The PADX Australia Delegation
PADX Goes to ISPA
April 2024, PADX brought a delegation of artists and agents to the second ISPA — International Society for the Performing Arts Congress of 2024 in Perth, Australia. ISPA congresses are attended by more than 500 leaders from more than 50 regions representing different genres and disciplines within the performing arts field from all over the world.
PADX is an initiative of the Performing Arts Discovery (PAD) program, developed to expand international markets and generate overseas touring opportunities for U.S. performing artists. PADX launched in September 2022 thanks to a new partnership and $300,000 grant award from the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) which facilitates relationship-building with international partners and provides travel support for delegations of artists to participate in overseas conferences and events. Learn more about PADX here.
Meet the PADX Australia Delegation
Bill Smith | Founder of Riot Artists Agency
Bill Smith founded Riot Artists in 1997. Riot Artists began with a focus on Brazilian music but quickly expanded to represent a diverse range of international talent. While staying true to its world music roots, Riot Artists now embraces new realms of talent, including electronica, contemporary music, rock, as well as speakers and innovators in technology. Some of the artists currently represented include DakhaBrakha, Nitin Sawhney, Maryna Krut, La Bottine Souriante, Justin Adams & Mauro Durante, Antonio Alanza, Puuluup, Dakh Daughters, The Manganiyar Seduction, and San Salvador. We are actively booking these artists across North and South America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Image courtesy of Sthanlee B Mirador
Christopher K Morgan | Artistic Director
Christopher Kaui Morgan (he/him) is a Native Hawaiian choreographer based in San Diego, California, United States. Currently touring productions Pōhaku and Native Intelligence/Innate Intelligence, the third installment of this trilogy is slated to premiere in autumn 2025. He specializes in crafting multi-disciplinary performances that synthesize dance, storytelling, original music, and multimedia design to explore identity, as well as social and cultural issues. His work has been performed in 22 countries across 5 continents. A respected artist and advocate, Christopher was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden to the National Council on the Arts and confirmed by the US Senate
Image courtesy of Sareen Hairabedian
Joshua Kohl | Music Director & Manager
Degenerate Art Ensemble creates multi-dimensional performances driven by visceral movement theater and dance, live music and layered projected imagery, with an aesthetic inspired by punk, comics, cinema, protest, nightmares and fairytales. The group has performed throughout North America and Europe and has collaborated with the likes of Kronos Quartet and director Robert Wilson. The group has received numerous awards including the International Theatre Institute's Music Theatre Now Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Capital Award, Dale Chihuli's Arts Innovators Award among others.
Image courtesy of Joshua Kohl
Peter Rockford Espiritu | Executive and Artistic Director
Peter Rockford Espiritu manifests safe and creative spaces for “Brown Dance” culture and the arts to thrive and grow equally in the traditional and contemporary expressions. Mr. Espiritu’s focus centers on Indigenous identities and voices in a moving dialogue addressing current local issues of urbanization and globalization. He continues his journey towards articulating Pōhuli, indigenization through the creation of his own movement modality and vocabulary reformed into the foundation of a new movement language paradigm for his dance company, Tau Dance Theater (TDT).
Image courtesy of Peter Rockford Espiritu
Thea Hopkins | Red Roots Americana
Thea Hopkins is member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe of Martha’s Vineyard MA, internationally touring performing songwriter Thea Hopkins calls her music - Red Roots Americana. Her new album, "Here In Our World", to be released in January 2025, will feature original songs, concerning Indigenous and non-Indigenous topics. With her astute and sensitive eye for detail, she has an almost painterly approach to the songwriting process, which she uses to great effectiveness, whether writing of personal experiences or political events in the greater world. "A standout" -- Washington Post "The most convincing perpetuator of the haunting art of Nick Drake" -- www.paris-move.com
Image courtesy of Jeff Fasano