Gaines holds a Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies from UCLA and an MFA in Writing from CalArts. His forthcoming book, Excesses of the Sixties: Black Performance and the Transnational Imagination, considers the legacy of the sixties as a location for radical acts. Gaines has written numerous articles and essays for journals including Art Journal and Women and Performance, and for magazines, museum publications and artist’s books. Gaines also does solo music performance wor, and collaborates with Alex Segade under the name Courtesy the Artists, with projects at The Studio Museum in Harlem, MoMA PS1, The Kitchen and others.