National Veterans Creative Arts Festival at Home Honors Artists who Served

Like the other events offered through the National Veterans Sports Programs & Special Events Office, this year the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival has gone virtual. The “National Veterans Creative Arts Festival at Home” was held November 30 through December 4.

Since 2000, the American Legion Auxiliary has co-presented the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival together with VA. The Festival celebrates creative arts therapy and its role in rehabilitating Veterans. Featuring the best of the best – selected from thousands of Veterans’ entries nationwide – this weeklong event highlights the talent of selected gold medal winners in national art, music, dance, drama and writing competitions from VA facilities across the country.

Each year, Veterans enrolled at VA health care facilities nationwide compete in a local creative arts competition. Interested Veterans can enter in over 100 categories of art – from writing and oil painting to dance, drama and music. To see if your VA facility participated in the 2020 competition, please follow this link: VA Facility Participation.

Local creative arts competition participants who win first place will advance to national judging. There, a carefully chosen few are invited to attend the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival which takes place at a different VA facility each year.

You can watch the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival opening ceremony and other videos from the events here: https://mvp.markeys.onl/nvcaf2020/home.

For information regarding entering the 2021 competition, please reach out to the recreation/creative arts therapy staff at the VA facility in which you are enrolled.

If you need assistance in identifying a VA staff person from your facility or would like to request a 2021 competition handbook, please email Amy Kimbler at Amy.Kimbler@va.gov.

Chrystal Daulton is an American Legion Auxiliary Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Program Manager.