The Armed Services Arts Partnership

(ASAP) builds communities where veterans and their families thrive through the arts. What does that look like? Veterans, service members, military spouses, family members, and caregivers can take free stand-up comedy, improv comedy, creative writing, and storytelling classes through ASAP.

In just a few years, ASAP has blossomed into the nation’s largest community arts organization serving the military community, with over 2,500 alumni stretching across the country.

If you step into one of our classrooms, it’s easy to see why.

To step into an ASAP classroom is to enter into a sacred space. It is a space where individuals from all corners of this country gather, from progressives to conservatives, first-time creators to seasoned artists, military families to Marines and everyone in between. Though our backgrounds and experiences may be different, we are united by common purpose: to develop new skills, to share our stories, to do something that likely scares the sh*t out of us. From this group of individuals materializes a collective, a community, or, as one of our alumni put it, “a damn near family.”

Veterans, military family members, and caregivers in the San Diego area can take ASAP’s Comedy Bootcamp, Storytelling Bootcamp, Operation Improv, or Creative Writing: Word Rebel classes for free.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., ASAP also offers classes to folks in D.C, Hampton Roads, VA, Indianapolis, IN, and virtually— for everyone in between.

Multi-week classes culminate in a graduation show, where participants can showcase all their craft to friends and family. For some, this show is just the beginning.

ASAP alumni put on open mics around the country, including here in San Diego. Comics can practice their set and test new jokes out on these stages.

Comedy Bootcamp graduates have gone on to perform on some of the world’s biggest stages: Caroline’s on Broadway, Gotham Comedy Club, DC Improv, Warner Theater, the National Press Club, and the White House.

ASAP classes are free and bring a wide variety of arts programming to the military population, but we might not always have what someone’s looking for.

To give veterans and their families even more access to the benefits of the arts, we developed a Scholarship Fund.

Veterans and mil families can fill out our quick and simple application, and we’ll cover the cost of art education classes, workshops, seminars, intensives, retreats, or individual lessons. Anyone who has taken an ASAP class or workshop before is eligible for a scholarship.

To get a better understanding of how Comedy Bootcamp impacts our veteran participants, we conducted a mixed-methods research study.

The study determined that Comedy Bootcamp develops a healthy sense of humor — called “selfenhancing humor style” — and in turn, that improves veterans’ well-being in a variety of ways.

When using self-enhancing humor, a person regulates their emotions and copes with adversity by reframing difficult events in humorous ways. Ultimately, veterans who take Comedy Bootcamp improve their selfesteem, resilience, depression, and stress. Better yet — these benefits last over time.