6 PM Doors open
6:10PM, 6:20PM, 6:30 PM Art Tours with Pioneer Winter Collective & Friends
7:15 PM In conversation with Vanessa Charlot, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Lise Ragbir and moderated by Corey Davis
Complimentary admission with RSVP. Limited seating based on first-come, first-served.
What narratives shape our historical record? Whose experiences, perspectives, and voices influence our cultural consciousness?
Commissioner, Miami’s longest-running community-led art commissioning program, presents an embodied program in collaboration with critically acclaimed dance company Pioneer Winter Collective and inspired by Issac Julien: Vagabondia (2000), now on view at The Bass. Exploring how art, legibility, and collecting can serve as vital tools for truth-telling, memory, and reclamation, participants are invited to reflect on their own roles and the evolving responsibilities of institutions in the cultural stewardship of inclusive narratives.
Unfolding in two parts, the evening will begin with art tours and interventions that will serve as the culminating performances by the 2026 Grass Stains artists—a biennial site-specific initiative created by Pioneer Winter that pairs mentorship (with Gabri Christa) with the creative process to generate public artworks that transcend the boundaries of traditional theaters and commissioning models.
Following the immersive tour, attendees are invited to join a dynamic panel discussion with Vanessa Charlot (photographer and professor at University of Mississippi), Jason Fitzroy Jeffers (filmmaker and cofounder of Third Horizon Film Festival), and Lise Ragbir (writer, curator, and cofounder/CEO of VERGE.) Moderated by Corey Davis, founder of Maven Leadership Collective, together we will consider how Julien’s Vagabondia and our shared stories offer a pathway for more expansive historical records and futures.
Art Tours Cast:
- Nina Osoria Ahmadi, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
- Lauren Baccus, practitioner, MOCA director of education and community engagement Cecilia Benitez, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
- Darryl Brown, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
- Lisa Kusanagi, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
- Lauryn Lawrence, photographer, curator
- Arsimmer McCoy, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
- Nicole Pedraza, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
- Veronica Pesantes, Art Hang
- Hattie Mae Wiliiams, Grass Stains artist-in-residence
This program is curated by Commissioner and made possible with generous support from Art Bridges Foundation Access for All Program and Maven Leadership Collective, and with community love from Frolic Culture / Black Miami Weekend.
Pioneer Winter Collectives 2026 Grass Stains cycle is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
To learn more about Commissioner, visit: https://www.commissioner.us/
To learn more about Pioneer Winter Collective and Grass Stains, visit: https://pioneerwinter.com/grass-stains
To learn more about Maven Leadership Collective, visit: https://mavenleadership.org/
To learn more about Isaac Julien’s Vagabondia (2000), visit: https://thebass.org/art/isaac-julien-vagabondia/
To learn more about Art Bridges Foundation, visit https://artbridgesfoundation.org/
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