Veterans Display Artistic Talents During Local Veterans Creative Arts Festival

Events, General News

Artistic talents were on display during the 18th annual Veterans Creative Arts Festival local competition at the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center last month. View the full video story here.

The competition included 51 categories in the visual arts division that ranged from oil painting to leatherwork to paint-by-number kits. In addition, there were 100 categories in the performing arts pertaining to all aspects of music, dance, drama and creative writing.

“The purpose of this event is to showcase the arts as a healing modality for our Veterans,” said Erin Todd, Music Therapist, Bay Pines VA Healthcare System. “A lot of Veterans are dealing with PTSD, depression, physical ailments, mental health ailments…it runs the gamut…but all of them have found a way for art to be a meaningful activity in their lives and some have even used it to help with their rehab and recovery,” she said.

According to Todd, Veterans enrolled at VA health care facilities across the country compete in a local creative arts competition each year. Through a national judging process, first, second and third place entries in each category are determined. Select winners will be invited to attend the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival scheduled for October 23-29 in Buffalo, New York.

“I get great relief in painting,” explained George Avery, a World War II U.S. Army Veteran and multi-year participant in the Veterans Creative Arts Festival. “When you paint, it drives everything out of your mind and you have to concentrate on a very small area…it’s relaxing,” he said.

Nationwide, VA medical facilities use the creative arts as one form of rehab to help Veterans recover and cope with physical and emotional disabilities – like first year competitor and U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Kevin Forbes.

“Music therapy, for me, is very relaxing,” Forbes said. “It helps me gather my thoughts and deal with my daily stresses. The conversation that we have…our actual therapy…is very helpful. I tell [the therapy group] all the time…it’s like I come to church because the group speaks to me.

To learn more about the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival, call 727-398-6661, extension 15884, or visit www.CreativeArtsFestival.va.gov.

About Jeff Cavanagh

Jeff Cavanagh spent his freshman year at St. Petersburg Junior College back in the early 70s before enlisting in the United States Navy. Soon after, he attended Jacksonville University on a Navy ROTC scholarship. After college, he was commissioned and became a qualified Surface Warfare Officer spending the next 22 years honing his skills as a ship-handler and expert recruiter before retiring in 1994. Jeff expresses a deep sense of pride in St. Petersburg College due to connections that go back many years. His father, Tom Cavanagh, was a career Air Force fighter pilot and combat veteran who taught Geography and Western Civilization at St. Petersburg Junior College in the 60’s and 70’s.