25 years ago, Vanderbilt Habitat for Humanity put on a yearly event which featured performances from people in the Nashville area experiencing homelessness and poverty. Since then, however, the event ceased to be a yearly tradition.

This changed last year, when Vanderbilt senior Chloe Wilks, Habitat for Humanity Special Projects Chair, and Vanderbilt senior Sikandar Raza, Habitat for Humanity Co-President, found news clippings from a Hidden Voices of Nashville event from the 90’s and decided to start the tradition up again.

In conjunction with the Nashville Habitat for Humanity chapter, Open Table Nashville and The Contributor, Vanderbilt Habitat for Humanity successfully brought back “Pub Live: The Hidden Voices of Nashville” last year. The event is continuing this year, and will take place in the Vanderbilt Pub from 6:00-9:00 p.m. on March 19.

“We’re hoping to have more people come [than last year] because I think it is a really cool way to interact with a population that, living in this bubble, you don’t always get to interact with,” Wilks said. “Last year we had some really great spoken word poetry by a man who had been suffering from homelessness for close to 45 years, and some people affiliated with The Contributor came and did live country music.”

Students can swipe their Commodore Card any time between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. in the Vanderbilt Pub and receive GME/MVE credit for Pub Live: Hidden Voices of Nashville. While this event is free to the general public, donations are welcome and will benefit Vanderbilt Habitat for Humanity.

“We want to draw more Vanderbilt students to really see what the community is like and not just stay in the [Vanderbilt] bubble. We hope to see [this event] continue,” Raza said.