Veterans Programming
BY / FOR /ABOUT / VETERANS
For Those Who Served
The MACC’s deep and abiding commitment to military veterans is a driving force behind its Annual Veterans Art Exhibition. Our goal is to advance the message of military honor and sacrifice through the arts.
Who We Are
Between the Lines Healing Arts for Veterans
Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center offers a FREE Healing Arts Program called “Between the Lines” to empower military veterans in Middle Tennessee who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and major depressive disorder. Our healing arts facilitators work with participants at Veterans Recovery Center in Murfreesboro and other places to find creative ways to overcome depressive and anxious feelings.
Our healing arts projects foster self-awareness. They also encourage self-talk, emotional processing, thought restructuring, personal goal-setting, social skills, and community building through the creation of visual art in a positive group setting. For more information, contact sar[email protected]. To support Between the Lines, click below.
WEEKLY EVENT
Warriors Workshop
Calling all military veterans! We want you for participation in our new Warriors Workshop: Stories Forged in Fire. This is a one-of-a-kind, creative process that taps into the unique, burned-in experiences military service members have lived during war and peace. Led by the MACC’s Healing Arts facilitator, metal sculptor, and veteran Val Adams (U.S. Air Force, Ret.), these Friday group sessions are FREE for veterans.
Join us as we use fire, metal, and wood to create personal art pieces that illustrate your story. Through Warriors Workshop, veterans will learn how to channel, shape, and share their experiences while gaining a sense of accomplishment as their creations come to life. Together we will explore the burned-in experience.
Monthaven’s Between the Lines Healing Arts program for veterans is offering this free expressive arts class on Fridays at the MACC from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm beginning September 29, 2023. All materials are provided, and no artistic experience is necessary.
Registration for this free workshop is required. To register, click HERE or for more information, call Deputy Director Tonya Mirtes at (615) 822-0789.
ANNUAL EVENT
Veterans Art Exhibition
The MACC has long been devoted to art by and for military veterans, in part because Monthaven is so steeped in the region’s military history. During the Civil War, the mansion was converted into a field hospital. Both Union and Confederate soldiers were treated in the home.
Today, Monthaven is a place where members of the armed services and their families are celebrated through the arts. Every year, the MACC presents an annual Veteran Arts Exhibition and Fundraiser. The featured artist for the Fifth Annual event in August 2023 was legendary combat photographer Nick Ut, who received the Pulitzer Prize for his photo “The Terror of War.”
Proceeds from the MACC’s fundraiser support the “Between the Lines” healing arts programs for military veterans. For more information about supporting the MACC’s Healing Arts Program, call (615) 822-0789 or email [email protected].
Commited to our vets
MACC Touring Veterans Art Exhibition
Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is now touring an exhibition titled Vietnam 2 Soldiers. 2 Artists. 2 Journeys. Then & Now, featuring the artwork of renowned artists (and Vietnam veterans) David Wright and Chuck Creasy.
The exhibit includes many of the sketches of American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians that Wright drew in-country in 1965. Creasy, who served as a forward artillery observer in 1968, returned to Vietnam as a visitor exactly 50 years after his deployment. The experience inspired him to create a series of colorful expressive watercolors of the Vietnamese people and countryside.
Together, Wright’s and Creasy’s colorful, remarkably sensitive artwork serves as a lasting testament to the healing power of art. The exhibition’s 2022-23 touring schedule includes stops at the Customs House in Clarksville, Tenn., Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Va., Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Ashland City Library in Ashland, Kan. If your museum, gallery or organization is interested in hosting Vietnam 2 Soldiers. 2 Artists. 2 Journeys. Then & Now, contact [email protected].
Join Us
Our Healing Arts facilitators currently work with veterans at the Veterans Recovery Center in Murfreesboro, Tn. Military veterans and others interested in finding out more about our Between the Lines programming for veterans should contact us.