WPA is thrilled to welcome artists Hayley Cutler and Curry J. Hackett as Research & Development (R&D) Artists-in-Residence. During their residencies, Cutler and Hackett will delve into different aspects of WPA’s five-decade history of supporting trailblazing contemporary art in the District, with each artist following original strands of research specific to their own creative practices and interests. The residencies kick off this May and will culminate in September 2024 with two public presentations.

Hayley Cutler’s research will excavate WPA’s historic relationship to postmodern dance artists—including Steve Paxton, Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer, and others—and the correlation between the various sites throughout DC in which their work was presented and DC’s dance history generally. Hayley has previously worked with WPA as an Artist Curator, during which time she selected six local, emerging movement-based artists to create solos for KUVV, a mixed-bill evening of work addressing embodied familial histories and traumas. KUVV and Hayley’s current research with WPA speak to a throughline that binds all of the artist’s work: mining the living archives within femme and female communities.

Curry J. Hackett’s research will explore the relationship between local Black history and WPA’s programming at specific sites throughout DC. Hackett’s research builds on his examination of histories of Black experience shaped by place and site. In 2021, Hackett received a Research Grant from Wherewithal Grants (managed by WPA) to support his ongoing research project, Drylongso: An Ode to the Southern Black Landscape which has since been presented as a solo installation in TheTwelve’s gallery space in Union Market. The project centers oral history as a way of documenting ordinary Black life in the rural American South.

Hackett and Cutler’s summer research and early fall presentations will inform the simultaneous development of WPA’s digital archive, which will launch in 2025, commencing WPA’s 50th year anniversary season.

About the Artists

Hayley Cutler (she/her) is a choreographer, performer, artist organizer, curator, and dance educator. She is the founder and artistic director of darlingdance, a project-based dance company in its fourteenth season. She is also co-founder of artist neighbor collective, a curatorial performance project based in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of DC. Cutler’s work has been presented at Dance Place, The Kennedy Center, Gala Hispanic Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, as well as art galleries, on basketball courts, at city bus stops, in studio apartments, at universities, and in her local CVS. Recent works include All My Friends, a site-specific dance that premiered at The Kennedy Center’s REACH lawn in late 2022, and mother luck – intro, which premiered at The National Gallery of Art in March 2023. From late 2023 into early 2024, Cutler has been busy reimaging two works – VICTOR and mother luck – intro – with students at Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at GW, as well as developing FAKE ERRANDS with her longtime collaborator Claire Alrich.

Curry J. Hackett (he/him) is a transdisciplinary designer, public artist, and educator. His practice, Wayside, looks to underrepresented histories to inspire meaningful art and critical research. Recently, Curry has been experimenting with artificial intelligence tools, with which he braids Black aesthetics, kinships with nature, and pop culture to imagine surreal scenes of Black joy. This work has been featured in Bloomberg and Architect Magazine. His ongoing research and exhibition series, Drylongso, explores relationships between Blackness, geography, and land. This project has received funding from the Graham Foundation, Journal of Architectural Education, and Wherewithal Grants.