Erwin Maas

Erwin Maas is a New York-based theatermaker, curator, educator, and international arts advocate from the Netherlands with extensive international experience across a variety of creative and community contexts. As a curious traveler, he prioritizes a collaborative spirit and embraces contemporary and interdisciplinary approaches driven by a vision that centers culture and the arts at the core of society. The integration of holistic practice, diversity, equity, and inclusion stands as a fundamental principle in his work, demonstrated through his advocacy for, and collaboration with, underserved creative voices and communities as well as emerging artistic (plat)forms and geographies. In New York, his directions, both Off-Broadway and site-specific, have received multiple NYTimes Critic’s Picks and awards. He is especially passionate about developing new or existing works with local artists and/or communities and has done so all around the world. His directing work ranges from plays by contemporary playwrights to devised, interdisciplinary immersive projects, opera, musical theater & dance with performances for all ages. Erwin is the Co-Executive Director of the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE) and teaches at CUNY Brooklyn College's MFA Performance & Interactive Media Arts Program (PIMA). As former Artistic Director of the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA), Director of the Fellowship Program for the International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY), and Director of Performing Arts for the Cultural Department of the Royal Netherlands Embassy & Consulates in the USA, Maas offers an extensive knowledge and network in the international cultural field with a focus on contemporary practices, international cultural relations and policy. Erwin is a core-member of Theater Without Borders, a member of Georgetown University's Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, Salzburg Global Advisory Council on Culture and Arts, and of the Netherland-America Foundation Cultural Committee. He also serves on the Artistic Advisory Board of the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, the First Nation Spiderwoman Theater, and DecadesOut - an organization at the intersection of Arts, Science & Policy – https://erwinmaas.com