Meet Katharine Pettit | Founder/Artistic Director Katharine Pettit Creative – KPC

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

Hi Katharine, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Katharine Pettit Creative – KPC spotlights social injustices using dance as our universal language, changing minds by opening hearts through movement. KPC equally stands for “Keeping People Connected”.

Composed of humans from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, representing different nationalities, creeds, gender identities, body shapes & sizes, KPC centers LGBTQ+, BIIPOC, & disabled humans at the core of every story we tell. Creating empathy through movement requires those with lived experience to come together in brave spaces and develop new works offering a narrative normalizing non-traditional protagonists.

In 2014 I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE… began as a way to express my familial trauma with substance use disorder & addiction. As I began the journey of telling my story through dance, I realized the artists & audiences drawn to each performance also had lived experience with addiction & would share with me how they felt seen, validated & not alone.

This idea of telling stories centering marginalized humans became key to my work & continues to be the motivating factor getting me out of bed every day.

In 2016 I founded KPC & gathered performing artists who were also activists, like myself, to be a part.

I created work that gave voice to Black Lives Matter. I’m a St. Louis native & the killing of Michael Brown shattered my white privilege & fragility to unleash “OutCry” (2017). The election of the oppressive administration of Trump lit a fire that became UNTITLED GIRL NARRATIVE (2017-2022). The murder of George Floyd instigated “Transcend, Uplifting Their Voices” concert & scholarship initiative (2020).

Serving primarily marginalized folx who have lived experience with the social injustices we spotlight in our work (substance use disorder, addiction, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, gender discrimination) empowers disenfranchised people to see themselves as valuable, worthy of love, contributing members of society, & ultimately my vision of “Keeping People Connected” through the visceral movement of dance enables this reality.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
NYC is this incredible cross section of humans that inspire & challenge me to dig deep & enable opportunities for understanding through movement.

In 2014 I finally reached my dream of working on Broadway. As a performer & creative, we’re programmed to believe this is the epitome of success. I realized the work I wanted to do, changing minds by opening hearts through movement, using dance as my universal language, was not achievable on the Great White Way. The blatant misogyny, racism, ableism, & bio essentialism erase opportunities for BIIPOC, LGBTQ+ & disabled humans within the systemic requirements of Broadway.

At the crossroads of success & my sister relapsing once again, I began to choreograph as a means of coping with our family’s ongoing struggles with substance use disorder. I founded Katharine Pettit Creative – KPC, “Keeping People Connected”, in 2016 to offer artist & audience the chance to identify with folx society deems “other”. Composed of New York Dreamers from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, representing various nationalities, creeds, gender identities, body shapes & sizes, KPC centers the disenfranchised in every story we tell. Each piece originates from lived experience & creates space to center & celebrate marginalized humans.

I’m creating opportunities in NYC to share the performing arts in an accessible & inclusive way, empowering folx where they are now, bringing our radical movement therapy to those who need it the most in recovery centers across NYC.

Founded in 2016, Katharine Pettit Creative selected credits include Choreographer’s Canvas, Green Space’s Take Root Initiative, NY Theatre Barn’s New Works Series, APAP showcase, Choreographer’s Forum, First Friday Residency JCAL (Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning), Nasty Women Unite Fest, Steps Beyond Foundation series, Detroit Dance City Festival, DUMBO dance festival, Queensboro Dance Festival.

KPC’s Pathway to Wellness through Movement: I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE… was created as a resource for those dealing with substance use disorder. Starting with a movement workshop, followed by the performance of I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE… by KPC artists, culminating in a talkback/Q&A led by the facilities onsite therapists, KPC is going into treatment centers and offering dance as a means to healing to folx going through recovery right now. Throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic KPC continued to offer virtual workshops for Friends of Recovery – NY, Fountain House, NY, Black Mental Health Alliance (Baltimore, MD) and Mountainside Treatment Center (Chelsea, NY).

KPC’s Pathway to Wellness through Movement: I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE… is offered at the Educational Alliance Center for Recovery & Wellness as their official movement consultant and in partnership with Friends of Recovery – NY (FOR-NY). KPC represented healing through movement at the NY State Recovery Conference in Albany, NY 2019 and virtually in October 2020.

KPC’s newest musical in progress, UNTITLED GIRL NARRATIVE, tells the story of three young people coming of age, spotlighting Queer Love through the challenges faced in today’s America.

UNTITLED… was awarded the Episcopal Actors Guild 2020 Open Stage Space Grant which finally came to realization in Spring 2022. KPC was awarded the City Artist Corp Grant (1st round) through NYFA & NYC Department of Cultural Affairs to fund their residency on Governors Island in partnership with West Harlem Art Fund & Visual Muze Storytelling residency in August 2021 to continue the development of this urgent and necessary work spotlighting gender identity and self discovery.

KPC created “Transcend, Uplifting Their Voices” concert and scholarship initiative (launched in July 2021) to center & celebrate Black Trans, Non Gender Conforming, and Queer artists pursuing careers in dance. KPC is currently beginning the scholarship part of this initiative with two inaugural awardees and one honorable mention. Building a network of Black LGBTQ+ led dance companies and organizations to offer scholarship resources such as mentorship, online materials, head/body shots, free classes, company rehearsals and opportunities to perform plus a $1000 gift in award monies creates a space for Black LGBTQ+ young people to connect with trailblazers who have been where they are now.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in NYC and currently reside in Brooklyn. However, for the better part of 15 years I lived in Astoria, Queens.

So I’d say we’d have to visit Astoria for some of the best Greek food you’ve ever had and also head through Astoria Park, a really great spot to walk by the water and chill out.

We would certainly need to check out what’s playing at the Joyce theater, the go to space for up and coming dance companies and established dance makers and trailblazers, ideally we’d catch Camille A. Brown and Dancers or Michelle Dorrance Dance Company in performance.

The Natural History Museum is my favorite and it’d be great to swing across Central Park and pop into the Met as well!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my family; my two sisters in particular who not only inspired the initial work that led to KPC’s mission of social justice but who continue to believe in and support our every endeavor.

Shoutout to the Performing Artists of KPC! Our “O.G,s” Aimee, Rachel, Shan and Daniella in particular who have stuck with me through the journey and the challenges, continuing to believe in our work every day; KPC wouldn’t exist without them.

Website: https://www.katharinepettitcreative.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katharinepettitcreative/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KPettitCreative

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katharinepettitcreative

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8AfxL5dA99OSgYer2d4WnQ

Image Credits
Michael Bonasio Media Shahzeb Hussain Samantha Bajonero Roaring Lion Marketing; Jeff Watson