HeART & Soul: 10 Years of Arts Merging and Hearts Emerging

By Crimson Jordan

Imagine an artistic experience that instantly evokes a feeling of community. Imagine a stage on which no subject is too taboo, where no performer hides behind insecurities. Imagine an event that encourages true genuineness—free of shame, judgement, or expectation. Imagine a space where there are no demands to conform artistically, socially, or sexually; performers are fully allowed to own their individual truths. Yet, this space is not a figment of our imagination—it existed for 10 years as a monthly performance showcase called HeART & Soul. Coined as the place “where the arts merge,” the event consisted of 116 installations and countless connections, artistic evolutions, and personal progression journeys for many of the artists and attendees.

On February 23, 2019, HeART & Soul ended its decade–long run with a fitting finale that bid farewell to both its loyal audience members, and to its ever-inspiring host and creator, Kevin Anderson.

Anderson is the kind of genuine person who walks into a room and immediately makes the air infectiously positive; his grin and warm greetings feel like a caring embrace. He is truly charisma personified. But as I’ve gotten to know Anderson, I’ve realized that what people perceive as charm is actually just his authenticity. Anderson loves people. He loves stories. He loves art. “Art is universal,” he often says. It was this belief that led him to create a space in which art truly embodied this notion—an event that was holistically inclusive of all. “Art should be genuine,” Anderson says. “I got tired of being in spaces where, when talking about a lover, the artist would say ‘she’ instead of ‘he,’ and vice versa.”

Anderson set out to create a space in which performers could share their art and stories without fear of discrimination, judgement, or invalidation. The project began as something deeply personal—it was a space that Anderson himself craved. But as the showcase developed, he quickly recognized how many others were in need of the exact same thing. And while Anderson continued to host the show, he explains that it was the artists and attendees that kept its strength and power going. “Over the past 10 years, the community really shaped that desire and thought and made it into what it was,” he says.

Respected as an inclusive space for everyone, HeART & Soul’s audience was heavily comprised of members of the Black and LGBTQIA communities, filling the need for an affirming artistic event founded by and for Black and queer people (and Black queer people). As such, art surrounding issues of abuse, forgiveness, family, HIV, masculinity, femininity, same–sex attraction, the transgender experience, and many, many, other topics have taken the HeART & Soul stage.

While sustaining the show was not always easy, Anderson says it was always worth it to him to keep it going. “It’s something that I would wake up and be excited about,” he says. “No matter what else was going on.” And though Anderson is the man on the mic and under the spotlight, he maintains that the event would never have been possible without the support of his friends and partners in this experience—First Lady of HeART & Soul, DJ LoQi; close friends Dexter Williams and Max John; and of course, Anderson’s husband and closest friend, Roderick.

Each HeART & Soul installation had a different theme; each theme sparked a different set of takeaways; and each takeaway held its own individual strength and impact. Because the event’s format was an expanded open mic experience—lending an open stage and forum to open minds and hearts—some artists would return time and time again, while others came and went. First timers, veteran performers, and those who had previously dipped their toes into the arts scene all graced the stage. The flow of HeART & Soul was always steady and diverse—complementary to the diversity of the talent as well as the audience.

There was consistently something familial about every HeART & Soul experience—the result of many things: Anderson prompting the audience and artists to greet three people they had never met before, or when all artists and audience members were encouraged to promote their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Anderson also emboldened artists to become family, providing coaching on self-worth and artistic respect. He even witnessed audience members form new businesses, chosen family, relationships, and marriages.

Every HeART & Soul installation played out like an on-stage anthology. Each piece not only expressed the innermost emotions of the artists, but impacted every member of the audience in different, intimate, and individual ways. Truly an interactive experience as introspective as is it was expressive, HeART & Soul has not only stayed true to its mission over its 10–year run, but transcended it—becoming much more than anyone could have ever anticipated. Its impact could be seen throughout the sold-out theater—the teary eyes, sober head nods, and endless applause from both the audience and artists involved—on the night of its final run.

The HeART & Soul finale event encompassed everything—thought–provoking performances, emotion–evoking spoken word, soul-touching song, and so much more. And there wasn’t a single person who took the stage that didn’t thank Anderson for his commitment and contribution to the arts. Following his performance, artist J Picasso presented Anderson with a proclamation from the City of Houston, signed by Mayor Turner declaring February 23 to be HeART & Soul Day. He was also presented with a gift basket of many mementos; one in particular that stood out the most. In one of the most tender moments of the program, Anderson was gifted a notebook by his close friend Mr. Dexter Williams, with the intent that Anderson return to his own writing and art. For 10 years, Anderson has invested all of his time and energy into the art of others; it is now time for him to create for himself.

Anderson’s hope is that HeART & Soul, and the art showcased through the show, planted a seed. And that’s exactly what he invited the audience to do for themselves during the finale—under each audience member’s seat was a seed, and on stage, two pots of dirt. At the end of the show, the audience was encouraged to plant their seed—a literal exercise representative of a much larger movement, one each audience member took with them. It was impossible to attend the HeART & Soul finale without taking something with you. The show represented the importance of using your voice, the essentialness of perspective, and the continuing need for spaces where those things can be exercised and shared. Art is not only universal, but necessary, and the showcase finale underlined that.

HeART & Soul has been more than an art series; it has been a journey and discovery unlike anything Anderson has experienced before. He shares that, while HeART & Soul has now concluded, the essence of what it created and represented lives on. In fact, the finale served as an encouraging nod, an open invitation to create new spaces and to expand the inclusivity. “As long as there are people who need to express themselves freely, there is going to be a need for those spaces to exist,” he says. “I hope that HeART & Soul has shown people that they can create those spaces themselves.”

Keep up with and support Anderson’s ongoing artistic endeavors by visiting truthprojecthtx.org.