I am an artist, musician, and composer based in Massachusetts that is inspired by creative work that asks questions and invites interaction. A graduate of Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College, Daniel studied music composition, tuba, and conducting while exploring collaborations across the arts and building community with studio-mates.
While at Ohio University, Daniel co-founded capital A, an interdisciplinary arts collective, with Johanna Amaya-Conejo and Jo Rollins. capital A’s mission was to provide playful space for any and all creative people to expand, explore, and experiment. We hosted interactive, multi-disciplinary workshops twice a month, intermittent performances and happenings, social gatherings, and, in collaboration with the Ohio University School of Theater’s Fringe Festival, a campus-wide interdisciplinary arts festival.
In my creative community building work, I co-facilitate ONEDAY, a monthly multimedia improvised jam session where 10-25 artists from across the region come together to connect and create. Rooted in the belief that play and experimentation spark meaningful collaborations, ONEDAY utilizes deep listening, attention, and improvisation games to foster creative growth and connection. Participants say ONEDAY is the quickest they have entered a flow state, where their inner child feels freest to explore without judgement, and where they try on different creative relationships.
My creative work builds connectivity through improvisation and collaborative performance practices. Creating connections through research, contemplation, and humor, I invite those that interact with my work to ask potentially transformative questions. I develop collaborative frameworks, games, prompts, and pieces that elicit creativity from all participants and audiences.
In my practice, my value of communication naturally leads to a strong need for collective problem solving. My work implicates all members of the creative process in the making of our individual and communal lives, empowers creative collaboration, and illuminates life as a creative performance where we can grow, play, laugh and make magic together.
