Aaron Louis is a Brooklyn-based producer, writer, filmmaker, and musician whose career spans music, theater, film, and literature.
Louis is currently Director of Audio Visual Design & Production at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Beyond his creative practice, he has held leadership and advisory roles with organizations working across the arts, education, and public ideas, and previously taught at Columbia University.
His most recent creative undertaking is The Clamor, a New York-based post-punk and new wave music project marking his return to songwriting and recording. In 2023, The Clamor released its self-titled debut album, followed in 2024 by four singles: Trick & Bout, You Bring Out the Demon in Me, Staircase Stomp, and New Harder Hit. Drawing on his roots in punk and independent music, the project brings together his longstanding interests in songwriting, visual storytelling, and creative collaboration.
Louis’s film producing credits include Islam and the Future of Tolerance, a feature documentary examining the dialogue between neuroscientist and author Sam Harris and former Islamist Maajid Nawaz. Directed by Jay Shapiro and co-directed by Desh Amila, the documentary was produced by Desh Amila, Suzi Jamil, and Aaron Louis. Other producing credits include Islamophobia: A Conversation, a collaboration with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and WNYC for RadioLoveFest, moderated by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer.
Previously, Louis was Producing Director at 3LD Art & Technology Center, where he helped bring a range of ambitious theatrical productions to the stage. Among them was The Human Scale, a co-production with The Public Theater, written and performed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright and directed by Oskar Eustis as part of the 2010 New Yorker Festival. Other productions included Making Up the Truth, written and performed by This American Life contributor Jack Hitt; Spy Garbo, the Drama Desk-nominated Off-Broadway production directed by Kevin Cunningham; and the Off-Broadway production of Marielle Heller’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl, directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde and Rachel Eckerling. Heller’s work was subsequently adapted into an acclaimed feature film.
His work at 3LD also extended into video art and installation, including projects for The Modern Woman gallery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and a video installation for Lady Gaga at the New Museum.
As a writer, Louis is the author of several books, including his 2003 novel Things That Hang From Trees, which he adapted into a screenplay in 2006. The resulting feature film premiered at New Directors/New Films and South by Southwest (SXSW), winning Best Film at the Corto Imola International Film Festival in Bologna, Italy, and Best American Independent at the Troia International Film Festival in Portugal. The film was distributed by Radio London Films in 2007.
Music has been a defining part of Louis’s creative life from the beginning. He was the principal singer and songwriter for the eleven-piece acoustic punk band Dandelion Wine before releasing his solo album If So on Cell Records/Tropia in 2000. He was also deeply involved in independent live music, serving as the in-house booking agent for four Central Florida venues: Up & Atom, Black-Eyed Susan, The Main Street Pier, and The Underground. During that period, he produced more than 1,000 live performances featuring regional and national acts. He later owned and operated Galaxie 500, a live music venue and performance space in northern Florida.
Louis lives in Brooklyn, New York.