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

He is the recent recipient of a Bessie Award for Outstanding Choreographer, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, and Creative Capital Award. Kimitch’s commissioned works have been presented by Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, The Shed, The Noguchi Museum, The Kitchen, and Danspace Project. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies with Asian Cultural Council, MacDowell, Yaddo, Movement Research, MANCC, and others.

Since 2022, he has collaborated with choreographer Yasuko Yokoshi in an ongoing U.S. and Japan research project. Other collaborators have included dancers Pareena Lim, Julie McMillan Castellano, Lai Yi Ohlsen, and Claire Westby; designers Kathy Kaufmann, James Kidd, Carlos Soto, TOME, and Serena Wong; and dramaturg Jeffrey Gan.

Kimitch brings to his artistic work over 16 years of experience as a professional producer for new opera, music, theater, and dance. Most recently, he was the Producer at PAC NYC, which included developing Cats: The Jellicle Ball before its Tony Award-winning Broadway transfer, and the Grammy-nominated opera An American Soldier by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang.

As a producer, Kimitch has advanced new works by artists Laurence Fishburne, David Henry Hwang, Huang Ruo, Bill T. Jones, Tamar-kali, Joan Jonas, Martine Gutierrez, Hannah Black, Yve Laris Cohen, Bjarne Melgaard, Sarah Michelson, among countless others, as well as remounts by Penny Arcade and Diamanda Galás. At the Park Avenue Armory, Kimitch was Production Coordinator for two seasons, working directly with artists including Peter Sellars, Hélène Grimaud, the D.R.E.A.M. Ring, and Paris Opera Ballet Étoiles.