Founder, Art Director

Anna Rebecca Harris is a visual artist and psycho-neuroimmunology researcher. With a BA from Boston University comprising training in painting, video and performance art and literature from The Burren College of Art, Ireland, and the University of Oxford, UK, and a MA in psychology from the University of Chicago, IL, Harris is intrigued by the implications of neuroprocessing on experiential reality and the ways in which technology augments and changes the living, ever-evolving human brain. Trained as an Embodied Movement Facilitator in the tradition of Intuitive Dance, Anna’s recent work explores gesture in relation to shared space and collective consciousness, where she utilizes the body to describe scientific and poetic truths. Founder of @Driven.Arts.Collective, Anna enjoys making costumes specific to each dance performance.

Technical Director

Kim Nucci is an Oakland/Chicago-based multimedia artist, composer / improviser, and technologist. They perform on saxophones, electronics, voice, and live projection. Nucci's research interests explore the pedestrian cybernetic body through critically examining our relationship with technology and with our instruments. Their solo performance practice is invested in the exploration of ritualism and trance states in improvisation. They hold an M.F.A. in Electronic Music and Recording Media, and an M.A. in Music Composition from Mills College, and a B.A. in Visual Arts from Bennington College. They are head of A.C.R.E. Residency's sound department. Their practice is largely collaborative. They are the Technical Director of Driven Arts Collective (DAC), which recently completed the Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency with their projects CELSO: In Utero and CELSO: Digital Milk, a dance/theatre work with live music and interactive technologies. DAC has been awarded the ARCC Residency at Counterpulse where they are creating a new work in the CELSO series. With DAC, Kim directed/filmed the video work “Quarant Time” documenting the collective’s rehearsal process during 2020 and assisted with filming of “Z A G A.” Previously, they did show programming and co-authored music & video elements for DAC's evening length production, << KHÔRA >>. They currently work at Art Institute of Chicago doing installing media artworks as part of the Audio Visual team.

Movement Artist, Choreographer

Engineer, dancer and multimedia artist based in San Francisco, California and a founding member of Driven Arts Collective. Her work largely involves creating multifaceted interactive environments by blending movement arts and technology.

Movement Artist, Choreographer

Ethereality Movement Dynamist and founding member of Driven Arts Collective from Los Angeles, CA, Nekai Abriol is dedicated to exploring the emotional vulnerability within the interconnected human experience. Her goal is to create a safe healing space of empowerment for fellow humans to embody their most authentic selves through visual art. Training in hip-hop from the age of 13 at Murrieta Dance Project and studying urban and contemporary hip-hop in high school under the creative direction of Beau Fournier of Maker Empire Dance Company, Nekai was simultaneously artistic directing Latitude Dance Company and teaching at Empire Dance Productions. At 18, she moved to San Francisco where she trained intensively with INQ Dance Company in jazz funk, heels, and storytelling under Alli Fritz and Rocko Luciano of Full Out Studios.

Gaining her BFA in dance and a minor in holistic health from San Francisco State University in 2020, where she served the Student Dance Alliance on campus as their President and University Dance Theater, season of 2019-2020, as their Student Director, Nekai has broadened her repertoire in ballet, jazz, modern, Filipino folklore, aerial arts, and tap over the course of her collegiate career.

“It’s one thing to be a creator, knowing when to stop and listen makes an artist.” -@inekanekai

Dancer, Choreographer, Musician

A freelance dancer based in the San Francisco Bay Area from Japan. Upon moving to San Francisco from Tokyo, Gannon graduated with a B.A. in Dance from San Francisco State University. Gannon trained with Ray Tadio and Cathleen McCarthy, as well as academic instruction from Yutian Wong. She is a sought-after dancer and had the privilege to work with choreographers such as Anna Rebecca Harris’s Driven Arts Collective, Jennifer Gerry, Joselyn Reyes, Joe Landini’s dog+pony, Raissa Simpson’s PUSH Dance Company as a Pathway program dancer, Alyssa Mitchel and David Herrera’s David Herrera Performance Company, as well as numerous artists.

Composer, Instrument Designer, Performance Artist

Alex Cohen is an American performance artist, inventor, composer, and musician. His work explores the nexus of technology, theology and political economy via sound, movement, and satire. Alex performs regularly on Guitar, Viola de Gamba, and electronics. He has worked with musicians across a variety of genres and disciplines, including William Winant, Rent Romus, the Lords of Outland, gabby fluke-mogul, Camille Emaille, Vincent Davis, Joshua Allen, Tom Weeks, Eyvind Kang, Danny Kamins, Corey Wilcox, and Organ Yank.

Dancer, Choreographer

Oakland-based dancer/performer, choreographer/director, standup comedian, and writer with an education in mathematics and dance from Cal Poly Pomona and Mills College (MS, MFA). She is the co-founder and co-artistic director for Mechanism Dancetheater Collective and a founding member of Driven Arts Collective. Her interest is in collaborative and experimental creative processes that transcend disciplines and widen experiences among artists in various fields.

Musician, Instrument Designer

Michael Krzyzaniak holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts & Sciences from Arizona State University. His background is in music composition. He studies human-machine interaction in creative contexts, builds machines that play musical instruments and studies human movement and develops responsive audio environments for dance works.

Sound Artist, Musician

Akshay Cadambi is an engineer, computer programmer, and musician. Originally from Bangalore, India, he works at the intersection of soundscape composition, musique concrete, and spatial audio, and is currently interested in the harvest and transformation of domestic, urban, and anthropogenic sounds and soundscapes. His work frequently employs the use of modular synthesis, computer music, field recording, custom electronics, and software.

Dancer, Choreographer

Lucca Troutman is an electro-acoustic composer, director and performer originally from Hartford, Connecticut. She holds a BA in psychology and music from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and recently graduated with her MA in composition from Mills College, where she refined her compositional and performance techniques under the tutelage of renowned experimental artists. She currently teaches and performs throughout the Bay Area and she enjoys creating in all of its forms and spending quality time with her affable hound dog, Ama.

Dancer, Choreographer

Christina Nguyen is a Bay Area native dancer well versed in multiple techniques including ballet, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, heels, and modern dance. Christina received her BA in Dance from State University School of Theatre and Dance in 2019, where she was a company member for 3 years and, as a senior, UDT Student Director. In addition to performing in student choreographed works at ACDA 2017-2019, she created her first college student choreography work in 2019 and received the SFSU School of Theater and Dance award for Excellence in Performance.

Debuting her first professional dance performance with Stabat Mater and Mad Brass as a part of Garrett+Moulton Productions' movement choir in 2018, she’s since worked with Janice Garrett, Charles Moulton, Cathleen McCarthy, Wendy Diamond, Ray Tadio, Anna Rebecca Harris, and Nhan Ho. Most recently she’s trained with renowned dancer and choreographer, Galen Hooks, and has become a part of The Galen Hooks Method Alumni.

Dancer

Lauren Schutz received her BA in dance from the University of Iowa in 2017. She is excited to begin performing in the Bay Area through her involvement with Driven Arts Collective.

Dancer, Choreographer

Movement and performance enthusiast from Bangalore specializing in Bollywood & Contemporary dance. Anantsri is trained in dance movement therapy with a diploma from the Studio for Movement Arts and Therapy and a certificate in Indian Classical Dance Kathak from the Nitara Institute.

Musician, Programmer

Christian Conaway is first and foremost a musician. Though sometimes found sailing the ocean, programming web-bots, or cultivating his growing arboretum, those who know him understand that all of it connects to the frequencies, rhythms, and patterns that make up his day to day mind. Currently Christian is focused on music production and developing brain-interfacing instruments so keep an open ear for whats to come.