| Past Events
When VBB hosted our first literary reading in 2000, we never anticipated that we would go on to becoming a nationally celebrated alternative arts organization. Back in 1998, Sehba Sarwar had written a poem and was looking for a place to perform it. In 1999, she phoned 4 women writer/poet friends (Marcela Descalzi, Jacsun Shah, Donna Perkins and Christine Choi) and invited them to join her to set up a single reading.
After numerous meetings in coffee shops around the city, the women decided on Voices Breaking Boundaries as the right name for the kind of gathering we wanted to host. Sehba went on to apply for a Artist Project Grant through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/ Harris County grant to fund the reading—and she received $4,500. With money in their pocket, the Core Group, as the women named themselves, decided to host a reading series rather than just one event. Borders Bookstore (southwest Houston ) agreed to host the series and VBB began hosting readings, open mic and the Core Group also performed their own work. By Fall 2000, after Sehba received her second CACHH grant to host the series, the lineup included music and the voices of young artists. Through the grant money received, the VBB Core Group (as we were then known) paid honoraria to all everyone on the lineup. Sehba’s ex-high school student Eric Hester designed the flyers and the group kept adding on to its mailing list.
After February 2001, when VBB closed out on its first film festival, a collaboration with Himal South Asia in Nepal , the Core Group decided to file for non-profit status so that it could apply for more funding.
Since its first reading at Borders Bookstore in February 2000, VBB has hosted more than 400 events, has collaborated with more than 30 local, national and international arts organizations and has showcased art by more than 250 artists.
Always challenged by funding demands, VBB continues to find innovative
solutions to our problems and relies on local, national and international
community networking to host and present our events.
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