Non-Event presents a collaborative performance by Yvette Janine Jackson and Jessica Shand based on Jackson’s radio opera ENTF (Backspace) in the unique acoustics of the Great Engines Hall of the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum. The piece is presented as part of the Radio Opera Workshop, a project exploring narrative soundscapes.

About the artists

Yvette Janine Jackson draws on her experiences as a theatrical sound designer to create an aesthetic of narrative soundscape composition she calls “radio opera.” Her compositions have been heralded as “immersive non-visual films” (The Guardian). Jackson is a recipient of the 2025 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts.

Jackson’s projects often draw from history to examine relevant social issues. Her album Freedom is described as “one of the most unique releases to chronicle the Black American experience” (The Wire). Recent projects include Hello, Tomorrow! for orchestra and electronics co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and American Composers Orchestra; and T-Minus, A Radio Opera commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble. Her permanent installations Underground (Codes) and Destination Freedom can be experienced at Wave Farm in Acra, New York, and the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA.

Jessica Shand is a flutist, producer, composer, and researcher currently based out of Providence, RI. She merges contemporary experimental classical, jazz, and electronic performance practices with mathematics and computer science to (de)construct sound as a relational interface between and among humans and machines. 

Presented with the support of the Waterworks Museum and WZBC 90.3 FM