Kye Grant is an artist and performer working in experiential, collaborative, and attention-generating social art forms. They use their training in theater, voice, dance, and music to devise participatory public events that deepen our relationships to place and to one another. Projects have taken the form of a pedestrian parade with fifth-grade crossing guards, a ten-day artist residency in Times Square, the open invitation dance ensemble Public Acts of Dance Company, a 40-person mall walk in a Portland shopping center, a Queens public access television show, and the musical performance persona Jennifer Vanilla (established in 2015). They produce Planet Lloyd, a free newspaper about Portland, Oregon’s Lloyd Center Mall, supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Grant spent ten years as a vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, and co-writer in the experimental Brooklyn pop band Ava Luna, during which time the group toured internationally and released seven records. Grant’s performance work has brought them to MoMA PS1, Queens; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland; Apollo Theater, New York; Joe’s Pub, New York; Irving Plaza, New York; and hundreds of other venues across the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Grant received an MFA in Art + Social Practice from Portland State University and works as a voice actor, security guard, gallery attendant, adjunct instructor, assistant director for a children’s musical, occasional contributor to the Portland Mercury, and visiting artist at PSU College of the Arts. Find them at their monthly performance party, Club Alive.