About Fusebox
FUSE BOX is ten days of contemporary performance, dance, music, film, poetry and visual art. For the past year we’ve had our ears to the ground searching for work that is daring, inventive and fresh. Work that asks big questions. Work that both entertains and challenges. Work that pushes new
boundaries and encourages possibility.
At its heart, the festival is about conversation. Artists and audiences alike talking shop. Trying on a new pair of lenses. Sparking dialogue that transcends form and geography. Austin talking to Minneaopolis talking to Portland talking to Topeka talking to Madrid and London and Mexico City. It’s theatergoers attending art openings, visual artists going to see dance, dancers going to film screenings, etc.
FUSE BOX also offers a series of workshops, informal chats, and talk-backs. Specific dates/times/locations will be listed on our website along with the latest festival news at refractionarts.org.
Most of the performances are around an hour in length, so you can see more than one show per night. There are a range of free and affordable events throughout the festival. Additionally, passes are only $50 and get you into ten days of dynamic programming you won’t see anywhere else in Texas.
So! We encourage you to take a risk. See something you know nothing about. Step outside yourself. Engage.
RON BERRY
Artistic Director
Refraction Arts/Fuse Box
Fusebox Staff
Artistic Director/Producer: Ron Berry
Production Manager: Natalie George
Programmers: Sarah Adams, Ron Berry, Monika Bustamante, Alison Hart, Spencer Parsons, Jade Walker, Katherine McQueen, OKAY Mountain, Rachel Koper, Arturo Palacios, Church of the Friendly Ghost, Austin Video Bee, & the Refraction Arts Company
Technical Director: K. Eliot Haynes
Lighting Designer/Master Electrician: Natalie George
Box Office Coordinator: Cyndi Williams
Marketing: Natalie George, Carra Martinez
PR: Wendy Corn
Event Planning: Sam Webber
Volunteer Coordinators: Mari Akita & Travis Hale
Blue 60 Coordinator: Sonnet Blanton
About Refraction Arts
Refraction Arts Project creates contemporary works of art across a variety of media, including film, theater, art and music. We are especially interested in the intersection of these different media as we search for new stories, new sounds and images that pulse with life. Our vision is an immediate one, one we hope offers possibility and new ways of looking at the world.
Over the past 10 years, Refraction Arts has been nominated for and won over 150 awards. Our short films have played all over the world, and our performances and installations have been voted the #1 Arts Event of the Year by the Austin Chronicle four out of the past five years.
Special Thanks
Steven Tomlinson, Arturo Palacios, Amanda Chiampi, Rude Mechs, Linda Hardberger, Michelle Polgar, Michael Barnes, Robert Faires, Ron and Genelle Berry, Lucy and Joel Huff, Dan Heath, Scott Wilcox, Amanda Douberley, Jamie Castillo, Spencer Parsons, Kyle Henry, Shobie Partos, Shannon McCormick, Shawn Sides, Lana Lesley, SVT, Kirk Lynn, Jaclyn Pryor, UT, Angie Carter, Creative Research Lab, Okay Mountain, Nathan Green, Peat Duggins, Rachel Koper, Gallery Lombardi, Big Medium Gallery, Women and Their Work, Katherine McQueen, Hyde Park Theater, Risa Puleo, Kent Fuka, Carlos Trevino, Steve Moore, Thinkwell, Blue Genie Art, Thomas Van der Brook, Karla Manzur van der Brook, Vicky Boone, MASS Gallery, Cory Ryan, Humdrum Collective, Spank Dance Company, Jared Hayley, Sarah Adams, The Austin Chronicle, The Austin American-Statesman, Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Meryl Murman, Mexican American Cultural Center, The Victory Grill, The Austinist, Mark Holzbach, Kim Pyle, Yoga Groove, Chris Cogburn, Lauren Tietz, Jason Callahan, Jade Walker, Erick Michaud, Ellen Bartel, Gary Bond, Stephen Pruitt, Liz Berry, Catherine Berry, Stubb’s, Amy Bryant, Emily Bryant, Isaac Urwin, Palo Chalupka, Ivan Lazano, Rachel Cook, Ursula Davila-Villa, The Blanton, Xochi Solis, Sean Gaulager, Kala Philo, Jessica Agneessesns, Eva Buttacavoli, Elizabeth Dunbar, Tammie Ward, Matt Hislope, Josh Meyer, The Austin Wine Merchant, Janet Siebert.
Refraction Arts Company
Mari Akita, Ron Berry, Catherine Berry, Sonnet Blanton, Monika Bustamante, Katherine Catmull, Chris Cogburn, Leigh Fisher, Natalie Geoge, Travis Hale, K. Eliot Haynes, Anne Hulsman, Sean Jenkins, Carra Martinez, Adriene Mishler, Spencer Parsons, Jaclyn Pryor, Jennifer Rogers, Brian Schneider, Austin Sheffield, Julia M. Smith, Adam Sultan, Douglas Taylor, Thomas Van der Brook, Sam Webber, Elizabeth Wakehouse, Cyndi Williams
Refraction Arts Benefactors
Steven Tomlinson, Eugene Sepulveda, Kent Fuka, Dan Heath, Erin and Eve McArthur, Ron and Genelle Berry, Lucy and Joel Huff, Scott Wilcox, Harvey Guion, JPMORGAN Private Bank, Michelle Polgar, Marvin and Cindy Palla, Kathy Catmull, Ken Webster, Touch O Green Landscapes, Austin Community Foundation , The Nowlin, Family Fund, Blair Fox, Steve Moore, Cyndi Williams, Sam Webber, Jason Neulander, Sarah Andre, Lucy and Joel Huff, Lori A. Newhouse, Gerald and Peggy Tietz, Monika Bustamante, Heather Alden, Scott Schroeder, Blue Genie Art
MASS Gallery
Our artist run gallery space (MASS) is provided free of charge to the collective team in residency. Likewise, we take 0% of profits from work sold. We were interested in creating an idea space with as few barriers as possible. A space for artists to create freely without the constraints of commerce/business.
The gallery also speaks to our interest in creating intersection across disciplines. The idea of creating a home for visual artists inside the context of a performance space (Blue Theater) was particularly exciting to us. Separate, autonomous tracks that occasionally collide.
Refraction Arts/Fuse Box Sponsors
Founded in 1980 as one small store in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market® is now the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic foods.
This project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.