Meet the 2026 Pay It Forward Cohort

Sable Island Pony blends howling vocals, poetry, distorted guitar, warm tones, tape hiss, and unexpected arrangements that move between fragile and explosive. Rooted somewhere between lo-fi folk and indie rock, in a sound she calls “Fear Country,” her songs explore intergenerational grief, identity, memory, obsession, ecological collapse, and survival with striking honesty and warmth.

Inspired by artists such as Songs: Ohia, Big Thief, and The Microphones, she has built a devoted following through intense live performances and a vast catalog of unreleased songs shared on the road. A multidisciplinary artist, she is also a painter and tattoo artist, weaving recurring characters and symbols across paintings, lyrics, skin, and recordings to create an interconnected body of storytelling.

Originally from a small reserve town in Northern Manitoba, with roots spanning Halifax, Vancouver, and New Orleans, she has spent the past decade centered in the river valleys of Western Massachusetts. In fall 2026, she will leave home to live on the road in a converted Sprinter van with her dog Katie, fully committing to reaching people through her songs.

The performance will feature a live presentation of Sable Island Pony’s upcoming album within an immersive stage environment designed collaboratively with local visual artist Makoto Chi, incorporating works from his Inauspicious Beasts tapestry and blood painting series. The evening will be hosted by local poet and writer Terran Rainer.

The Maison of Saint Morta is a Springfield, MA-based ballroom house led by House Head London Saint. Through dance, runway, and performance, the house uplifts creative, innovative, stylish, graceful and faith-filled visionaries shaping the future of culture.

Rooted in ballroom traditions of artistry, confidence and self-expression, The Maison of Saint Morta offers members space to express their true identities. As part of Pay It Forward, the house will use this time to gather, develop talent, build relationships and create spaces where ballroom culture can be celebrated and shared.

Devi Badea is an emerging theatre artist from Chicopee, MA. Her interests lay in the gaps between nightlife, music, and theater. Her involvement with the cohort is one she wears with pride.

Devi will be presenting, Quarters in the Water, a theater-art hybrid one-woman show. In Quarters in the Water, Devi invites the audience to come to her 5th (year of transition) Birthday Party. Filled with music, stand up, sketches, and maybe even videos she will recount her transition and how it has reshaped her relationship with her late mother.

A gifted jazz vocalist, Leo Harrison (he/him) croons over syncopated bass lines, colorful keys, and hip hop beats with supreme ease. His cool, sophisticated musicality is reminiscent of Stevie Wonder and João Gilberto, not only in ingenuity but in his ability to convey complex ideas in deceptively palatable ways. This ability is more than a knack, it’s a means of survival. As an autistic trans man, Leo has to swim upstream, and his music is rife with Black American blues. Yet Leo perseveres, and his songs of love and everlasting comfort shine all the brighter.

After many years of feeling more comfortable behind the scenes, Leo is returning to performance as a means of voicing stories that have never been heard before. In pursuing ancestral connections, he feels drawn to imagine the lives of those who came before us, reclaim the songs that were stolen and lost, and maybe embellish the truth a little. Leo’s music conjures modern folktales, forgotten legends, and everything in between.

Scott Hsu is a Taiwanese-American rock/pop/electronica artist from Amherst, Massachusetts. Blending English and Mandarin lyrics, his music reflects a cross-cultural identity that is global, hybrid, and deeply personal. His passionate, heartfelt songs explore love, nostalgia, transformation, and redemption with an authentic voice.

Recent releases include the dreamy Chinglish pop/punk single “陪你 / I Just Wanna Be With You” (2025), the plucky pop Americana track “You Got My Love” (2024), and the acoustic Confessional EP (2025). His Cliffs EP (2024) features the catchy synth-rock single “Play.”

For his Pay It Forward project, Scott will have an album release show with a 3-piece band. Lights, storytelling and an opening act will be a part of the experience.

Kate is a multi-media artist based in Western Massachusetts. Her work in puppetry and performance explores themes of memory and belonging, emphasizing playfulness and other such spices of life. When she is not puppeteering, you can find her collaging, writing and forgetting stupid songs, and generally just chilling…

For her Pay It Forward project, Kate will be presenting a short play that will take on many different modalities: puppetry, human actors, video art, shadow puppets, crankies, and more. The script and form will continue to shift as collaborators add their ideas into the show.

Ken Harris is a Springfield, Massachusetts-based playwright, actor, filmmaker, and solo performer whose work explores resilience, social justice, and the lives of everyday people. He is the creator and performer of Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard, an original one-man play featuring twelve characters and addressing workplace discrimination, economic insecurity, and personal dignity through the story of an aging retail worker.

Harris has performed the play across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, including at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City. His work has received support from the Springfield, Chicopee, and Agawam Cultural Councils, and he is a member of the Springfield Cultural Partnership Cohort. In 2026, he received the Mass Indie Spirit Award for his short film The Phantom Ruse. Through theater and film, Harris creates community-centered stories that spark conversation, reflection, and connection.

Ken will be presenting a Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard, an original one-man theatrical performance about Steve Smelly, an aging retail worker suddenly reassigned to loss prevention and thrust into mounting workplace pressure, discrimination, and personal struggles. Portraying twelve distinct characters, the play combines humor and drama to illuminate the fight for dignity amid economic insecurity, while tracing one worker’s resilience and journey of self-discovery.

Ang mentored Bella performing stand up comedy and producing an a array of shows, they are back on stage with a big weird show. Ang recently performed at the We Make Noise Festival and is the founder of Far Out Fest. Bella is a puppeteer, she organizes Greenfield Crankie Fest.

Bella and Ang will be creating a talent show in the form of a Late Night Talk Show featuring characters from the public domain.