HPPAA PROGRAM
Interdisciplinary
Arts
MUSIC · VISUAL ART · POETRY · FILM · CREATIVE INQUIRY
HPPAA develops artist-led programs in which jazz becomes a meeting place for images, words, stories, technology, education, and public participation. Each project begins with a creative question and grows through performance, listening, collaboration, and response.
ONE QUESTION · MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE
One medium changes how we
encounter another
Interdisciplinary work is not simply several art forms placed next to one another. It begins when one form changes the way another is made, heard, seen, or understood.
A painting can become a listening score. A poem can generate rhythm, harmony, and improvisation. A film can ask music to carry memory and place. A live performance can turn historical research into a shared public experience.
HPPAA builds these encounters around original artists, documented sources, accessible context, and meaningful ways for audiences to participate—whether they arrive as listeners, viewers, students, readers, or makers.
FEATURED HPPAA PROJECT
Seeing Sound / Hearing Color
JAZZ · VISUAL ART · IMPROVISATION
Seeing Sound / Hearing Color is an evolving body of work created by jazz pianist, composer, improviser, and visual artist Hank Hehmsoth. The project translates rhythm, harmony, gesture, memory, and spontaneous invention into layered abstract images—then brings those images back into listening, performance, exhibition, and participation.
The artworks are not literal illustrations of songs. They are visual residues of attention and improvisational practice. Selected works can be paired with QR-linked recordings, projected behind live music, used in guided listening, or opened into reflective writing and creative-response workshops.
ONE PROJECT · FOUR WAYS TO EXPERIENCE IT
Exhibition
Original works create a visual environment shaped by rhythm, gesture, structure, memory, and movement.
Interactive
Listening
QR-linked audio connects selected images with music and allows visitors to form their own associations.
Live Performance
Double Vision Jazz Ensemble pairs original jazz and improvisation with projected visual artwork.
Workshops + Talks
Guided looking, listening, writing, and creative response invite participants into the artistic process.
PROJECT IN PRACTICE
Brazosport Interdisciplinary Residency, 2026
BRAZOSPORT COLLEGE · LAKE JACKSON, TEXAS · FEBRUARY 2–6, 2026
At Brazosport College, Seeing Sound / Hearing Color expanded from a gallery exhibition into a connected residency of performance, conversation, guided listening, and creative participation.
Twenty-five original works remained on view during January and February. During residency week, Double Vision Jazz Ensemble performed with projected imagery; Hank Hehmsoth presented an artist talk and educational workshop; visitors used QR-linked recordings; and students and community participants were invited to slow down, listen closely, describe what they noticed, and make a creative response of their own.
25 ORIGINAL ARTWORKS
A two-month solo exhibition
LIVE JAZZ + PROJECTED IMAGES
Double Vision Jazz Ensemble at The Clarion
ARTIST TALK + GUIDED WORKSHOP
Students and public audiences
QR-LINKED LISTENING
Self-guided connections between image and sound
PROJECT PATHWAYS
Different forms, shared creative questions
HPPAA's interdisciplinary work can begin with a poem, a painting, a film, a historical source, or a live improvisation. The form changes, but the goal remains consistent: create a meaningful encounter between artists, ideas, and public audiences.
POETRY + IMPROVISATION
Texas Poets Meet Texas Jazz
Poetry, composition, spoken word, rhythm, and live improvisation shape one another in performance.
VIEW PROJECT ↗
FILM + ORIGINAL MUSIC
Lady Bird Johnson documentary score
Original music carries Texas civic history, landscape, emotion, and public memory through documentary film.
READ FILM STORY ↗RELATED ARTIST PRACTICE
VISUAL ART + PUBLIC SPACE
Circling In
A jazz composition continues through image, title, performance, and civic exhibition in San Marcos.
VIEW EXHIBITION ↗RELATED ARTIST PRACTICE
PARTICIPATION, NOT JUST PRESENTATION
A pathway from attention to creative response
Notice
Attend to sound, image, language, gesture, or place.
Listen + Look
Experience more than one form without forcing one answer.
Connect
Find relationships among rhythm, color, memory, and words.
Respond
Write, draw, discuss, improvise, or make another reflection.
Share
Bring discoveries into conversation with community.
FLEXIBLE PROGRAM FORMATS
Built for galleries, campuses, museums, and communities
Exhibition +
Listening
Artwork with QR-linked audio, interpretation, and an optional talk.
Concert +
Projection
Original jazz with projected visual art or another discipline.
Workshop +
Creative Response
Guided listening, looking, writing, drawing, and improvisation.
Interdisciplinary
Residency
Performance, exhibition, education, talks, and public engagement.
Bring an interdisciplinary arts program to your community
PRESENTATIONS + PARTNERSHIPS
HPPAA welcomes conversations with galleries, museums, colleges, schools, festivals, libraries, venues, cultural organizations, and community partners interested in performances, exhibitions, workshops, lecture-demonstrations, and residencies.