Submit Your Information

The National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military established the National Network to connect organizations and individuals who are actively working to ensure that quality arts practices are available and accessible throughout the military lifecycle. Individuals and organizations may participate in the Network in several ways: by providing direct programs and services or information and resources for military service members, veterans and their families, and by disseminating information from the National Initiative to their constituents.

Veterans living in rural areas face many health disparities and have greater difficulty accessing needed care. Heather Spooner works with the University of Florida's Center for Arts in Medicine telehealth-based art therapy clinical demonstration project at the Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center, which addresses the needs of rural Veterans by providing them with supervised art therapy in their own home.

Ron Whitehead is an artist, veteran of the Gulf War, and presently teaches photography and art at Ossining High School in New York state. As an artist, his complex images, rendered in layered photography, speak to the duality of military service and the return to civilian life. Ron’s black & white photograph “Art of Healing” was a categorical winner at the 2015 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.

Sam Pressler, a 2015 Echoing Green Global Fellow and the founder of the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP), has a plan to bridge the military/civilian divide and to release soldiers from the stigma associated with seeking traditional therapies for PTS and TBI.

Being a member of Americans for the Arts is a valuable asset because it is the only advocacy organization in the country that is championing a diverse portfolio of cultural issues and initiatives to ensure that all Americans connect to the arts in a meaningful way. In the areas of arts education, the critical role the arts play in community development, as well as health and wellness with a great focus on well being of our military, and public support for the arts.

Laura Spinelli is quietly and consistently breaking ground for arts and the military as the Director of "Giant Steps," an ongoing recovery-oriented group program for Veterans who are in treatment at the Mental Hygiene Clinic at VA Connecticut.

Dr. True is a medical anthropologist and folklorist with the University of Pennsylvania whose research focuses on the role of narrative and ethnography to reduce barriers to care and improve post-deployment health outcomes for combat veterans. 

After getting out of the Army in 2008, Brian "BR" McDonald decided to get back to his roots as an actor/singer and founded the Veteran Artist Program (VAP), an nonprofit organization that helps veterans launch (or re-launch) careers in the arts by connecting them to working artists.  From personal experience, McDonald found that many veterans have drive and artistic skills, but their years of service have disconnected them from the professional networks working artists need.

Arthur Bloom founded MusiCorps in 2007 to integrate arts and healing for veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. The rehabilitative program matches musicians with injured troops who have an interest in music, utilizing traditional instruments along with computer workstations and custom equipment, and projects tailored to individual circumstances, interests, and goals. They practice technique, play, write, and record music.

Community Connections Projects Receive Funding from the NEA at Creative Forces® Sites for 2019

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Category: 

The National Endowment for the Arts has launched the next phase of Creative Forces® by funding Community Connections Projects at ten of its clinical sites to develop site specific community-based arts programs that will use the creative and healing benefits of the arts to promote health and wellness for the military community.

The Positive Power of Music for Wounded Veterans

The Journey of MusiCorps Continues

Monday, January 7, 2019

The positive power of music for veterans
Category: 

Classically trained pianist Arthur Bloom created MusiCorps in 2007 after being invited to visit a soldier recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The soldier, a drummer who had lost his leg to a roadside bomb, was concerned about whether he would ever be able to play the drums again. 

Search Our New and Improved Arts Services Directories

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

You asked, and we listened: Our online Arts Services Directory has expanded to include searchable, topic-driven sub-directories. The new and improved directories will allow you to quickly find all types of arts organizations throughout the United States, as well as narrow your search to specific interest areas.

US Conference of Mayors’ 2018 Arts & Military Resolution

Funding Arts, Health, and Well-Being Across the Military Continuum

Friday, July 20, 2018

The resolution cites the potential of creative arts therapies and artist directed programs to positively impact the healthcare spending concerns, quality of care issues, and healthcare needs of active military and veteran populations.

Veterans Supporting Each other Through the Arts

Denver’s VFW Post 1 Commissions Glass Poppies from Tacoma’s Museum of Glass “Hot Shop Heroes”

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Category: 

Michael Mitchel, post commander of VFW Post 1 in Denver, Colorado commissioned 100 glass poppies from Hot Shop Heroes at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 2018. The poppies will be available for purchase to support the revival and renovation of Denver’s VFW Post 1, our country’s oldest Veterans of Foreign Wars post and home of the only VFW Post Veterans Arts Council.

The Falling and The Rising

US Army Field Band Connects Civilians and Soldiers Through Opera

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Category: 

"The Falling and the Rising" is a new American opera based on the true stories of dozens of active duty soldiers and veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, The Old Guard at Fort Myer, and Fort Meade, Maryland. The opera chronicles the imagined journey inside the mind of a soldier following traumatic brain injuries suffered during a roadside attack, and was first proposed by a tenor in the Soldiers’ Chorus, Staff Sgt. Ben Hilgert.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - National Initiative for Arts and Health in the Military