Patricia Nicholson and William Parker at the 2018 Vision Festival. Photo by Eva Kapanadze.
On November 19, 2019, Arts for Art celebrates our founder Patricia Nicholson's 70th birthday with an evening of all-star performances. Read an interview between Nicholson and bassist William Parker, excerpted from Parker's book, Conversations. Many of the hundreds of artists whom Nicholson has presented throughout her career will appear in performance on November 19. Learn about the early years which lead to Arts for Art and the Vision Festival and the motivation behind it all, below.
As told to William Parker
For one reason or another I was interested in organizing quite early on, I had a vision of myself when I was 25 - I just had this picture that came into my mind - of being part of a movement. I remember, maybe before the eighties, calling together a bunch of musicians talking to them about stuff, but nothing happened. Later, Peter Kowald came and started talking about organizing and I could relate to it. When you and Peter would talk, I was a part of the conversation. It was you, and Peter Kowald, and me.
Patricia Nicholson with bassist Peter Kowald by Marilyn Sontag
I thought, why isn't there any place for people to get together and play other music? There was nowhere to come together and exchange ideas, and present a more avant-jazz aesthetic, so I thought, well, let me do something about this.
At that time, there was a place called Context Studios run by Ed Montgomery, and I started an organization called the Improvisers Collective that had weekly performances at Context. There were 45 musicians, four dancers, some visual artists, and poets in the collective.
There were performances every Wednesday. The first set featured one musician, the second was an open improvisation led by the leader of the first set. It was a lot of fun and exciting. It felt like we were building energy around the music, but by the end of the second year it felt like the audience had stopped building. We were hanging out together and we talked about what was happening and what wasn't happening. I had been sending out fifty press releases every week and a hundred flyers. But the audience just wasn't building.
At that time, there was a place called Context Studios run by Ed Montgomery, and I started an organization called the Improvisers Collective that had weekly performances at Context. There were 45 musicians, four dancers, some visual artists, and poets in the collective.
There were performances every Wednesday. The first set featured one musician, the second was an open improvisation led by the leader of the first set. It was a lot of fun and exciting. It felt like we were building energy around the music, but by the end of the second year it felt like the audience had stopped building. We were hanging out together and we talked about what was happening and what wasn't happening. I had been sending out fifty press releases every week and a hundred flyers. But the audience just wasn't building.
Early Improvisors Collective flyer by Patricia Nicholson.
So I organized Arts for Art and the Vision Festival. It did come out of our conversations and the need to bring attention to this wonderful music that was being so overlooked. All of the great music that had been happening with the Improvisers Collective just wasn't getting noticed, so we had to do something that would get the audience's attention. I was thinking about the Sound Unity Festival, which also had gotten almost no press, but I figured having done the Improvisers Collective for two years would help the festival. It laid the groundwork for the Vision Festival, which is what I ended up calling it. I believe that everyone has a vision, and they have more than one, especially artists. Visions are our inspiration, our highest moments, and the Vision Festival brings together all of these wonderful, bright visions that leave people inspired. I also feel that putting yourself on the line as an artist is similar to putting yourself on the line as a human being, standing up for what you believe. So I always try to create opportunities where people can make the link between great art and some sense of social responsibility.
The Vision Festival is an artist-run festival - that was really important. There has always been a group of artists who have been involved in various aspects of the Vision Festival, especially in helping choose the artists.
I wanted the Vision Festival to become a place where you bring together all that's wonderful, to get to hear artists and great groups, artists of all ages, poets and dancers, so that you can get a sense of the scope of what is possible. In a sense it would be a kind of ideal zone. And there you are together with your whole community. To make the festival happen takes a tremendous amount of people to run it each day, and all of them are important. You bring all of these unique elements together and you get to hang out with each other, in a place where everyone is given respect. We are all together and we are having a wonderful time. The festival creates the opportunity. The heart of the Vision Festival music is New York-specific with New York's particular intense and spiritual connections. But even though this New York music is the core of the Vision festival, we don't believe that it's the only thing. It's about coming together. That's why we bring people from all over the United States and Europe. It's about bringing people together and making sure no one is left out.
The Vision Festival is an artist-run festival - that was really important. There has always been a group of artists who have been involved in various aspects of the Vision Festival, especially in helping choose the artists.
I wanted the Vision Festival to become a place where you bring together all that's wonderful, to get to hear artists and great groups, artists of all ages, poets and dancers, so that you can get a sense of the scope of what is possible. In a sense it would be a kind of ideal zone. And there you are together with your whole community. To make the festival happen takes a tremendous amount of people to run it each day, and all of them are important. You bring all of these unique elements together and you get to hang out with each other, in a place where everyone is given respect. We are all together and we are having a wonderful time. The festival creates the opportunity. The heart of the Vision Festival music is New York-specific with New York's particular intense and spiritual connections. But even though this New York music is the core of the Vision festival, we don't believe that it's the only thing. It's about coming together. That's why we bring people from all over the United States and Europe. It's about bringing people together and making sure no one is left out.
Patricia Nicholson and William Parker at the 2001 Vision Festival. Photo by Michael Wilderman.
November 19, 6pm
The Clemente, Flamboyan Theater
107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002
The Clemente, Flamboyan Theater
107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002
Arts For Art is proud to present a celebration and benefit honoring dancer-choreographer Patricia Nicholson, the founder and guiding light of Arts For Art and the Vision Festival, on the occasion of her 70th birthday. The evening will include performances and artwork from some of the hundreds of artists she has supported over the years, as well as catered food and fine wine.
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