We had the good fortune of connecting with Kevin Newbury and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, I co-founded a new Artist Collective called Up Until Now. Committed to inclusive, accessible, and equitable working environments, Up Until Now develops and produces new interdisciplinary work that explores language, empathy, intimacy, and community, and seeks to challenge the status quo by building new structures for artistic creation. I have enjoyed a rewarding 20-year career directing opera, theatre and film and, at 44 years-old, I am interested in stretching myself, continuing to learn and using my experience to help build open, collaborative spaces.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I have always had an omnivorous appetite for all of the arts, including opera, theatre, film and dance, and I love to explore how various disciplines can be combined in unexpected ways.  My favorite projects blur the lines among genres.  For instance, I directed an immersive music theatre piece called Kansas City Choir Boy, starring Courntey Love and Todd Almond and featuring a string quartet and electronic music.   I also staged an opera scene for Apple TV’s Dickinson that married 19th-century period style with a more modern sensibility.    I am also very passioante about telling stories about our shared queer history, from an opera about the Lavandar Scare in the 1950s (Fellow Travelers) to a music theatre piece about queer community in New York City at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s (Eighty-Sixed).  As our queer values and culture come under increasingly attack, telling our stories is more important than ever.  Throughout my career, I have encountered many challenges creating queer art in more conservative, heteronormative spaces, and it’s my mission in life to shed light on our past and help queer artists create a map for the future.

I am also a firm believer in building “queer spaces.”  For me, a “queer space” is built on collaboration.   As a leader, I try to create safe spaces where everyone’s voice and point-of-view is welcome and considered.  I work to create a safe environment in which artists can feel vulnerable to speak their truth, and my role is to help provide a container for communicating that truth.    One of Up Until Now Collective’s most recent projects is an exciting new opera-theatre piece called Unholy Wars, created by and starring my dear friend and collaborator Karim Sulayman.  Unholy Wars looks at early Baroque music about the Crusades and reframes the narrative from an Arab-American perspective.  The project includes the work of so many stellar artists from different disciplines, combining dance, visual art, film and both period and contemporary music.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and one of my favorite things to do is to walk around my neighborhood and take in all of the amazing murals and street art.  Bushwick is also a great neighborhood for live music (the Sultan Room and Elsewhere are two of my favorite venues), thrift shopping (Beacon’s Closet, L Train Vintage and Chess and the Sphinx are a must), and queer watering holes (drinks at All Night Skate and Nowadays!)

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a shout-out to Brandon Kazen-Maddox, my life partner and creative partner, who continues to introduce me to so many wonderful new ways of thinking about the world. Through Brandon, I have met many inspiring new collaborators, including brilliant, talented artists from the Deaf, Blind and Disability, who continue to teach me so much.

Website: http://www.kevinnewbury.com/

Instagram: kevinnewbury

Other: https://www.upuntilnowcollective.com/

Image Credits
Leigh Weber, Marcus Shields, Cory Weaver, Jill Steinberg, Simpatika

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.