Joe Goode Performance Group

Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) promotes understanding and compassion among people through the innovative use of dance and theater.

Founded in 1986 by Artistic Director, Joe Goode (he/they), the company explores three main pillars of programming, including: (1) creating and presenting new dance-theater works, (2) expanding movement education and community engagement to all people and (3) managing the Joe Goode Annex, a studio theater located in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District.

In Goode’s words, “I want to make “human scale” dances.  By human in scale, I mean placing the emphasis on the unglamorized body, the body in more intimate moments, when it is fallible or agitated or inept.  My intent is not to create merely pedestrian movement, but to make dynamic movement that is a combination of gesture and partnering.  I am equally interested in the texture of the human voice and the effect it has on movement.  Since my early days as a choreographer, I have been trying to forge some territory where dance and language/sound could co-exist…  I want to liberate the dancer from their silence and create a total theater that is rigorously crafted but intimately personal.”

Goode’s performance-installation works have been commissioned by the Fowler Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles, Krannert Art Museum, the Capp Street Project, the M.H. de Young Museum and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His dance theater work has been commissioned by Pennsylvania Ballet, Zenon Dance Company, AXIS Dance Company and Dance Alloy Theater, among others. Goode and his work have been recognized by numerous awards for excellence including the American Council on the Arts, the New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) and Isadora Duncan Dance Awards (Izzies).

Longtime supporters, John Sander and Patti White recently approached the company to make a substantial, institutional donation – cementing JGPG’s legacy and sustainability over the long-term.  As a result, the “J. Sander and P. White Endowment for Joe Goode Performance Group Agency Fund” was born.

This significant investment enables the company to continue developing ambitious and meaningful performances in public spaces throughout California, as well as at the Joe Goode Annex.  Moreover, the funds support livable wages and benefits for its dancers, collaborating artists, production members and staff who help make the work possible.

JGPG’s work is based on the values of centering artmakers who represent communities that have been historically marginalized and sidelined, including LGBTQ+ and BIPOC voices, as well as communities with disabilities.  We invite you to support the fund with a matching gift to help ensure JGPG’s groundbreaking and consequential work continues to benefit California communities for the next 35 years and beyond…

To make a secure, tax-deductible donation online, click on the button below. You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for the Joe Goode Performance Group.

California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Donate Now

Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation’s board of directors. This charge will appear on your credit card statement as a payment to “Calif Comm Fdn – CCF”. In addition, California Community Foundation incurs a third-party administrative fee of 2.7 percent for credit card contributions. The foundation will charge the fee directly to the individual fund.