ABOUT VISIONINTOART

VisionIntoArt (VIA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and interdisciplinary arts production company based in New York City. Since its founding in 1999, VIA has created and produced 25+ major opera and music projects that expand artistic forms and shape the future of art — driven by equity, civic imagination, innovation, and technology. Co-founded by acclaimed composer and co-artistic director Paola Prestini (recognized by NPR as one of the world’s top 100 composers), VIA is led alongside co-artistic director, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, and producing director Ras Dia. VIA’s projects have been presented at the New York Philharmonic, the Met Cloisters, the Kennedy Center, the Barbican (London), Bellas Artes (Mexico City), Artscape Theater (Cape Town), and more. Collaborating with artists including Ava DuVernay, Brenda Shaughnessy, Magos Herrera, Robert Wilson, Robin Coste Lewis, Vijay Iyer, and Julie Mehretu, VIA has reached 175,000+ people through live performance, digital platforms, and social impact campaigns. Since 2024, VIA has raised over $1 million from funders including the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, Creative Capital, NEA, and others to support major works. VIA is currently the production company in-residence at National Sawdust, a strategic partnership that incubates visionary projects, deepens philanthropic reach, and pilots new models for civic imagination and cultural impact. 

VisionIntoArt (VIA) is now in-residence at National Sawdust (NS) through a strategic partnership that strengthens both organizations. Through this residency, National Sawdust incubates, mentors, and presents select VIA projects, offering a flexible, mission-aligned venue for residencies and premieres. In parallel, the VIA team brings the concept of an Impact Lab to NS,  where we research and develop transformational cultural strategies that scale impact, create educational opportunities, and generate sustainable professional pathways for artists. For more information, visit visionintoart.org.

ABOUT OPERA PRAKTIKOS

Opera Praktikos‬‭ (OPrak) formed in 2022, is a disability-affirmative company presenting a genre of opera that is interabled and champions disability-artistry as a creative force in the field. Through deliberate reinterpretations of classical operas‬ and the commissioning of new works, OPrak's performers, arts-workers and audiences find themselves in the stories we portray on our stage through authentic representation of disability culture, the building of community and the making of great opera in NYC.‬ OPrak.org ‍

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ABOUT SPICER CARR

Spicer Carr (He/Him) is a New York City based Composer-Lyricist and Conductor, specializing in Opera and Musical Theater. As a composer, his music has been described as “energetic and packed with full-bodied harmonies… [with tunes] playing on repeat in my head!” (Oberon's Grove, Lili Tobias). As a lyricist, his work “surprises with its ingenuity” (Orlando Sentinel, Matthew J. Palm). Spicer’s popular Christmas opera Four Lost Santas has played to sold out audiences around the globe in multiple productions since its world premiere in 2024 at Opera Orlando. Current projects include conducting/arranging Bellini’s La Sonnambula with Opera Praktikos; and composing Too Bright to See, a musical based on the award winning novel by Kyle Lukoff. Other additions in Spicer’s vocal catalogue include song cycles (U Up?), musicals (Chance the Snapper, The Rocking Boy), and operas (Fluffernutter, Sabbath). His instrumental work includes pieces for piano (Of no Concern, Nocturnes for an Insomniac), big band (Lunch Rush), and a violin concerto (Daydreams). Spicer has also written several children’s plays (Who Turned out the Lights?!, Pieces of Eight). Spicer’s work has been commissioned, developed, supported, and performed by Opera Las Vegas, Dublin Conservatoire, Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento, Opera Praktikos, Opera America, Opera Orlando, Cincinnati Song Initiative, The National Association of Teachers of Singing, Quintessence Theatre Group, Really Spicy Opera, The TYE Center, MusiCoLab, Temple University Theater, Temple Opera Theatre, and The Purple Crayon Players. Spicer is a graduate of Temple University, where he participated in the inaugural MFA cohort for Musical Theatre Collaboration.

Spicer is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild and ASCAP.

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ABOUT BRANDON KAZEN-MADDOX

Brandon is an ASL Artist, actor, choreographer, director, acrobat, educator and public speaker. Brandon is a Grandchild of Deaf Adults (GODA) and a third-generation native signer of American Sign Language (ASL). Brandon is a co-founder of Up Until Now Collective: A radically-inclusive multimedia production company committed to building new structures for artistic creation. Recipient: New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Grant and a 2022 Creative Capital Award for the ASL dance theatre reimagining of Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 jazz age narrative poem, The Wild Party, and a 2023 Mertz-Gilmore Foundation Grant for (FREEDOM), a performance piece based on their life story that combines ASL, dance and aerial arts. Other honors: Gucci's 2022 Chime-for-Change: Visions for a Feminist Future, Partners Global 2023 Art for Marginalized Communities Inclusivity Award and the Miranda Family Foundation’s RISE Theater Directory (Circle of Advocates). Brandon was a 2025 Artist in Residence for WNET/ALL ARTS and their episode “SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible" premiered in April 2025.  Brandon also just delivered their first TEDx Talk, “Channeling the Spirit of the Music in ASL.” Brandon recently appeared at The Flea in Jennifer Kidwell’s “we come to collect: a flirtation with capitalism”, which will be touring both locally and internationally in 2026 and beyond.

Instagram: @bkazenmaddox and @upuntilnowcollective

Facebook: Brandon Kazen-Maddox

Email: bkm296@nyu.edu