PIETER INCUBATOR SERIES
The Pieter Incubator Series shares stories from people who have been rooted in and nourished by Pieter’s community over the years.
June 2026: Bernard Brown
Bernard Brown (he/they), is a native Angeleno working in performance and curation. He is deeply invested in performance’s relationship to space and geography, and the histories of people that are often overlooked in the cultural mainstream. His project SISSIES: Something Perfect Between Ourselves opened at Pieter on Friday June 19.
In a strange way, Pieter is part of my foundation as an artist. I've known Pieter's original founder (Jmy James Kidd) since I was 18 years old. Starting in the 2010s, I would rehearse at Pieter's old Lincoln Heights location with folks like Christine Suarez, Nguyen Nguyen, Victoria Marks, and Nicholas Duran. I've also worked with most of Pieter's directors (Dorothy Dubrule, Kai Hazelwood, and Rosalie Tucker) in some way. So I have a long, deeply connected history with Pieter and the folks that congregate there.
Inclusion, and uplifting marginalized voices, are foundational principles at Pieter, and those values align with the work that I make. Most folks may not describe my work as “experimental,” but I believe that experimentation and marginalization are curious (and potent) bedfellows. I feel like I've done some of my most open and rooted work at Pieter, or in deep connection to it.
Since November, I've been going to Pieter every week, mostly to prepare for SISSIES. Incubation is very much a part of this process; my collaborators and I are surrounded by a warmth that helps birth something that hasn't yet existed. Pieter gives us space to meet, space to talk, without the pressure to produce. And to know that the place will support whatever is made has been really powerful.
I wish for Pieter to be able to support an enlarged staff that has a deep investment in community. I wish for Pieter to continue being a place where everyone knows they are safe, and protected from the outside entities that may want to harm us. I wish for Pieter to be a haven for decades to come.
👉🏽 Watch the full interview on Instagram!