tourist
Development Council and the City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, as well as the State
of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The
Adrienne Arsht Center also receives generous support from individuals, corporations and local, state and
national foundations.

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About the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Set in the heart of downtown Miami and designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, the Adrienne
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is one of the world’s leading performing arts
organizations and venues. Since opening in 2006, the Arsht Center, a 501C3 non-profit organization, has
emerged as a leader in presenting innovative programming that mirrors South Florida’s diversity as well as
a catalyst for billions of dollars in new development in the downtown area. Spotlighting legends and serving
as a launch pad for local artists to make their mark on the international stage, the Center presents nearly
400 events each year across its flexible, state-of-the-art performance spaces. The Center programs several
Signature Series, including the largest jazz series in South Florida, a major annual Flamenco Festival, and
a robust program of new theatrical works as well as free programming for the community and an arts
education program that serves nearly 60,000 children each year. As Miami’s new Town Square, the Arsht
Center also houses BRAVA by Brad Kilgore, a fine dining restaurant; the Café at Books & Books in the
historic Carnival Tower and a weekly Farmers Market. Visit arshtcenter.org for more information.

About John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and
in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our
goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy
democracy. For more visit kf.org.