Sins Invalid

Sins Invalid
Name	Sins Invalid
Formation	2005
Founders	Patricia Berne; Alicia Kozakiewicz; ...
Headquarters	Berkeley, California
Focus	Disability justice; performance art; LGBT rights

Sins Invalid

Sins Invalid is a performance project and arts organization centered on disability justice, LGBT rights, and sexuality, founded in 2005 in Berkeley, California. The collective integrates performance, education, and advocacy to center the narratives of disabled artists, including intersections with Black Lives Matter, Queer Nation, Disability Rights Movement, and movements led by activists like Audre Lorde and Toni Morrison. Its work has been featured alongside institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, TEDxSanFrancisco, Harvard University, Stanford University, and CalArts.

History

Sins Invalid emerged in the mid-2000s amid dialogues with organizations like The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today), Not Dead Yet, and cultural producers connected to Performance Studies international (PSi), New Performance Network, and festivals such as Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Founders drew inspiration from figures including Simi Linton, Ellen Samuels, Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, and movements like Second-wave feminism, Third-wave feminism, and Transgender Day of Remembrance. Early residencies and presentations linked Sins Invalid to venues and programs at Theaster Gates collaborations, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and community arts initiatives in Oakland and San Francisco. Throughout the 2010s the collective expanded networks with National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, and grassroots groups such as Black Girls Rock!, Rainbow Railroad, and GLAAD.

Mission and Philosophy

Sins Invalid articulates a mission rooted in disability justice frameworks advanced by activists including Patricia Berne and theorists like Lennard J. Davis, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Alice Wong, and Susan Sontag. The collective situates sexuality and embodiment in dialogue with concepts from Queer Theory, citing thinkers such as Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and cultural interlocutors like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. Its philosophy intersects with principles promoted by Movement for Black Lives, National Coalition for LGBTQ Health, and indigenous advocates connected to Idle No More and scholars like Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Emphasis on access, pride, and transformative justice aligns with practices championed by Critical Resistance and networks like The Audre Lorde Project.

Programs and Performances

Sins Invalid produces staged performances, workshops, and educational programs featuring artists and collaborators who have connections to institutions and individuals such as Pedro Almodóvar-influenced filmmakers, presenters from MoMA PS1, and performers linked to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, and Dance Theater Workshop. Past collaborators and participants include artists with affiliations to CalArts, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Columbia University, New York University, and presenters who have worked alongside Jeremy O. Harris, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Annie Sprinkle, Tony Kushner, and scholar-activists like Kimberlé Crenshaw. Sins Invalid also stages community programming in partnership with festivals such as South by Southwest, Pride parade events, and panels at conferences like American Association of People with Disabilities and Society for Disability Studies.

Advocacy and Impact

The collective engages in policy and cultural advocacy that intersects with campaigns by ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), Affordable Care Act, AARP initiatives, and coalitions including National Council on Independent Living, Center for American Progress, and Human Rights Campaign. Its impact is visible in university curricula at Yale University, University of Chicago, Brown University, University of Michigan, and University of California, Los Angeles, where courses on disability, performance, and sexuality reference Sins Invalid programming. The organization’s outreach resonates with campaigns led by Planned Parenthood, National LGBTQ Task Force, Health and Human Services (HHS), and grassroots projects like The Okra Project.

Organizational Structure and Leadership

Leadership has included founding members and artistic directors with ties to activist circles such as Patricia Berne and collaborators who have worked with institutions like Ford Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and academic centers at Harvard Kennedy School and UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender. Staffing and governance have engaged advisory relationships with scholars and cultural producers associated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Press, Columbia University Press, and nonprofit networks including Independent Sector and Encore.org.

Reception and Criticism

Sins Invalid has been praised in media tied to outlets and critics from The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and arts journals such as Artforum and TDR: The Drama Review. Supporters compare its cultural intervention to work by Pina Bausch, Yvonne Rainer, Hannah Wilke, and activists like Adrienne Rich. Criticism has come from commentators within debates involving organizations like Not Dead Yet and conservative-leaning outlets such as National Review and policy analysts from Heritage Foundation who contest aspects of its sexuality-centered programming. Academic critique appears in journals and conferences hosted by American Studies Association, Modern Language Association, and scholars from Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania who interrogate representational strategies.

Category:Disability arts organizations