Veterans and the Arts Initiative

PROGRAMMING MAKES AN IMPACT AT THE LOCAL AND NATIONAL LEVEL

The Veterans and the Arts Initiative returned to inperson programming after over one year of successful virtual arts programming for military-connected community members. The program’s Veterans Ukulele Workshop Series returned in-person at the Hylton Center through a new hybrid model. This

Veterans Ukulele Workshop program is supported by a contract from Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and the state and local arts agencies with administrative support provided by Americans for the Arts and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine. The Veterans and the Arts Initiative worked with the Creative Forces team to create an updated model to evaluate programming with consideration of community resources, activities, and outcomes with favourable results.

The Initiative also offered the following workshops through in-person, virtual, and/or hybrid formats to provide flexibility for militaryconnected community members.

• Songwriting Series for Military Kids with instructor Thomas Routon and in collaboration with Mason Community Arts Academy • Veterans Guitar Workshop Series with instructor Glen McCarthy • Visual Arts Workshop Series in mixed media with artist and Veteran Matthew Conboy • Collaborative Quilt Workshop with instructor Emily Fasick • Women Veterans Workshop Series with instructor Andi Benge

The Veterans and the Arts Initiative served over 1,100 military-connected people through six workshop series presented by George Mason University and four internal and external special events. The timeliness of the Veterans and the Arts Initiative and the staff response to evolve the programming during the past several years has had a significant impact on our military community when they needed the most support. A woman Veteran echoed this sentiment saying, “This was an outstanding workshop. It increased my confidence and helped restore creativity that has been suppressed from the barrage of negative news and isolation from the coronavirus. Thank you so very much!” Niyati Dhokai, PhD, research associate professor and program director of the Veterans and the Arts Initiative shared the impact of the Veterans and the Arts Initiative’s workshops and special events at the 2022 Virginia Women Veterans Summit in Richmond, Virginia in a brief presentation. In addition, she contributed “Serving Military-Connected Communities Through the Arts” to Core Curriculum for Arts in Health Professionals, published by the National Organization for Arts in Health. The publication supports colleagues in the Arts in Health field who wish to create similar programming for their military-connected community members.

During Veterans Day week, an interview with Dhokai was featured on the National Endowment for the Art’s Art Works podcast series. In addition, Dhokai participated in the 2021 Creative Forces®: Outreach and Partnership Strategies Webinar to share information about the Initiative’s innovative community arts programming and research findings. Recordings of both of these presentations have been shared on the Creative Forces website to serve as a national resource. In recognition of her innovative work with the Veterans and the Arts Initiative, Dhokai received the recognition of 2022 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

The Veterans and the Arts Initiative and the Hylton Center staff also released Tele-Arts Implementation Guide for Military-Connected Community Members that has been shared at HyltonCenter.org since August 2021. The guide was shared widely across the country through a press release from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2022 and through distribution at the Virginia General Assembly’s Military and Veterans Caucus in January 2022, furthering the impact of connecting Veterans to the arts at the national level.

Collaborative Quilt Workshop