JANINE RENEE CUNNINGHAM is an interdisciplinary artist, theater-maker, and performer. Her work examines life in the Anthropocene*. Questions that guide her work include, what is a theater/performance/art of the Anthropocene? What cultural practices are useful for this unprecedented era?  Using a critical and philosophical lens to focus on key elements of this epoch, like space colonization, garbage, and capitalism, she seeks what new cultural practices can emerge in these strange, unprecedented, and enmeshed times. Most recently Janine was the recipient of the City Corps Grant presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. She created TRASH HAPPENING with Dara Malina, an improvisational and live meditation on the life cycle of trash: its death, rebirth, and evolution in Prospect Park Brooklyn. The performance “happening” was chain curated (one artist invited another artist who invited another artist) and featured live performance art, dance, and interactive, participatory elements. She also recently created the short film WE SHOULD BE BURIED WITH OUR TRASH, which served as inspiration for the project.

Previously, Janine co-created THE RODNEY AND TOMMIE SHOW, a multi-year performance and video collaboration with performance artist Noah Ortega. It centered around the characters of two domesticated barnyard animals on a mission to raise awareness about species extinction. She was also the lead artist on WILL THEY PLAY GOLF ON MARS? a theatrical investigation into billionaires and space colonization directed by Dara Malina. It was presented as a works-in-progress at On the Boards in Seattle and Prelude Festival in NYC in 2018, at the World Ecology Research Network conference in San Francisco, and at Dixon Place in NYC in 2019. 

In 2020, she was an Associate Artist with Culture Push, an organization that supports artists with boundary-pushing, interdisciplinary, and socially engaged projects. In 2018, she was a fellow with EmergeNYC, an incubator for mostly POC, women, and LGBTQIA+ artists exploring the intersections of art and activism. 

She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art with a focus in Performance Creation from Goddard College (2018) and a BA in International Studies from Portland State University (2008). She attended the Evening Acting Conservatory program at the Atlantic Acting School (2014). 

*The Anthropocene is a term used to indicate humanity's impact on the earth's geological record.