A note from Sasha Okshteyn, Guest Curator:
Growing up in Williamsburg, my early experience of cultural happenings in the area weren’t just formative – they were foundational and informed my curatorial practice. My work seeks to honor that spirit — one that is deeply communal, dynamic, and driven by the pulse of the people. To now be a part of the history of the neighborhood and contribute a public program with Sugar Sugar! is both a privilege and full-circle moment. I’m excited to contribute to the same cultural fabric that raised me.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
RASHAUN MITCHELL + SILAS RIENER are New York-based dance artists. Their work involves the building of collaborative worlds through improvisational techniques, digital technologies, and material construction. They met as dancers in the Merce Cunningham Dance company and since 2010 they have created over 25 multidisciplinary dance works including site-responsive installations, concert dances, gallery performances and dances for film in venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barbican Centre, REDCAT, The Walker Art Center, and MoMA/PS1. Throughout they have maintained a commitment to queer culture and aesthetics. Their partnership intentionally blurs authorship and maintains a deep commitment to collaboration with a diverse community of dancers, performers, artists and cultural institutions.
CHARMAINE LEE (b. 1991) is an Australian vocalist based in New York. Using the voice, feedback, and live processing, Lee's practice is primarily concerned with risk-taking, playfulness, and improvisation. She has been recognized as “extraordinary” by New Yorker and has been featured in New York Times, Washington Post, and Wire Magazine. As a composer, Lee has collaborated with leading institutions including Kronos Quartet and the Wet Ink Ensemble. Lee is a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow (2025), Emergent Ventures winner (2024), ISSUE Project Room Artist-in-Residence (2019), and a Roulette Van Lier Fellow (2021). Her long-standing collaborators include Conrad Tao, Eric Wubbels, and Ikue Mori (MacArthur Fellow). Lee frequently guest lectures on building a personal language and creative agency at undergraduate and graduate-level composition programs including Columbia University, Princeton University, Stanford, and the New School. Lee serves on the Artistic Advisory Council at ISSUE Project Room and runs a record label, Kou Records, dedicated to artists who have developed idiosyncratic musical languages.
Lee completed her B.A. from Princeton University and has a Masters in Music from the New England Conservatory.
SASHA OKSHTEYN, raised in Williamsburg, BK, is a creative producer, programmer and currently the Associate Director of Artist Programs at The Watermill Center, on the East End of Long Island. She specializes in live performance and art in public spaces. Past work includes institutional collaborations with Performa, MoMA, Pace Gallery, The MET, Pioneer Works, Art Basel, The Momentary, and many others. Artist collaborations include Madeline Hollander, Will Rawls, Adam Linder, Barbara Kruger, Tschabalala Self, Kevin Beasley, Jacolby Satterwhite, and many other amazing minds. Sasha is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Beach Sessions, a pioneering performance series in Rockaway Beach, Queens, NYC. Sasha received her B.A in Art History and Dance from George Washington University, DC and M.A. in Visual Arts Administration from NYU, NY.
