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Pioneer Winter is a Miami-based choreographer, and director of the Pioneer Winter Collective – invested in physical theatre, contemporary dance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and transmedia. His Collective provides a platform for risk-taking, progressive, and experimental arts initiatives. He is co-director of RIFT Blackbox and the Miami Dance Studio, and was founding curator of transmedia performances for FilmGate Interactive. Through his Collective, Winter also directs/produces several programs, including L.E.A.P. (Leaders of Equality through Arts and Performance), a creative communication program for LGBTQ-identifying teens and their allies that focuses on using the arts for activism and social change; and the Grass Stains fellowship, a site-specific performance initiative that mentors and commissions artists interested in creating site-based and public artwork in Miami through a close collaboration with acclaimed site choreographer Stephan Koplowitz.

A Horatio Alger Scholar, he is an alumnus of the Florida International University Honors College, and holds a Masters in Public Health and Epidemiology. Winter also completed a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Jacksonville University/White Oak, as the first artist to be named a Dennis R. Washington Achievement Scholar. Pioneer Winter has presented work in the International Fringe Arts Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, TEDxMIA at New World Symphony, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Perez Art Museum of Miami (formerly Miami Art Museum), Miami-Dade County Auditorium, San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, WPBT2’s Art Loft and 10 Under 40, ScreenDance Miami, Knight Foundation’s Random Acts of Culture, Duncan Theatre, Bass Museum of Art, Art Wynwood, Deering Estate at Cutler, American College Dance Festival, Frost Museum of Art, O Cinema, Florida Dance Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, FilmGate Interactive, and Triskelion Arts, NYC, among others. 

As an artist, Matthew Evan Taylor, is intrigued by four aspects of music; the growth of complex music from a simple idea, the social nature of the art form (especially, as it manifests in improvisation and the audience’s reaction), the evocation of color and atmosphere through sound, and the relationship of dance and music. He believes that today’s culture encourages a new kinetic, vibrant type of art, with unhinged rhythms and unbridled expression. It is Matthew’s goal to reflect this world and what is awe-inspiring about it through his music. Ultimately, he wishes to connect with the audience and expose the beauty that is all around.

Matthew was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was exposed early to the music of Cannonball Adderly, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. He began playing saxophone at the age of 9, and quickly began learning the music of his heroes by ear. In college, he was introduced to the music of Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, which opened his ears to the world of modern classical music. After a five year stint touring as a founding member of Sony Music recording artist Moses Mayfield, Matthew moved to Miami in 2009 to focus on composition. Since his relocation, Matthew has been an active artist, both performer and composer, in the Miami area and beyond. His music has been premiered in Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Cortona, Italy and performed by the Imani Winds,The Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, pianistMarilyn Crispell,  and clarinetist Gregory Oakes. Matthew is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Miami, Frost School of Music, where he is also an instructor in music theory and aural skills. 

Patricia Margarita Hernandez is a curator, researcher, and producer of contemporary art, who is dedicated to unconventional theoretical and practical methodologies that circumvent traditional art formats. Working across new media, sound, performance, and exhibition making, her work has focused on technological design, immaterial labor, techno-animism, and city development within a neoliberal schema. Hernandez received her M.A. at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College in May 2016. She co-founded and directed the end/SPRING BREAK (2009-2015), producing over 300 events in over 40 locations throughout South Florida communities. Currently, she is working with the Alliance of the Southern Triangle (AST), a platform for artists and architects to speculate on climate change within the South Florida region, in order to consider the geospatial and political implications of the region through the development of artistic strategies that include exhibitions, research, and speculative memorials.