Visual Echo is a New York-based performance organization founded during the pandemic by a small collective of immigrant artists and educators. Rooted in our cross-cultural experiences, we create bold, participatory performances and educational programs that foster dialogue and dismantle barriers between individuals of all backgrounds by bringing people together in new and unusual ways. We harness the transformative power of conversation to bridge cultural, social, and political divides—challenging assumptions and confronting prejudice.
We use innovative performance- and art-based programs as catalysts for exchange around civic issues such as immigration, polarization, conflict, and peace building. We create spaces where multiple perspectives and productive disagreement are vital to the well-being of individuals and communities, and essential to our artistic and social success.
OUR IMPACT
Through visually striking performances, socially engaged art, and empowering educational programs, we create opportunities for individuals and communities to engage in meaningful dialogue, share stories, challenge assumptions, and build connections on a horizontal, human-to-human level.
Visual Echo is committed to its founding mission through three interconnected programs: the production of original performances (VE Performance), the development of educational programs (VE Education) and the fostering of creative partnerships with community organizations (VE Community). Together, these programs invite diverse publics into dialogue, reflection, and action around the pressing issues of our time.
Visual Echo was founded in the summer of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—a moment when isolation, inequity, and uncertainty shook the foundations of daily life. The crisis exposed deep fractures in our global systems: structural racism, economic injustice, and political polarization. And yet, it also revealed a powerful longing for connection, care, and collective meaning.
We created Visual Echo in response to that rupture. Since then, the organization has developed a portfolio of innovative projects that foreground participation, dialogue, and social engagement through performance.
The early highlights include Journey of a Dream, a cross-generational venture developed in collaboration with Peace Child International in commemoration of the UN’s 75th Anniversary, “МИС”Translation, an interactive installation delving into the artistic potential of verbal and artistic mismatches; and Bridging Conversations, a sound-mediated experience for two that offered participants a brief yet impactful opportunity to immerse themselves in someone else’s perspective.
In 2024, we launched our large-scale flagship initiative, SpaceBridge, a workshop program and live performance that brough together Russian refugee children, who fled to the US due to their families’ anti-war stance and now live in NYC shelters, with American peers to build lifelong friendships while coming to terms with their differences. The performance tracked immigrant children’s stories as they integrate into American society and wrestle with questions of heritage, collective responsibility, and guilt by association.
The project emerged from Visual Echo’s distinctive storytelling workshops, which bring together immigrant and non-immigrant youth. These workshops use art and performance-based tools to help participants share personal experiences, form meaningful connections, and imagine a world where their multicultural friendships are embraced and supported.
SpaceBridge was devised and performed by eleven young Russian refugees and eight American-born participants, ages 10 to 15. It had its Off-Broadway premiere in January 2025 at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre as part of the Under the Radar Festival, and later that year toured to Boston’s Paramount Center as part of ArtsEmerson’s 15th season.
In response to growing interest, we are now launching a national and international expansion of SpaceBridge—SpaceBridge Global. This initiative partners with local organizations to co-host residencies in new cities, bringing together refugee and local youth to co-create new versions of the project rooted in their own communities. SpaceBridge is a catalyst for youth-led conversations around identity and belonging—conversations that are especially urgent amid the ongoing global refugee crisis.
In 2025, as part of our ongoing commitment to center immigrant voices, we began developing Notice to Appear (NTA)—a hybrid theatrical performance, immersive installation, and staged public tribunal about the U.S. immigration system. NTA exposes the dysfunctional dynamics of immigration courts and the arbitrary forces that determine asylum seekers’ fates. It was created through extensive interviews with immigration judges, ICE attorneys, lawyers, interpreters, policymakers, and asylum seekers, and informed by dozens of firsthand court observations across the country. The first staged reading was presented in the summer of 2025 at La MaMa ETC.
At Visual Echo, we center the individual story—not the spectacle—in order to foster human-to-human connection. Whether through performance, education, or civic dialogue, our work is grounded in presence, curiosity, and care.
We follow the principle: “work small, think big” and “scale deep, not wide.” We design each project as a space for meaningful interaction, where people feel seen, heard, and challenged. We are less interested in reaching large numbers of people than in cultivating lasting impact—one room, one moment, one relationship at a time.
Visual Echo is a laboratory for creative experimentation. We are committed to pushing the boundaries of what performance can be—and to rejecting the idea that our outcomes must always be measurable. Our goal is not just artistic or educational success, but deeper: to nourish empathy, build trust, and help make the world more connected, more just, and more alive.
Visual Echo was co-founded by Irina Kruzhilina, a New York–based theater director, scenographer, and educator with over two decades of experience creating interdisciplinary performances in both conventional and unconventional spaces. She continues to lead the organization as its Artistic Director, guiding its vision and creative direction.
Irina collaborates with a dynamic, rotating network of artists, educators, and community advisors who contribute their unique perspectives to each project. This approach reflects Visual Echo’s core values: cross-disciplinary collaboration, intercultural dialogue, and the creation of open spaces for complex, meaningful conversations.
Thijs Beuming
Thijs is a scientist and principal consultant at Latham Biopharm Group. He has more than 20 years of experience as a project and people manager in drug discovery, both in academia and industry.
Irina Kruzhilina
Irina is an award winning multi-hyphenate director-scenographer-experience designer-visual dramaturg-professor, creating work at the intersection of visual art, live performance and civic engagement performances. She is Assistant Professor of Theatre at the New School of Drama
Orlando Pabotoy
Orlando is Head of Physical Acting at the Juilliard School. Prior to that, he was Associate Arts Professor, Tisch School Of the Arts at New York University New. He is an Obie Award-winning artist, and a graduate of the Juilliard School.
Jennifer Holmes
Jennifer is the Dean and Executive Director of Pace’s Sands College of Performing Arts. Prior to Pace she was the dean of the College of Arts, Communications, and Design at Long Island University (LIU). In addition, she is the Founder and Director of Global Empowerment Theatre, an international arts-in-education organization that uses theatre in developing nations to improve English literacy and offer a platform for young people to share their stories.
Clara Alonso
Clara is Product Lead at Jaguar Land Rover North America. Prior to this she was Director of Marketing/ Producer at En Garde Arts.
Dmitry Lupyan
Dmitry is Research Leader and Product Manager at Schrödinger INC.