The Brian Lehrer Show Get to Know: Arts for Art
Mar 4, 2026
Patricia Nicholson Parker, dancer, choreographer, poet and executive director of Arts for Art, leads a NYC nonprofit nurturing multicultural creative improvised music. She highlights free improv jazz and the long-running Vision Festival. They discuss where the scene gathers in Brooklyn, how younger artists and electronics are changing the sound, and how improvisation mixes with visual art and activism.
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Free Jazz As Living Creative Tradition
- Arts for Art centers on creative improvised music, especially free jazz as a living tradition.
- Patricia Nicholson Parker frames free jazz as disciplined boundary-breaking rooted in mid-20th century Black innovators like Ornette Coleman.
Weekly Shows In Williamsburg And The 30 Year Vision Festival
- Arts for Art runs weekly series in Williamsburg and stages the long-running Vision Festival.
- Patricia describes partnering with the Louvre Annex and planning the Vision Festival at Abrons Art Center after 30 years of persistence.
Festival Born To Preserve Diversity In Jazz
- The Vision Festival was created to increase diversity and continue jazz's experimental lineage.
- Patricia emphasizes free jazz's origins with Black musicians of the 1950s–70s and calls jazz a 'disciplined disregard for traditional boundaries.'