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Organizational Overview
In 1998, USVAP began as a program that sought that solace through collaboration with Vietnamese artists in order to create a shared respect and appreciation for the historical pairing of two countries who spent many years at war. Although that conflict still divides and grieves both nations, it is the hope that through art, we can find that common ground that re-acquaints us with not only each other, but also with ourselves.
Vietnam Veteran and musician/composer/educator Kimo Williams has been on that journeyfor over a decade, and (through this organization he formed) has sponsored multiple programs to achieve that goal. These programs include traditional concerts by performing artists, thematic dual commission exhibitions, and master classes and symposia on cross-cultural issues.
Examples of early USVAP projects (operating as an extended program within Columbia College Chicag) include several performances in the U.S. and Vietnam in venues ranging from universities to nightclubs to distinguished theaters. A program at the Getz Theater, Columbia College, in April 2001 included performances by a variety of American composers writing in response to the Vietnam War, in dialogue with the most recognized Vietnamese composer, Dr. Nguyen Van Nam, composer and Master of Composition at the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music in Vietnam. Dr. Nam also visited Chicago schools during that visit.
In the fall of 2001 Kimo was invited to Vietnam for the premiere of his Symphony For The Sons of Nam at the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music, supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council. In the summer of 2008 Kimo premiered A Story From Hue with his 26-member ensemble Kimotion, which traveled to Vietnam to perform during the International Hue festival.
USVAP has expanded its’ outreach in the past two years by starting a program called “Artistic Tools®”. This concept has already produced results by supporting veteran artists to further their efforts in continuing their art. Kimo and his group Kimotion use their performing venues to present others with the tools to see themselves as valued contributors to not just their own art, but to instill the idea that art is important, o the highestf value, and should hold an essential status in our educational process and social fabric.
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