Second Lady Karen Pence recently visited Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, and observed a Creative Forces music therapy group session as part of her national and international initiative, Art Therapy: Healing with the HeART.

Nationwide, VA medical facilities use the creative arts as one form of rehabilitative treatment to help Veterans recover from and cope with physical and emotional disabilities. Across the country each year, Veterans enrolled at VA health care facilities compete in a local creative arts competition that began in January.

“I write because it is healing, and creativity is the opposite of war.” Peter Bourret, AZ, USMC, Gold Medal category - Poetry

In August 2017, the Tennessee Shakespeare Company began working with Veterans at the Memphis VA Medical Association. This program brings together service Veterans with theatre practitioners to use the plays of Shakespeare in addressing combat-related traumatic and re-integration issues.

The OBX Veterans Week is a collaborative event on the Outer Banks of North Carolina that celebrates Veterans, active-duty military and their families through the arts. Founded in 2013, the event is in its fifth year and is scheduled to take place November 3-12, 2017.  OBX Veterans Week is organized by Dare County Arts Council in Manteo, NC.

President Trump's plans to defund the NEA and the NEH move forward without consideration for programs that exist successfully to serve our returning service men and women who have sacrificed physically, mentally, and morally in the service of our country.  With President Trump's plans for an increase in military spending, there will be an immediate and increasing need for the military programs of the NEA and NEH that help military servicemembers and Veterans cope with haunting memories, dis

Well known for bridging the military/civilian divide through theatre in cities across the nation since 2008, the Telling Project's recent production of "She Went to War" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN acknowledged the distinctive and important roles women play on the battlefield.  "She Went to War" was written by Max Reyneard - Senior Writer/Producer and Jonathan Wei - Founder/Executive Director of the Telling Project.

Today, at an event held at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), part of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) announced the expansion of their partnership and military healing arts program into Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network. 

The second Roundtable of the National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military (NIAHM) was held on November 30 at Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall, Virginia to discuss how to bring greater access to the arts and creative arts therapies for military service members, Veterans, their families and caregivers.

Reps. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Walter Jones (R-NC) led a bipartisan letter in support of the military bands of the United States Armed Forces. Americans for the Arts endorsed the letter, along with 19 organizations.

The arts continue to provide our returning servicemen and women an opportunity for expression, focus, and comradery through Shakespeare’s soldiers, who have become a model for the moral injury and conflicting emotions returning veterans experience.

"Speed Killed My Cousin" is a brutally honest work on PTSD and the difficulties military personnel feel when returning to civilian life.  An intense one act play, “Speed Killed My Cousin” is the story of a young, African American woman veteran of the Iraq War and her struggle with moral injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A third generation soldier, the central character courts death by vehicular suicide.

The 296 Project, an Art Therapy based Veterans Service Organization based in Alexandria, VA was the recipient of the prestigious ‘Veterans Award’ for 2015, presented by Mission Complete. The ‘Veterans Awards’ or "Vettys", honor those organizations that have dedicated their work to creating an America where our nation’s heroes are able to live the lives they deserve and access the assistance that is promised to them.

Inspired by meeting Curtis Bean, a veteran and founder of Art of War Project, and our ongoing work in the area of arts & healing through the National Initiative of Arts & Health in the Military, Bob Lynch published an article with the Huffington Post for Veterans Day 2015. 

The Oklahoma Arts Council, in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Veteran Affairs, announced a new pilot program that will provide visual art, creative writing, and photography workshops led by veterans who are experienced Oklahoma teaching artists at the Norman Veterans Center. They expect to reach over 300 individuals with this new arts education program.

The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. - Douglas MacArthur

Nothing could have been finer than the arts in Carolina during the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival (NVCAF) held in October at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Presented by the Veteran Administration, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the American Legion Auxiliary, this year’s event was hosted by the Durham VA Medical Center. This year 3,345 Veterans from 130 VA medical facilities entered the art, music, drama, dance, and creative writing competitions at the local then state levels.

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has current job openings for veterans, according to Ed Walsh, Veterans and Community Relations Manager.  As an expression of thanks to those who have served our country, the Lincoln Center Veterans initiative offers attendance opportunities, discount tours, special events, and employment opportunities to active duty personnel and veterans of the US Armed Forces.