Since 1994 WiVLA has provided members and the Houston Visual and Literary Arts community with a fertile and inspiring environment to network and nurture their own creative talents. Discover how WiVLA serves and enriches its members and the greater Houston area below.
Brooke Summers-Perry
Once I read WIVLA’s mission statement, I perceived that the longings for my creative life had been articulated clearly. I was in. Like many of us, I have struggled to value and prioritize my creativity for most of my life. In order to keep it alive in my daily routine, I need a community. My discipline requires accountability. My passion for social change pushes me to apply creativity to community building and social innovation. At this stage, my creative life won’t be denied. It brings me too much joy. It makes too much sense out of my social, emotional, and work life for me to ignore it.
Once you’ve ordered from the sampler menu of my life story, you are clear about one thing, I keep myself in a state of beginner’s mind by constantly diving into new areas. This is especially true when it comes to tools and methods that boost self-reflection, emotion regulation, and connection. I am an expressive, social, and innovative being always experimenting with ways to iterate, integrate, and include not for the sake of complication, but for the purpose of discovering common threads of authenticity, connection, and joy.
When I was first invited to join the board as the membership chair, I dove right in. When I was asked to move into the President’s position this year I brought my beginner’s mind with me. I humbly accepted with one caveat, that folks know the power of the seasoned board members who have been keeping the wheels turning with great predictability and efficacy when it comes to supporting the community and its mission. I am thrilled to be part of the board and the community. I hope my passion for the values celebrated in the mission statement serve the members of WIVLA well while I occupy this position!
Brooke Summers-Perry
The greatest benefit of a WiVLA membership is the association with the amazing WiVLA members we get to know through our meetings and events. The members’ interests include and often overlap in multiple disciplines:
Artists who design, paint, draw, pot, sculpt, print, photograph, carve, weave, videotape, sing, dance and act. Their media include acrylics, ink, graphite, oils, watercolors, pastels, clay, wood, steel, film, software, fabric, paper, glass, gems, precious metals, words and music.
Writers who compose essays, poetry, memoirs, fiction including short stories and novels and flash fiction, non-fiction writing on all topics, technical materials, magazine and newspaper features, online articles and blogs, children’s books, plays and monologues, and critiques.
Other creatives who serve as curators, archivists, editors, historians, storytellers, directors, publishers, arts administrators and educators.
We have an active presence on social media and stay in touch with members through a monthly digital newsletter, Facebook and Instagram.
WiVLA seeks and maintains contact with a variety of artistic groups in Houston and the surrounding area.
WiVLA sponsors art exhibitions – with 2-D and 3-D art or in conjunction with literary and other artistic genres. See this page for exhibition notices, links to the relevant prospectus, timelines, and deadlines.
The WiVLA Collaborative Exhibitions and Literary Readings have earned notice through many years. A visual or performance artist teams up with a literary artist to produce new work based on a chosen theme.
The collaborative exhibitions may also include a video recording and the publication of art catalogs or anthologies.
These media promote and memorialize the events and become part of the WiVLA archive, which is housed in the University of Houston Special Collections.
Throughout its existence, WiVLA has sponsored literary readings on chosen topics. These readings sometimes accompany an art exhibition and at other times are featured as a single event.
WiVLA writers are invited to participate in the annual WiVLA Reading at our November meeting. The theme for the evening changes every year and from 10 to 13 writers can read. Other literary opportunities are available during National Poetry Month and our Haunted Holidays literary event.
Poetry, play, fiction, essay, memoir…the genre is up to the writer with a host monitoring the time allowed for each writer.
WiVLA has a long history of sponsoring artistic and literary workshops on a variety of topics for its members and often held in conjunction with another artistic group. Workshops bring noted writers, artists, educators, experts in art management, personal growth, and business to give presentations to WiVLA’s members and guests.
Starting in 1999, WiVLA awarded two $1,000 Educational and Cultural Opportunity Grants (ECO Grants), one each for a writer and an artist. This means that as of 2023, WiVLA has given $50,000 to 50 women artists to provide support for specific projects that enhanced or will enhance the creative development of the recipients. The selection of the award is by blind drawing from the qualified applicants at the April meeting in each year.
We are very proud of the ECO Grant process and the support it has given to so many members to pursue an artistic project or goal. An internal committee that includes Board Members and past ECO grand winners will screen all entries to ensure that applications are complete and consistent with the intent of the award. Applications that fail this screening will not be included in the drawing.
To be eligible you need to have been a current member for the last two consecutive years.
The ECO application will be available here. https://fs8.formsite.com/wivla/s5hvvdm3i4/index
Previous winners have used the award to attend classes and workshops, purchase equipment, improve their workspace, install community art, research books, travel to research sites and museums, hire an editor, attend retreats and conferences, and more. The grants have made a significant difference in the artistic lives of the winners. Please don’t miss the chance to participate in the ECO Grant awards.
Contact info@wivla.org for more information.
