Co-MISSION Works-In-Progress Spring 2025
May 2nd, 2025
Presentation Order
Jaquanda Saulter-Villegas & Jacinda Bullie, FILLINZ, Put Some Respect on It!
Tuli Bera, Bangali Meye
Selena Lasley, TIMEShit
A Note From Aaliyah Christina, Associate Curator:
It is weird to think that this will be the last Co-MISSION work-in-progress I steward at Links Hall. An honor would be an understatement. This work harvests endless fruit. Being able to witness an artists work at every moment of its iteration from the birth of an idea to the development of the creative process all the way to the moment it touches the stage... Our Spring Co-MISSION artists dig into their archives and challenge themselves to hone in on what they know and do best. They capture formative identity markers and create powerful conversations with all who witness their being and performing. Describe each offering as an honor, a gift, or a revelation and I would be hard pressed to prove you wrong.
About the Pieces
JACINDA BULLIE & JAQUANDA SAULTER-VILLEGAS: FILLINZ, Put Some Respect on It!
The Kuumba Lynx Co-Founders are activating some of their prose & coloring pages from a previously published work.
TULI BERA: Bangali Meye
Bangali Meye by Tuli Bera is on its way to becoming its fourth and final iteration. Here are some phrases that are shaping the solo:
Why are the roots so strong?
You can’t unlearn— so, what are you going to do about it?
A negotiation between what is self-defined and inherited
I chose this // I didn’t choose this
Tracing the pain, Tracing the pleasure
Contrast as a source of power
SELENA LASLEY: TIMEShit
A metaphysical and social collaboration about what it means to be living in this world.
This ongoing work is about questioning the existence of consciousness and the way we perceive ourselves. We as a collective should never have to conform or question ourselves; we can freely express our identity in any way, shape, or fashion. And to remind ourselves as humans ever evolving in this world. We do not need to think that material things, class, and wealth is the only way to identify ourselves. So let’s turn up! And have fun!
About the Artists
ABOUT CO-MISSION AT LINKS HALL
The Co-MISSION Residency is awarded to 3-4 performance artists to engage in the development & research of new or existing work, from mid-September to mid-December. Links Hall provides artists with a 12-week studio residency with up to eight hours of studio time each week), a monthly stipend, support of the Art of Rehearsal Workshop series, works-in-progress opportunities, and shared-bill performances at Links Hall’s Co-MISSION Festival of New Works.
The Co-MISSION Fellowship is awarded to 2 performance artists to undergo an intense rehearsal process from January to May. These selected artists are veteran performance makers already past the initial research phase of the development of their new works. These individuals will be awarded: five months of studio time to complete the creation of their new projects, a monthly stipend, personalized mentoring with Art of Rehearsal coaches, a works-in-progress showing, and evening-length presentations of their new work as part of the Co-MISSION Festival of New Works.
ABOUT THE ART OF REHEARSAL COACHES
Meida Teresa McNeal is Artistic and Managing Director of Honey Pot Performance. She received her PhD in Performance Studies (Northwestern) and her MFA in Choreography & Dance History (Ohio State). Awards include an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in New Performance Forms, Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago, 3Arts Award in Dance, Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist, and the Links’ Hall Co-Missions Fellowship. An Independent Artist and Scholar at the intersection of performance studies, dance, and critical ethnography, Meida also teaches at University of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago. Meida also works with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events' Executive Administration team as the Senior Manager of Arts & Community Impact Investments building and implementing artist recovery programs and creative placemaking grantmaking initiatives. Prior to this role, Meida worked with the Chicago Park District as Arts & Culture Manager supporting community arts partnerships, youth arts, cultural stewardship, and civic engagement initiatives.
La Mar Brown is thrilled to be a Co-Mission Artist Coach for the second year with Links Hall, and to co-lead the Art of Rehearsal process this year. He is an arts manager, producer, dancer, and singer. He currently serves as the Operations Manager for Chicago Dancemakers Forum, where he manages functions to support administrative, fundraising, and programming activities. After relocating to Chicago from Dallas, TX, he completed his Master of Arts Management at Columbia College Chicago in 2016. He also is a 2022 Leadership Institute cohort member of YNPN Chicago. La Mar’s other administrative credits include Project Coordinator, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts; Box Office Supervisor, Writers Theatre; Company Manager, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; and Associate Patron Services Manager, the AT&T Performing Arts Center (Dallas, TX). His performance credits include Dallas Black Dance Theatre, The Ruth Page Civic Ballet, Porchlight Music Theatre, Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, Uptown Players, Garland Summer Musicals, and The Dallas Opera.
ABOUT LINKS HALL
For 46 years, Links Hall has played a pivotal role in Chicago, encouraging artistic innovation and public engagement by maintaining a facility and providing flexible programming for the research, development, and presentation of new work in the performing arts. Founded in 1978 by experimental choreographers, Bob Eisen, Carol Bobrow, and Charlie Vernon, Links became a National Performance Network partner in 1998 and received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions in 2016. Links Hall supports multidisciplinary artists through residencies, festivals, subsidized rentals, and other resources for performers at every stage of their career.
Links Hall programming is made possible by artists, audiences, and support from: Arts Midwest GIG Fund, Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Exelon, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Heather B. Henson Fund/Puppet Slam Network, Illinois Arts Council Agency, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, National Performance Network, The Charlie Vernon Performance Fund at the Evanston Community Foundation, The Jentes Family Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at Prince, The Martha Struthers Farley & Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, The Prince Charitable Trust, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and The Weasel Fund.
STAFF
Aaliyah Christina, Artist Programs Manager & Associate Curator
SK Kerastas, Executive Director
Mario LaMothe, General Manager
Dana Pepowski, Programs Associate
Giau Truong, Production Manager & Associate Curator
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Amy Chavasse
Jane Beachy
Vesna Grbovic
J’Sun Howard
Ross Stanton Jordan
Susan Manning
Trevor Martin
Jon Pagac
Jenna Pollack
Tina Post
Doreen Sayegh
Michael Tokoph
Patrick Zakem
ADVISORY BOARD
Cheryl Lynn Bruce
Bob Eisen
E. Aaron Greven
Tracie D. Hall
Maggie Kast
Meida McNeal
Eva Silverman
Claire Sutton
Blair Thomas
Michael Zerang
Jacinda Bullie | Spring 2025 Co-MISSION Fellow
Jacinda Bullie (aka Jah da Amp Mouth) is an instigating art maker, creative activator, and practicing heart soother. This sage burning Muslim seeks to practice gratitude & presence. Jacinda likes to write, perform, paint, talk story, move and engage in radical love play. She is a Hip Hop Theater producer, host, arts facilitator & manager who finds freedom in remembering that she is simply a spiritual being having an earthly experience.
Jaquanda Saulter-Villegas | Spring 2025 Co-MISSION Fellow
Executive Director & Co-Lead Creative, Jaquanda Saulter-Villegas is a Fly Girl Chicagoan by way of South Carolina, Jaquanda is one of the three Founders, and a Co-Creative Lead of Kuumba Lynx. She has been engaging youth and their families in Hip Hop Arts Activism and Culturally Relevant programming for 25 years. Jaquanda get’s FREE as an Arts Educator, Mentor, Yoga Instructor, Shamanic Reiki Healer, Performance Artist, Arts Administrator, International Peace Movement Honorary Ambassador, and Hip Hop Theater Director. As a healer Jaquanda is dedicated to holding space for community to address harm, break generational curses, and interrupting systematic sabotage by re-engaging in indigenous and African healing practices.
Tuli Bera | Spring 2025 Co-MISSION Fellow
Tuli Bera is a Bengali American movement artist. They draw from various styles of dance: Indian folk and classical forms, classical and contemporary ballet, modern, aerial dance and improvisation. Bera has collaborated and performed with various companies and individual artists: Ayako Kato, Aerial Dance Chicago, Ishti Collective, Ashwaty Chennat, Cristal Sabbagh's Freedom From and Freedom To and Darling Squire. Beyond performance, they support independent artists as a producer for dance and teach ballet and aerial dance for all ages.
Selena Lasley | Fall 2024 Co-MISSION Resident
Selena Lasley (She/They) is a Chicago based artist. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Acting (2019). Selena also has studied Modern, West African, solo performance, vogue aesthetics, Physical theatre, and Improvisation. Selena continues performing and collaborating with multiple artists and has performed throughout Chicago. Being a Research based artist, Selena is constantly creating, exploring, breaking theories and ideologies with their ongoing research in Psychology of creativity, social and theoretical concepts. The constant shifts of cultural and social climates within the African diaspora, American Dream, Gender identity, and the ongoing questions of non conformity has always been an underlying theme within their research based works. This will be their first residency at Links Hall and is very excited to be sharing the space!