Pioneers Go East Collective

We inspire a lively exchange of Q***r and Feminist Art and Pop Culture by connecting people to ideas and experiences. Pioneers Go East Collective inspires a lively exchange of q***r art and culture by connecting people to ideas and experiences. We are dedicated to performing artists who explore stories of vulnerability and courage for social change, we empower LGBTQ and Feminist artists reflecting

on issues still affecting our community. The collective comprises Latinx and BIPOC immigrant/ 1st generation artists and arts educators, taking risks and revealing stories that reflect individual strength. Pioneers Go East Collective creates performances that merge performance art, dance, and video documentary of real events. As ‘pioneers’ on a long journey, the collective finds and records memories of collective and individual courage to challenge audiences in emotionally charged yet accessible performances. Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Daniel Diaz, Bree Breeden, Anabella Lenzu, Philip Treviño, Agosto Machado lead the collective in collaboration with a community of like-minded writers, performers, choreographers, and visual artists. We empower a collective of thought-provoking, adventurous, and proud LGBTQ artists, and we are dedicated to Latinx, BIPOC, and immigrant artists and their communities in all 5 boroughs. We explore stories of vulnerability and courage for social change. Built on the social and political principles of inclusion, justice, and visibility, we support artists that reflect and advance these values. Through the creation of devised multimedia works, including high-energy theatrical works and video-art combined with popular culture and infused with joy, the collective celebrates and shares our community’s achievements. Reaching communities in all 5 boroughs, the collective has been in-residence at cultural centers throughout New York and has established partnerships with historical downtown institutions, including La MaMa, Judson Church, Movement Research. The collective has forged new partnerships with the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Center for Performance Research, Chez Bushwick, The Brick, The LGBT Center, and The Exponential Festival. The collective received a TIMEOUT NY Critics’ Pick and NY Magazine’s (Bedford + Bowery) Pick. Our creative work has been hailed by CULTUREBOT as “a very successful experience, enrapturing, a strong gesture about collective q***r yearning on a deeply microcosmic, personal level”; by MAXAMOO as “beautiful and touching”; and BACKSTAGE as “knocking down the walls between expressive genres into an adrenalizing experience.”