Benjamin Akio Kimitch is an artist and producer living in Brooklyn, NY.

He is an inaugural recipient of the 2023 Mertz Gilmore Foundation Dancer Award, an unrestricted grant with sustained support to innovate, network, and build a resilient operational foundation over the next three years. Kimitch’s recent dance works include Tiger Hands (The Shed as part of Open Call 2022) and Ko-bu (The Noguchi Museum, Danspace Project, Bessie Award Nomination). For Tiger Hands, Kimitch received a “Bessie” New York Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Choreographer / Creator. Artistic residencies include the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University, Movement Research Artist-in-Residence, and The Kitchen Dance and Process. In 2023, he began an ongoing, collaborative U.S./Japan research project with choreographer Yasuko Yokoshi.

Alongside his artistic practice, Kimitch is a producer for Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) at the World Trade Center. PAC NYC highlights include producing the premieres of Watch Night (Bill T. Jones, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Tamar-kali, Lauren Whitehead) and An American Soldier (Huang Ruo, David Henry Hwang, Chay Yew). In his career as a producer, Kimitch has advanced new work by artists including Hannah Black, Yve Laris Cohen, Martine Gutierrez, Joan Jonas, Bjarne Melgaard, Sarah Michelson and remounts by Penny Arcade (Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!) and Diamanda Galás (Schrei 27). At the Park Avenue Armory, Kimitch was production coordinator for two seasons, highlights including St. Matthew Passion (Peter Sellars, Berliner Philharmoniker), FLEXN (the D.R.E.A.M. Ring), and tears become… streams become… (Douglas Gordon, Hélène Grimaud).