Life in New York can be rough,
but worth absolutely every moment.
This city and its citizens have taught me
how to live life as a professional artist
and how to empower others through the impact of my art.
Brandon Kazen-Maddox is a Grandchild of Deaf Adults (GODA) and third-generation native signer of American Sign Language (ASL) who identifies as a Nonbinary, Black Indigenous Person of Color and a member of the LGBTQAI+ community.
From 2010 to 2017, Brandon worked as a professional circus acrobat in San Francisco, CA and honed their circus training and dance technique through various collaborations in theatre, film and opera. In May 2019, Brandon graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in Dance and New Technology and currently works as a professional artist, choreographer, director, editor and ASL Artist both in New York City and remotely.
In the summer of 2020, Brandon became a co-founder of Up Until Now Collective, a newly-established non-profit organization focused on radical empathy and inclusion. Brandon collaborates with and provides opportunities for Deaf artists who share a passion for bringing artistic works of ASL Dance Theater to the stage, screen and beyond. Within their commitment to creating work for and with the Deaf community, Brandon also highlights and empowers BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ artists, building multicultural bridges of collaboration and community for artists of all backgrounds and abilities.
Brandon and Up Until Now Collective were recently commissioned by Broadstream, a new streaming platform that launched in September 2021, to create SOUL(SIGNS), a series of 10 ASL music videos featuring iconic songs by Black women, which was both featured in The New York Times, ABC World News, and in the Midnight Moment in Times Square throughout the month of July, 2021. Up Until Now was also commissioned by Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Omaha and Opera Columbus to make a series of Opera ASL Music Videos called SOUL(SIGNS): OPERA and by Global Citizen to make a series of videos celebrating Pride 2022.
Throughout the summer of 2021, Brandon served as the lead liaison for providing ASL services at The Shed, Little Island, Lincoln Center and the Park Avenue Armory, where they are bringing Deaf Directors of ASL into the inner workings of arts organizations themselves and integrating both the Deaf perspective and Deaf performers onstage, on camera and behind the scenes. Brandon continues to lend their artistry to the empowerment of the Deaf, Disability and Arts community on a local, national and international scale.
Brandon's work as an interpreter and social activist has been featured on CNN and they have appeared as a co-star in "The Good Fight" (CBS), “High Maintenance” (HBO) and “New Amsterdam” (NBC). Brandon was also a featured story-teller for the 100th episode of "Stories From The Stage" (PBS). They are also a recipient of the New England Foundation for the Arts Grant and an awardee of the 2022 cycle of the Creative Capital Award for the ASL Dance Theatre Reimagining of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party. For more information, follow their Instagram accounts @bkazenmaddox, visit their websites, www.brandonkazen-maddox.com, www.upuntilnowcollective.com