About Veterans Services
Art Spark Texas (formerly VSA Texas) started services specifically for veterans with disabilities/wounded warriors in 2009. We host an annual exhibition of veterans’ artwork and provide opportunities year-round for artists to get involved with our Artworks: Creative Industries professional development program.
We offer writing workshops for current and prior service members and their family members in Austin, Temple, and Killeen. Click here for a list of current classes.
Art Spark Texas (formerly VSA Texas) works with arts organizations statewide to forge partnerships with vet organizations to provide art programs for veterans and military families. Based on our research in partnership with the Texas Commission on the Arts, we have found there is a growing need for arts-related services for Texas veterans and military personnel in our communities. If you are an arts organization interested in learning more about providing art programs for veterans, examples of successful programs, and trainings on working with veterans and military families, please contact us at (512) 454 - 9912 or [email protected]
The arts are important to veterans because for many returning military personnel it is a way to express all that they saw, heard, and experienced during war. It is also important to civilians to understand what our veterans have been through and to open pathways of communication.
Funding for the 2020 Distinguished Artist Veterans program of Art Spark Texas is supported by a Quality of Life Grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and the state and local arts agencies. This initiative serves the special needs of military patients and veterans with traumatic brain injury and psychological health conditions, as well as their families and caregivers. Administrative support for this initiative is provided by Americans for the Arts.
Listen to Art Spark Texas Artworks Director April Sullivan on KOOP Radio in Austin (August 2019), discussing the Veterans Writing Workshops and Listening Event, and reading selections from the 2019 collection of published writings The Re-Integration Project.
