Vision Festival usually consists of between thirty and sixty performances, inspired by the 1984 and 1988 Sound Unity Festivals (founded by Peter Parker and his wife, Patricia Nicholson Parker.
In 1996, the collective's founder, dancer-choreographer Patricia Nicholson Parker, staged the first Vision Festival at the Learning Alliance on Lafayette Street, and subsequently founded the not-for-profit Arts for Art, Inc to organize the festival on an annual basis, along with other events and concert series throughout the year. 
