Arts Bullets

• Austin makes itself known at the 2004 International VSA arts Festival in Washington, D.C., on Friday, June 11. That's the day two local arts companies are performing at this major event showcasing the talents of people with disabilities. Actual Lives, the theatre ensemble made up of people with disabilities who put their own experiences onstage, will show their stuff in a theatre showcase at H Street Playhouse. Then, at 6:40pm, Forklift Danceworks presents "Sextet," Allison Orr's award-winning dance for two trained dancers, an English professor, a Zen priest, and their two guide dogs, at the Kennedy Center. As the festival features hundreds of highly accomplished artists from all over the world, their inclusion is worth noting.

• blah, blah, blah, a collection of theatrical pieces written by Lowell Bartholomee, winner of a 2004 Critics Table Award for his performance in tempOdyssey, has been accepted into the New York International Fringe Festival, the largest theatre festival in North America. He and a small band of Austin actors will trade the August heat of Austin for that of Manhattan, where blah blah blah – a smaller and leaner version of the show he mounted at the Blue Theater two years ago – will be one of more than 200 shows at 20 venues. Look for a benefit performance of the "road" version in July to raise money for travel expenses.

• "The Good, the Bad, and the Very Bad: A Year in the Life of an Art Critic" is the title of a slide talk to be given by Jerry Saltz of The Village Voice Saturday, June 12, 2pm, at the Jones Center for Contemporary Art, 700 Congress. Saltz has curated the Arthouse exhibition "New American Art: The Nineteenth Exhibition," which opens this weekend and runs through Aug. 29. The talk is free.