Multi-disciplinary Arts

"VBB is a unique cultural organization that brings to Houston the most diverse and progressive voices of the international writers, artists, and activists. As an exiled Iranian novelist, VBB feels like "home" to me.”
–Farnoosh Moshiri, recipient of VBB’s 2006 Vailente Award and author of four novels including The Bathhouse and Gravity.

Each year, VBB hosts about 8-10 multidisciplinary performances. We continue to challenge traditional methods of presenting art, culture and history by combining our low-budget with cutting edge technology. From our start in a bookstore in southwest Houston where we presented spoken word, uncensored open mic and multi-disciplinary art such as capoeira and African American jazz we have evolved into an organization that is known around Houston and beyond for the ways in which the art we create intersects today’s global, national and local socio-political issues.

VBB has used basic telephone phonelines to bring in voices such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Arundhati Roy and Ahmed Rashid to our Houston audience through the microphone, and for the way in which we give young artists from high schools around the city the same billing as internationally known artists. We believe the world should exist without boundaries and we use art to present our vision of a different world.

VBB's core productions are: Living Room Art, East End Live Art, and Cultural Narratives.

Living Room Art Productions

In December 2006 VBB established our Living Room Art series, an innovative approach designed to bring art directly into residential communities in Houston. The Living Room Art series were created by artist Oskar Sonnen who based the idea on historic art salons, and the less formal living room exhibitions of his college days.  The Living Room Art shows are "one night stands,” open to the public and taking place in private homes throughout the city.  The goals of Living Room Art are: to bring together disparate neighborhoods and communities; to bring together diverse populations who may not ordinarily go to a gallery/museum; and to tackle social justice through art.  All VBB Living Room Art productions are multidisciplinary. As such, the shows allow space for spoken word artists, writers, performance artists, and musicians.

In 2009-10, VBB's Living Room Art shows shifted focus to dedicate the shows for the next three years to a thematic neighborhood-based series called Pakistan Live Broadcast, productions that are researched and developed by VBB's Founding Director Sehba Sarwar. The shows focus on creating parallels between struggles, joys, and cultures in cities and neighborhoods of Pakistan to connect them to similar issues in around cities in Texas and other parts of the US. The future goal of the project is to travel to other neighborhoods in different parts of the world including countries such as Mexico, India, Palestine and more. The specific goal of the project is to uncover histories that are lost and to honor individuals that have served as catalysts to change. The series first kicked off in Houston's East End in November 2009; in May 2010, a second show was held in Houston's First Ward. Plans are being made for 2010-11 productions in Houston's Freedman's Town, Sixth Ward, and Second Ward, and also to expand the productions to cities around Texas, the US, and the world. Artists, academics, activists and cultural experts from Pakistan as well as from cities and neighborhoods where shows will take place will participate, and the productions will contain live multidisciplinary performances, video, audio, sound and image installations as well as speakers. There will be an opportunity for community members to speak out and discuss issues raised.

East End Live Art

East End Live Art Productions are lower scale artistic productions that include an open mic forum. These multi-disciplinary collaborative events (4-6 a year), are curated by a Program Coordinator with a Programming Committee made up of community artists and activists. The shows aim to tackle current issues in the community, such as the effect of Hurricane Ike, the election, the economic crisis, war, and racism. The goals of the East End Living Art Series are to revive VBB's history and celebrate its base audience; reach out to new audiences, including marginalized Houston communities, including students; and to give audience members a voice, a mandate of VBB since its inception.

Cultural Narratives

Cultural Narratives features international figures who share personal writings, films, radio shows etc., about social justice issues. Featured Cultural Narrative Artists include Tariq Ali, Imran Aslam, David Barsamian, Patti Smith and many more.