About

J. Cleary Rubinos is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, and systems-builder working at the intersection of story and structure.

Raised in New York City by a Cuban mother and Irish-American father, and based in Philadelphia since 2007, their work is shaped by the contradictions and multiplicities of urban American life. She is drawn to the spaces where people are in transition—geographically, emotionally, politically—and her work reflects ongoing questions around displacement, mental health, and the lived realities of immigrants navigating the United States.

Her practice moves fluidly across theatre, media, photography, and large-scale public installations. Whether collaborating on a performance, producing a live show, or supporting an immersive environment, she is interested in how stories are held—who gets to tell them, how they are experienced, and what systems make that exchange possible.

Alongside her artistic work, Cleary has built a parallel practice in operations—designing the invisible architectures that allow creative work to exist and endure. With a background in nonprofit, media, and cultural production, they approach operations as a creative act: shaping workflows, building infrastructure, and holding space for artists and ideas to move from concept to reality.

She has spent over a decade collaborating with artists across disciplines, including long-term work in performance, audio storytelling, and site-specific installation. Their projects have lived in theatres, on city streets, across airwaves, and on the facades of public buildings—meeting audiences where they are.

At the core of her work is a commitment to care: for the storyteller, for the audience, and for the process itself. They believe that how something is made is inseparable from what it means.

Cleary is a two-time Emmy Award–winning broadcast engineer and a Lucie Award–winning photographer, with work held in the permanent collection of the California Heritage Museum.

They are also a dog parent who loves empanadas and a strong shot of espresso.

Info

Philadelphia, PA

cleary.rubinos@gmail.com