SARAH KORNFELD

CURRENT PROJECTS: 2025

AGUDA RETURNS: A Family Portrait Reclaiming Diaspora Through Oral History, Digital Innovation and Immersive Culture
London | New York | Lagos

"It's the place to begin, always—to return to home, literally."
— Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, playwright, activist, of Aguda descent.

Aguda Returns is a groundbreaking cultural heritage project that traces the hidden history of the Afro-Brazilian Aguda people—formerly enslaved West Africans who gained their freedom and returned to Nigeria between the 1840s and 1890s. This project combines historical research, digital archiving, immersive storytelling, and public engagement to restore and share a diasporic legacy that has been erased from global memory. (For more information please contact us.)

THE LETTERS

A Dramaturgical Collaboration on Kinship, Migration, and Memory
Amherst | New York

The Letters is a two-year collaboration between historian Dr. Olufemi Vaughan and writer-producer Sarah Kornfeld, adapting Vaughan’s acclaimed book Letters, Kinship, and Social Mobility in Nigeria into an original performance work. (For more information please contact us.)

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CULTURAL EXECUTIVE: CREATIVE ECONOMY

In 2021, Sarah co-founded Rising Partners, a global consultancy based in Rome and San Francisco, alongside Carolina Cappabianca, Lucrezia Arena, and Lorenzo Giombini. The firm reimagines relationship marketing for the Creative Economy, guiding museums, brands, policymakers, and institutions through the transformation brought by Web3 and blockchain culture.

In Web3, Sarah curates and leads interdisciplinary projects that champion fair practices for artists, technologists, and creators worldwide. She is:

• A council member of SHE IS NEAR, the first women-led DAO on the NEAR Protocol;

• A founding member of the NEAR Digital Collective, the largest democratic governance experiment on a Layer-1 blockchain;

• A featured speaker at the 2024 Women in Web3 Summit during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Her partnerships span Africa, Brazil, Lisbon, the UK, and the US, always advocating for creative equity and digital cultural stewardship.

CULTURAL PRODUCER: ART & TECHNOLOGY

Sarah’s work in art and technology began at sixteen, mentored by Elise Bernhardt (founder of Dancing in the Streets). She trained on the French American Dance Exchange and the landmark Grand Central Dances. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she studied with Viola Farber, Bill T. Jones, David Gordon, and Elizabeth Streb, blending choreography with experimental writing influenced by Bowie and Eno. She later trained at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

Upon returning to New York, Sarah founded her first theater company and created The LoveDeath of Clowns, a 15-person apocalyptic AIDS-era circus-play, staged at Theater for the New City.

In 1993, she relocated to San Francisco, drawn by the emergence of Virtual Reality and interactive technologies, and began working with artists, technologists, and studios redefining immersive experience. Her early ventures include:

• Brave New World Group (founded 2001): one of the first organizations dedicated to creative collaborations between artists and technologists.

• Partnerships with Obscura Digital, developers of The Sphere in Las Vegas, and many pioneering XR/VR creators.

Over two decades, Sarah has produced cultural experiences with:
The Kitchen, TEVERETERNO, Zaccho Dance Theatre, California Academy of Sciences, UC Irvine’s Beall Center, The Institute for the Future, and The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.

Mitosis: Formation of Daughter Cells (Beall Center for Art and Technology): A complex installation by interdisciplinary artist, A.M. Hoch featuring voiceovers by Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg and performances by Brigid McInnes Connelly and Francine Dreyfus. The project required intricate digital architecture by Mark Shepard, Carlos Tejada, and Fiona Cate Murphy. This was the debut installation of the Beall Center at UC Irvine. (Images Below)

Plastic Century (2010): Created during a residency at the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, this installation was commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences on the 100th birthday of Jacques Cousteau, and was on of the first installations to explore ocean conservation and the impact of plastic pollution, developed alongside futurists and scientists Dr. Jake Dunagan, Dr. Stuart Candy and Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. The installation was covered by Fast Company, Plastic Pollution in the Water? Drink Up! She was honored to continue this work to support Dr. Nichols launch his seminal Blue Mind Summit, exploring the interconnection between Oceans and Neuroscience — The Blue Mind Movement. Plastic Century was incubated at the Gray Area Foundation For the Arts (GAFTA) as a part of their residency program.

(Images below)

ACTIVISM

Born and raised in the civil rights and AIDS movements in New York City, Sarah’s activism is deeply personal. Her mother was a founding member of the AIDS Resource Center/Bailey House, which serves homeless individuals living with AIDS. Sarah has been active in social justice movements, including at Judson Memorial Church in New York and Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. She also works with Jewish activist communities, including The Kitchen, Urban Adamah, and Torah of Awakening.

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BOARDS

Sarah has contributed her expertise to several advisory boards, including:

• The Kitchen’s Art and Technology Advisory Network

• ZeroOne

• Plastic Pollution Coalition

• CalArts

• Glide Memorial Church

• National Writers Union (AFL-CIO)

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TEACHING

Sarah has taught Cultural Curation at the University of San Francisco and Education/Multicultural Studies in the Graduate Department of Education. Her teaching reflects her commitment to fostering critical thinking, creativity, and cultural understanding in the next generation of artists and leaders.

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