Meet Vo Vera | Street Arts Collective

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vo Vera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vo, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
I will preface this answer by first noting that my initial thought of an end goal, in the traditional capitalist context, was material, and status-based. I want the collective to have created so much work, and to have supported themselves financially to some extent for some duration. On second thought, I want the collective to have inspired many people to be more aware in their navigating through the situations in life that can lead one down a path in a good way that honors oneself. I want us to have encouraged self-development, inner growth, and a sense of direction, awareness of that direction, and understanding of that direction’s impact on oneself and everyone around that person. In short, together we rise. In doing what we love to do, there is no greater reward than to serve inspiration. Whether this be on the dance floor, in a gallery, on a stage, or via virtual means, we will feel most fulfilled at the end knowing that we served. As a representative for this arts collective, I can only speak for my truth in this moment. And so I will end this response with a question. How can we show up and serve while we still have this career?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
We’re mostly independent contractors leading gig-based lives. Some of us have families and other extraneous life circumstances, which has caused some of us to diversify, or pick up other work to make a living. It is said that the hard path leads to an easy life. As an independent contractor, my path has not been easy, yet it has been so fulfilling. We got here by not giving up. When we give up, that is the only time we fail. Until then, let the challenges come, as we face them with a win-or-learn kind of disposition. We are excited to create and share our creations with those who resonate with it. We are a unique entourage of talented artists, creative minds, and go-getters. While festivals and public celebration culture is still on hold, we have found a promising future in serving the local community. Just as buskers share their performance art in Europe, we have most recently shared ours with local communities with the assistance of grants. Granted, grants are not the end-all-be-all for independent contractors, but merely a step in the right direction. The G’s are largely immersed in dance and movement, however many are fine-tuning additional skill sets that will begin to bloom as the pandemic fades away. We will be left with much more than we started with. Music production, dance and theatrical production, event production, and more. The future for us is quite bright, and with our new year-long residency with nueBOX in Phoenix, AZ, we will have some extra support and resources to create new works for 2022. The Sacred G’s has excitedly been expanding to the vast world of multimedia performance art. It will be interesting to see what we come up with.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to all of the family-run and locally owned businesses that are still hanging in there. The more we support massive commercial shopping platforms, the more we may be inadvertently cutting out our neighbors. Support local.

Website: www.thesacredgs.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesacredgs

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/thesacredgs

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesacredgs

Youtube: www.youtube.com/thesacredgs

Image Credits
Pictures 3-4 where we’re dressed in white, taken by Amir: @_amirror