Our mission
MART is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to curating, producing, and supporting contemporary performing arts worldwide. We collaborate with artists whose practices expand the language of performance, exploring form, identity, and the complexities of the present moment.
Through commissions, touring, and long-term collaborations, we foster artistic exchange across borders, disciplines, and cultural contexts. Our programs connect audiences to theatre and dance that challenge convention, spark dialogue, and create space for new ways of seeing.
Our history
In 2018, producer Sofia Kapkov founded Modern Artlife Foundation (MART).
MART was founded out of my long-standing commitment to developing ambitious theatre and contemporary dance projects as well as supporting independent artists working internationally. In its early years, the foundation focused on presenting projects originating in Russia to global audiences.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked a fundamental rupture. We have decided to halt all activity in Russia and relocate our work. It was an ethical and structural turning point for the foundation, defined by moral responsibility and artistic independence.
Today, MART operates within an international cultural landscape, working with artists and institutions across the United States, Europe, and Israel. Our programs are shaped by collaboration, mobility, artistic independence, and the belief that theatre and dance remain vital spaces for dialogue and shared experience.
Sofia Kapkov
Founder
With a strong focus on collaboration, MART co-produced the New York premiere of Our Class at Brooklyn Academy of Music, named one of the best productions of 2024 by the The Wall Street Journal and a four-time Lucille Lortel Awards winner, as well as Into the Hairy by Sharon Eyal, recipient of the 2026 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. Among the foundation’s recent projects is the Off-Broadway production Seagull: True Story, produced by MART and directed by Alexander Molochnikov, presented at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (2025), Marylebone Theatre (2025), and The Public Theater (2026).
Over the past ten years, MART has collaborated with renowned artists, institutions, and festivals, including Gibney Company, Carnegie Hall, Sadler’s Wells, the Barbican Centre, Holland Dance Festival, Akram Khan Company, S-E-D Sharon Eyal Dance, Festival d’Avignon and Powerhouse: Internationa | A New Arts Festival.
