Original Music Workshop Inc

National sawdust produced and hosted a dynamic slate of performances, festivals, and public programs during season 9. We launched opera evolved in partnership with the metropolitan opera, creating space for composers and artists to explore how opera is transforming today. Nationalsawdust+ presented catie and the robot, a durational dance duet between choreographer/engineer catie cuan and an industrial robot arm, unfolding over an eight-hour american workday. Experimental and genre-defying works like hess is more: apollonian circles blurred boundaries between music, theater, and art installation, while grammy museum collaborations brought major artists like jon batiste, stromae, rhiannon giddens, and nick cave to our stage, expanding our reach and audience diversity.

Our season 9 mentorship programs continued to support emerging and established artists alike, grounded in equity and innovation. Student colab, our flagship education initiative with el puente, engaged middle and high school students in creating and performing original music, with performances across community venues. The blueprint fellows project, in collaboration with the juilliard school, guided emerging composers through the process of building sustainable artistic careers. The hildegard commission offered a $5k commission, mentorship, and recording support to composers who are women and other marginalized genders. The toulmin fellowship, in partnership with the center for ballet and the arts at nyu, provided support for composers and choreographers developing new interdisciplinary work. All programs featured mentorship from leaders such as kamilah forbes, du yun, alicia adams, anglica negrn, and liz lerman.

Our digital platform, motif, continued to deepen engagement with our artistic programming.led by poet-in-residence lynne procope, motif offered journalism, playlists, essays, and live conversations featuring artists, scientists, and thought leaders. This work ensured that national sawdust's programming extended beyond the stage-into classrooms, conversations, and communities.