Tonya Lockyer

Experience

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  International

  Jan 1993 - now

  Artist – Dance | Performance | Public Art | Social Practice

  ". . . outstanding and irreplaceable. Her performances- can raise the hairs on the back of your neck."⎯Deborah Jowitt, The Village VOICEAs an artist and curator, I've collaborated with some of the most innovative artistic experimentalists of our time. As founding co-director of the collective VIA, I performed, gave workshops, and conducted structured improvisations across North America, Europe, Russia, and Asia for two decades; and continue to collaborate, curate, choreograph productions, and conduct workshops across the nation.My projects include 30+ commissions supported by major funders including Arts International, Canada Council, Nureyev Foundation, and Artist Trust; presented in museums, theaters, and public spaces. Recently, I was Movement Director for Writer's Theater's "Eurydice" (2023) and choreographer of Seattle Repertory Theater's acclaimed "Indecent" (2019). I often return to dance as a social, communal and collaborative practice through site-responsive performances, durational pieces, and transformative community rituals for audiences from 1 - 15,000. As an improviser, I enjoyed sustained collaborations with composers Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster; Lisa Nelson's Tuning Score; and 16 Hour Play. Other highlights include solo performances commissioned by On the Boards, and Poland's Opera Baltycka; "Jenufa" for Long Beach Opera; performances with composer Pauline Oliveros at Canada's International Sound Symposium and Russia’s International Festival of Experimental Art; and performing within the work of Paula Josa-Jones/Performanceworks at Lincoln Center, The Joyce, and Jacob’s Pillow. I'm grateful for many Residencies including USA: Centrum, ADF, On the Boards, Brigham Young, UMBC, ACT Theater. CANADA: Banff Center, University of Calgary. TURKEY: Mimar Sinan University. I have performed in the work of Miguel Gutierrez, Donald Byrd, Mark Haim, Tedd Robinson, Wade Madsen, Paula JosaJones, Twyla Tharp, and Contemporary Dancers Canada. Show less

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  Freelance

  Jan 2000 - now

  Writer + Editor

  Lockyer founded the first Journal of Choreographic Culture (2011), her writing is anthologized in the volume Vu du Corps (2001), and she is editor of the forthcoming Artists on Creative Administration from UA Press and the National Center for Choreography.A socially-engaged innovator, Lockyer, through a process of community co-creation, devised and conducted a series of award-winning dialogical artworks, Speakeasy Series (2011- 2019). Her writing on performance is published in exhibition catalogues, international journals, and required in college curriculums. She is a writer whose performances combine story, movement, and participatory scores. Show less

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  T/L

  Jan 2000 - now

  Cultural Producer + Curator

  I bring 360 degrees of experience as an artist, curator, educator and producer nurturing the work of contemporary artists, nationally and internationally. I have created, curated, and produced projects, and developed new public art programs and arts incubators of national significance in the U.S. arts ecology. My curatorial approach focuses on interdisciplinary exchange, civic practice, and new approaches to engaging and presenting the arts with the public. As a cultural strategist, I often collaborate to create site-responsive performances, durational pieces, and transformative community rituals for audiences of 1-15,000. I was Artistic Director of Velocity, Seattle’s premier center for contemporary dance and performance, 2011-2018. My curation transformed Velocity into a national nexus, and led to curating acclaimed programs for Seattle Art Fair, Seattle Waterfront, Frye Art Museum and On the Boards. As AD, I engaged the border community at all levels of the organization, working in partnership with diverse populations including indigenous artists, dancers with disabilities, adults at risk, seniors, and transgender artists, with emphasis on Velocity's legacy of female-identified leadership. We developed Velocity’s first Equity Statement and Indigenous Land Acknowledgment.A consistent champion of artists, I have served on review panels, mostly recently for the United States Artist Fellowship, as well as for Creative Capital, NEFA, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and MAP Fund. I served as Artist Mentor for Creative Capital, National Dance Project, National Center for Choreography, and continue to support artists in the development of their projects and sustaining a creative life. My writing on performance is published in international journals, exhibition catalogues, and required in college curriculums. I attended the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance and received my MFA from the University of Washington. Show less

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  RED, A Studio Collective

  Jun 2000 - Jun 2011

  Founder

  This interdisciplinary incubator and working studio collective was home to the early development of new works, experimental practices, and education initiatives that continue to have regional and national impact. It was also home to a New Play Reading Series, which I co-produced with Sean Ryan to foster the early work of Seattle playwrights, many of whom have gone on to national recognition. The Series also led to our co-producing and presenting the west coast premiere of the work of playwright Sarah Kane. Show less

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  Cornish College of the Arts

  Jan 2001 - Jan 2024

  Part-time Faculty

  Student-focused teaching, collaborative curriculum development, and cross disciplinary collaborative teaching. Developed and facilitated courses in Writing for Dance, Somatics, Live Art and Choreographic Culture Since 1960, Art and Social Justice, Dance Professional Practices, Creative Process, Movement Foundations, Movement Analysis, Improvisation, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Composer + Choreographer Collaboration, Contemporary Technique. Senior Advisor; Rehearsal Director for Cunningham Repertory; Choreographer for Senior Concerts.Service includes: Creative Process Curriculum Development;Arts Administration Seminars;Program Director of the Merce Cunningham minEvent Project, 2010-2011: Coordinated yearlong, citywide, multi-partner performance/education project. Developed & implemented projects with partners SAM, ACT, STG. Developed & implemented outreach with local schools. Directed free public activities. Organized artists’ residencies. Fostered curriculum integration. Facilitated interdepartmental projects. Developed resources for students & partners. Wrote press releases & managed marketing. Coordinated documentation. Spring Rehearsal Director. Public representative. Show less

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  Velocity

  Jan 2005 - Jan 2007

  Project Manager Regional & Inter/national Programs

  Managed all aspects of Scuba National Touring Network, NEXT & Guest Artist Residencies of Anouk Van Dijk & Tere O’Connor. Initiated Choreographer-in-Residence Program, Next Dance Cinema, Miguel Gutierrez Residency. Streamlined protocols, timelines, application process, administrative & curatorial systems. Re-envisioned NEXT, broadened diversity of artists & media. Provided writing and editing for a variety of deliverables including print and online materials. Responsible for Marketing Management. Surpassed income goals. Show less

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  Velocity Dance Center

  May 2011 - Dec 2018

  Executive and Artistic Director

  “(Lockyer’s) by-the-numbers accomplishments are impressive ($2 million in direct and in-kind support to artists; growing Velocity’s audiences by 398 percent), but Lockyer will also be remembered for transforming Velocity into both a dance venue of national import and as an incubator for Seattle talent.”– CrosscutLed the transformation of this dance center into a national nexus for new dance and performance. I supported the artistic heart of Velocity’s mission by strategically revitalizing Velocity’s fiscal and operational health: leading a strategic organizational re-direction and re-brand, eliminating debt, growing the budget by 261% over 4 years, dramatically increasing participation across programs, developing lasting organizational partners, re-designing the lobby/seating/signage; and diversifying earned and contributed income. As Executive/Artistic Director I developed, curated and produced residencies and new public art programs of national significance in the U.S. arts ecology. This included initiating Velocity’s first humanities programs; growing the summer festival to include the internationally renowned Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation; initiating dance cinema programs; commissioning significant new works by PNW artists; presenting or providing residences to seminal innovators such as Ralph Lemon, Raja Feather Kelly, becca blackwell, Sean Dorsey, Tere O'Connor, Keith Hennessy, Monica Bill Barnes, Faye Driscoll, Miguel Gutierrez, Bebe Miller, Pat Graney; and providing early support for the practices of Cherdonna, Gender Tender, Kate Wallich, Alice Gosti, Ezra Dickinson, Sh*t Gold, and Dance Church, to name just a few. Velocity was awarded the Seattle Mayor's Arts Award and The Stranger Genius Award. For my "service to dance and movement art, the arts, and the arts community in Seattle and beyond" I was presented with the Seattle Dance Champion Award; and named "one of the key cultural change-makers in the Northwest" by The Seattle Times. Show less

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  Seattle’s first arts district: Capitol Hill Arts District

  Jan 2015 - Jan 2018

  Inaugural Co-Chair

  Seattle's first Arts District was founded in response to a neighborhood experiencing rapid change and gentrification. The existing arts organizations were under real threat of being displaced by rising rents and redevelopment. A cultural problem needed a cultural solution.The Capitol Hill Arts District continues as a deep collaboration between Community Roots Housing, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, the City of Seattle and the neighborhood arts organizations and artists. With the strong arts infrastructure and deep working relationship with the City of Seattle already in place, we were able to keep the arts at the center of Capitol Hill’s identity, and provide a template for other neighborhoods.We developed the districts mission, goals and equity statement; worked with neighborhood arts groups and the City to preserve arts spaces; collaborated with real estate developers to create pop-up cultural spaces for community initiated programming (V2); and amplified the district as an arts and LGBTQ destination using tools such as street sign caps, custom painted sidewalks, and mapping tools. Show less

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  T/L

  Jan 2016 - now

  Thought Partner + Arts Strategist

  My passion is collaborating with artists and organizations as a trusted thought-partner to help articulate and realize their vision and grow their impact and capacity. We do this through strategic planning, resource cultivation, relationship-building, grant writing, media interventions, dramaturgy and the development of socially relevant public programs.I am mission-focused and committed to how the arts can mobilize people and communities, inform civic and cultural dialogue, and inspire transformative experiences and new ways of being in the world. As a cultural producer, I harness my knowledge, resources and experience to help other artists. As a cultural strategist I collaborate to extend the values of our creative practices into life. My community-engaged approach has a track-record of mobilizing artists as change-makers, catalyzing remarkable audience-development, and activating wide-ranging civic and aesthetic dialogues. Show less

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  Seattle University

  Sept 2023 - now

  Adjunct Professor, Arts Leadership and Performing Arts