For Immediate Release: January 17, 2017
Tampa to Host National Summit & Festival
on Arts & Health in the Military
Art2Action Inc., in partnership with the University of South Florida (USF) and Americans for the Arts, presents the R&R Arts Festival: Performances by, for, about and with Veterans
Tampa, FL – In early February 2017, Art2Action, Americans for the Arts, and the University of South Florida (USF) will co-host the National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military (NIAHM), 4th National Summit, focusing on the Role of the Arts in Recovery, Transition & Transformation. For the first time in the history of NIAHM’s National Summit convenings, the 2017 gathering will be held outside of Washington DC, and will include a festival of original performance works by, for, about and with Veterans, organized and curated by Art2Action. The ground-breaking R&R Arts Festival: From Recovery to Regeneration will place veterans’ stories—and the work of nationally acclaimed artists who create with them—at the center of an extraordinary cross-sector convening, bringing more than 200 military, veteran, and civilian practitioners, researchers, and policy makers together to share best practices, and help inform a nationwide vision for increasing access to the arts and creative arts therapies for all Veterans, as well as families and caregivers. The R&R Arts Festival is made possible by the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Fund for National Projects grant program. Art2Action received $95,625 from DDCF to support this unique national event. Additional partners include The Carpetbag Theatre, and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) “Art in the Service of Understanding: New Perspectives from Artists and the Military Community” program.
EVENT INFO: FEBRUARY 2-5, 2017
R&R Festival Series Package (discount for all 3 shows) – $39 general, $24 students/seniors, and $12 active military/veterans: http://www.ticketmaster.com/Art2Action-RR-Festival-Series-Package-tickets/artist/2325451
Thursday, February 2 – Speed Killed My Cousin, an original play by Linda Parris-Bailey, about an African American woman soldier who returns from Iraq and struggles to understand her Post-traumatic stress, and her family’s history with vehicular suicide. Performed by The Carpetbag Theatre Inc., featuring Tampa’s own Andresia “Real” Moseley. 7:30 PM @ USF Theatre 1 (TAT), 3839 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL.
Friday, February 3 – Touch: The Love Concert, featuring special guests “The War & Treaty” led by Iraq war veteran turned singer-songwriter Michael Trotter, Jr., and the Touch iPad Band performing a new music composition based on stories of veterans in the Tampa Bay area, with local professional actors and USF students (directed by Dora Arreola, choreographed by Merry Lynn Morris). Proceeds benefit Military Service Outreach (MSO), helping veterans transition out of homelessness. 7:30 PM @ the USF School of Music Concert Hall (MUS), 3755 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL.
Saturday, February 4 – Re/Generate: Dance! A mixed-ability dance concert featuring excerpts of Healing Wars by MacArthur “genius” Award winner Liz Lerman; Exit 12 Dance, choreographed by veteran Roman Baca; Marine-turned-performance artist Makoto Hirano; wheelchair dancer Dwayne Scheuneman and more! 7:30 PM @ USF Theatre 1 (TAT), 3839 USF Holly Drive.
Sunday, February 5 – Veterans Community Open Mic, featuring special guests, the Miami-based Combat Hippies directed by Teo Castellanos, poet and playwright Maurice Decaul, Veteran Stand-up Comedians, local DJ Cotton, and more! FREE & open to the public. Free coffee/tea for Veterans! 5-8 PM at Tre Amici @ The Bunker, 1907 N 19th St (Ybor City), Tampa, FL.
For more information about individual performances (single tickets $15 general, $10 students/seniors, and $5 military/veterans), and Free events, please visit: www.art2action.org/RR-Festival
About Art2Action, Inc.
Art2Action Inc. creates, develops, produces and presents original theatre, interdisciplinary performances, performative acts and progressive cultural organizing. We support women artists, artists of color, queer or trans-identified artists, and creative allies. We are dedicated to cultural equity and innovation, artistic quality and community value, performativity and impact. Whether developing new work, collaborating with community partners, touring or presenting, community-based process and meaningful engagement with diverse constituencies is central to all of our work. As a mission-driven, artist-led organization, we increase our capacity, reach and impact through multi-year partnerships with local partners, national networks, institutions of service and higher learning, organizations and activists. Since 2013, Art2Action has been a designated campus presenter at the University of South Florida, housed in the School of Theatre and Dance. As part of our on-going partnership with The Carpetbag Theatre, supporting veteran recovery and reintegration through the arts, Art2Action offers performing arts workshops for veterans at the Veterans Recovery Center (PRRC) of the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, and across the country. For more information, please visit: https://art2action.org/veterans-in-tampa
About Americans for the Arts
Americans for the Arts is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, dedicated to representing and serving local communities and to creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. With offices in Washington, DC, and New York City, it has a record of more than 55 years of service. Since 2011, Americans for the Arts has led the National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military (NIAHM), a collaborative effort that seeks to advance the policy, practice, and quality use of the arts and creativity as tools for health in the military; raise visibility, understanding, and support of arts and health in the military; and make the arts as tools for health available to active duty military, military families, and veterans. Among NIAHM’s advisors, partners and collaborators include the American Legion Auxiliary, Department of Defense Office of Warrior Care Policy, the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Veterans Health Administration, and NIH’s National Center of Complementary & Integrative Health, in addition to national, state and local arts, humanities, and veterans service nonprofits; state and local cultural agencies; and universities around the country.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Arts Program of DDCF focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, visit: http://www.ddcf.org
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