Let's hear it for our community!
It's been a whirlwind year at Level Ground! 2023 has seen us weather changes and challenges, exciting new partnerships, and emerging avenues for connection, care and visibility. And we couldn't have done it without the support and unending brilliance of our incredible community.
As a show of our gratitude, and as we reflect on the last 12 months and begin to lay the foundations for the future we’ve been dreaming of, we'd like to spotlight some of the phenomenal things our community has accomplished this year. Read on to see all the ways in which our Level Ground family has made us proud, and what we’re collectively dreaming up for the days ahead. We’re so excited to see what gifts are in store for us in 2024.
As we head into the New Year, we want to ensure that we continue to build spaces, practices and partnerships that provide further opportunities for learning, care and celebration of our community! Those opportunities wouldn’t be possible without the support and generosity of folks like you. If you are able to this holiday season, please consider making a donation to our End of Year Campaign, so we can continue to create the spaces to share stories like those below, and keep dreaming about the future!
Wishing you a beautiful season,
The Level Ground Staff Artists
Bianca Nozaki-Nasser
In 2023, Bianca completed their second solo show with CIRCA, held their first public reading, and participated in North Fig Bookstore’s “Dear Habibi” reading. Additionally, she is continuing to develop new work and a new curriculum.
“Y’all set such an important standard for collaboration,” Bianca says of the ways in which Level Ground has helped to support her along her artistic journey. We wish her all the congratulations in the world!
You can keep up with all of Bianca’s upcoming projects on their website, biancanasser.com, and on Instagram @withbianca_ !
Jules Rosskam
Jules feature film Desire Lines — supported by a Creative Capital grant and Level Ground’s 2021 Production Incubator Cohort — is premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival!
Sundance writes this of the film:
Past and present collide when an Iranian American trans man time-travels through an LGBTQ+ archive on a dizzying and erotic quest to unravel his own sexual desires.
Leading trans academic and scholar Jules Rosskam makes his Sundance debut with this daring, sexy exploration of the interdependence of gender expression and sexuality. Deploying a hybrid approach, Rosskam blends a deeply intellectual interrogation of the archive, a sharp erotic imagination, and a series of breathtakingly intimate interviews to create this layered document of transmasculine sexuality and its profoundly social roots and ripples.
Watch the film at Sundance (in person or online) here, follow Jules on Instagram @julesrosskamfilms, and his website, www.julesrosskam.com.
Huge congrats to Jules and his team!
Maya Mackrandilal
Of the projects she’s been devoting time to this year (in addition to caring for her 15 month old son), Maya says, “I've been back in the studio working on two large-scale pieces and launching a clothing brand on Etsy where I translate my art into streetwear.”
Maya’s new apparel brand, Revolution Dressed, recently launched its first drop, “INITIATION.” The capsule was inspired by her motherhood, as she detailed in a recent newsletter: “...the absolute shock of the fourth trimester stripped away my ego and all that was left was the very core of me, the seed, the bindu. In a way, those first moments of life with Kiran were like one bindu meeting another and unfurling into a new universe together.
So it is fitting that my store’s opening "capsule collection" would start with the bindu - a symbol of beginnings that weaves together the microscopic with the cosmic.” Maya has credited Level Ground with helping her to think extensively about ways to “creat[e] sustainability and income from [my] creativity.”
More information about Maya’s work can be found at her website, mayamackrandilal.com. You can also follow Maya @femme_couteau on Instagram, and be sure to keep an eye out for new Revolution Dressed drops @revolutiondressed, Congratulations, Maya!
Leah Zeiger
This year, Leah founded The Sunflower Project, joined a new cheerleading team (while simultaneously continuing to coach), participated in Urban Nut, and assisted the Level Ground staff team in drafting some incredible grants!
We want to wish Leah an especially-massive congratulations for securing nonprofit status for The Sunflower Project, which works to “educate... young people on sexual violence and relationship abuse and empowers survivors to tell their story through artmaking.”
Follow Leah on Instagram @leah.zeiger and check out her website, leahzchoreography.com, for more. We’re so proud of you, Leah!
Chance Calloway
Chance has had an incredibly fruitful 2023, which included creating:
A twenty-one book Horror Historia anthology, collecting the top tier monsters from Victorian literature and pulp magazines from Dracula and Frankenstein to prototypes for gilled men and muck monsters.
A new television project focusing on a group of queer friends in the San Gabriel valley
A soundtrack to the television project as well as three concept albums
Three photo books—one that he art directed, and two with his own photography
A stage play based on true events about the impact and responsibilities of artists with celebrity
The audiobook to his Nella Larsen collection, "Beyond Passing"
In looking ahead, Chance aims to continue submitting both his music video for “I Know Him So Well” and his rotoscoped short film, “RAM,” to film festivals.
“I began working on ‘RAM’ as a sort of lifeline during my last year of being unhoused, and the Level Ground community gave me so much support during that period as well as during the transition period to my becoming housed again,” Chance says. “Just knowing that there are organizations and groups that actually care about the quality of life an artist has over the stature the artist can provide is something refreshing and rare in Los Angeles.”
To support Chance’s work, visit his website, chancecalloway.com. He’s also available on TikTok @csrcalloway , and on Patreon. Congrats on all that 2023 had to offer you, Chance!
Andy Motz
Andy’s feature documentary MASC had a successful crowdfunding campaign this year and is in the final stages of finishing. The film is picture locked, just wrapped on color (woo!), and they are working on the score now.
In the film, Andy reckons with his past while exploring alternative versions of masculinity in the lives of various people (including some recognizable faces from the Level Ground community!). MASC does more than just challenge traditional masculinity, it reimagines it.
You can follow the film on Instagram @masc_doc. Andy, we can’t wait to see and celebrate the film with you!
Chiho Harazaki
This year, Chiho has continued to devote time and care to her portraits and figurative artwork, including participating in a duo exhibition called “Synthesis,” and a solo exhibition, “East to West!”
Over the summer, Chiho was also one of two Level Ground community members tapped to create a mural at the new location of The Robinon S.P.A.C.E.
“Level Ground makes me comfortable to just be me!’” Chiho says of her involvement with Level Ground.
More information about her work and artistry can be found on her website, chihoharazaki.com and on Instagram @chiho_harazaki. We feel so excited to watch you shine, Chiho!
Cheryl Furjanic
Two years after participating in Level Ground’s Production Incubator Cohort, Cheryl was awarded a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts for her film, Adventures in Miscarriage.
Calling on the powers of dark comedy, absurdist performance, and queer camp, an angry heartbroken filmmaker pulls back the curtain on reproductive injustice in post-Roe America by exploring the world’s most common pregnancy complication: miscarriage.
This grant is the first industry money to come through for the film — a huge benchmark and accomplishment! Follow and support the film at cherylfurjanic.com/films/adventures-in-miscarriage/.
Here's to more money for Cheryl (and all of us) in 2024!!!
Ricardo Tomasz
In 2023, Ricardo directed his first feature film that included a prolific cast, began writing a book for DSTL Arts, procured a talent manager, participated in a number of film festivals and a showcase at the Ontario Museum of History and Art, taught a class at the Hammer Museum, developed and published more content for his podcast, “THE PRODUCERS LOUNGE,” held a solo exhibition, and shared several educational songs for children on social media!
“In 2024, I may be launching an exciting new plan where I will pay artists/writers/composers to collaborate with me on projects,” he says of what’s in store for him next year.
Check out Ricardo’s website, greaterandgrander.com, and follow them on Instagram @RicardoTomasz for more! We’re so excited for all that you’ve accomplished this year, Ricardo!
Jessica Ponz
Branching out from her very established career as a print photographer, Jessica joined Level Ground’s Production Incubator Cohort to work on her first-ever film. “The incubator had a lot of influence and inspiration/accountability in helping me finish a project.”
Jessica’s project, Paper Boats, has screened at a few festivals this year, and won best first film at Doc LA! Follow Jessica on Instagram @jessicajpons and her website, jessicapons.com.
Here’s to finishing many more projects, Jessica!
