Executive Summary
"Mission Statement
The mission of USVAP (formerly ArtSynergy) is to provide opportunities for artists from Vietnam and the United States to work collaboratively on artistic projects; to offer encouragement and support for the collaborative process particularly across cultural boundaries; and to bring together new and existing audiences to discover or rediscover the cultural and artistic traditions of both countries.
Description
USVAP will develop opportunities for artists from Vietnam and the United States in a variety of disciplines to collaborate on creating, performing or exhibiting works to audiences. In addition, a primary goal of the program will be to educate audiences in both countries of the rich cultural traditions and experiences before, during and since the war.
Summary
In 1972 the war between the United States and Vietnam ended, and the two countries have been trying to pick up the pieces ever since. But, before we can mend the deep wounds of war- before the new generations can understand what happened then and what happens next-- both countries must continue to work together to establish a sense of international community. Artists can play a valuable role in this process by providing a variety of expressive forms to enhance our dialogue and enrich our experiences.
With this vision, USVAP will encourage and provide opportunities for meaningful collaborations between artists from Vietnam and the United States. Conceived by composer and Vietnam veteran, Kimo Williams, USVAP will go beyond the "in-and-out" syndrome of most cultural exchanges and provide a new collaborative experience between two countries that once were at war with each other.
USVAP, will involve multi-disciplined collaborative presentations of work by artists from the U.S. and Vietnam. These presentations include traditional concerts by performing artists, thematic dual commission exhibitions, master classes and symposia on cross-cultural issues.
Examples of early USVAP projects, operating as an extended program within Columbia College Chicago, 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. Nyguen Van Nam, composer and Master of Composition at the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music in Vietnam. Dr. Nam also visited Chicago school during that visit. In 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.
Our current event is summarized as follows: USVAP seeks to further cross-cultural understanding between the United States and Vietnam through sponsorship and presentations of collaborative artistic programs. Toward that end we propose the following:
May 2nd 2008 - USVAP Fundraiser Chicago Ill - Description: Performance by The Lt. Dan Band to raise funds for USVAP and the USO.
June 3 – 11, 2008 - Collaborative Cultures in Jazz (In Vietnam and repeated in United States) , Hue Vietnam and August 29th and 30th 2008 in Chicago, Il - Description: Composer/guitarist KimoWilliams traveling to Vietnam and composer /saxophonist Trân Manh Tuân traveling from Vietnam, will collaborate on a series of concerts in Vietnam and the US that will feature their compositions utilizing Kimo’s ensemble Kimotion augmented with Vietnamese musicians performing on traditional Vietnamese instruments. This concert will reflect the melding of the music traditions of both cultures utilizing the American Jazz idiom as the basis. The tour will include master classes on American jazz, hip-hop, and other popular music forms. Presentations on the history and culture surrounding traditional Vietnamese instruments will be held in conjunction with the Chicago performances. Educational symposiums dissecting the melding of cultures through music will also be presented at the Hue Conservatory of Music.
June 16th through the 27th, 2008 - USVAP Music Recording /Production Workshop (In Vietnam in conjunction with Jazz concert project) . - Description: An 80-hour workshop on Recording and production taught at the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory by Kimo Williams and Engineer Scott Steiner. Objective to prepare interested Vietnamese students to work in the field of recording and producing recorded music. The workshop is an International perspective of the Producing Recorded Music 2 and 3 programs at Columbia College Chicago.
Program season 2008/2009 - Kimotion String Quartet - - Description: The Kimotion String Quartet is comprised of instrumentalists from the U.S. and Vietnam. They will perform compositions by Kimo Williams as well as other American and Vietnamese composers. The quartet will perform in Vietnam, Chicago, and New York.
2009/2010 - The Winds of Spring*- Program season - Description: An opera composed by Kimo Williams with libretto by Vietnam veteran Gary Tillery. The opera is to be staged in Vietnam with a Vietnamese director and musicians, and it will include translations. The USVAP will sponsor meetings in Hue and Ho Chi Minh City for the development of the opera. In 2006, Kimo traveled to Vietnam to work on the opera with composer Van Nam. Multimedia artists Annette Barbier and Drew Browning are to contribute their talents to the production of the opera as well. An act or excerpt from the opera is to be presented in Chicago.
2010/2011 - River of Many Sides (Development underway for a return presentation)- Description: A multimedia presentation incorporating digital art, theatre, and music. To create the presentation, artists from Vietnam and the United States traveled to each other’s countries to experience the complex and changing relationships that have connected them over the past fifty years. The project explored the ideas of rivers, boundaries, conflict, and cooperation using objects associated with everyday life in Vietnam. Electronic media artists Annette Barbier and Drew Browning, who collaborated on the creation of the 2004 performance, will return to create an enhanced and improved version..
