Sponsors & supporting organizations

The organizations that make VetArtSpan possible.

VetArtSpan is a Creative Forces® Community Connections project helping to bridge the medical, science and arts communities’ efforts to support the healing, wellness, and reintegration of Tampa Bay’s service members and veterans as well as their families and caregivers. Based in Tampa, FL, VetArtSpan is being developed through a collaboration of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture to have the potential for implementation in other communities with military and veteran populations.
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 the initiative is provided by Americans for the Arts.
Straz Center
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

Co-sponsored by the ArtThread Foundation: Connect • Create • Thrive

Additional VetArtSpan Collaborators:

DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion

International Arts + Mind Lab, Brain Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

The Inkwell Center

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art

The Military Resilience Foundation

The Morean Arts Center

The University of South Florida School of Dance

“One of the most important components of this project, I believe, is that is serves as a forum for authentic storytelling and the sharing of the veteran experience from the perspective of the veteran.”

Fred Johnson, Straz Center Artist-in-Residence

"Serving our military who have served us honorably is a privilege for the National Endowment for the Arts. This Florida Community Connections project will further our understanding of how the arts improve health and well-being and enrich the lives of our military personnel and veterans.”

Mary Anne Carter, Acting Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

"Often the fear of neither being heard nor understood silences the veteran voice. This project serves to amplify, honor and clarify in eloquent and creative ways, the importance of sharing these stories, while engaging in this process of healing and artistic empowerment.”

Fred Johnson, Straz Center Artist-in-Residence