Pop-Up Community Creative Arts Cafe

pop-up community creative arts cafe with cal veteran services center
Pop-up Community Creative Arts Cafe virtual event flyer

EVENT SCHEDULE:

  • 2:00PM to 2:15PM: Welcoming Remarks and Memorial Day Message

  • 2:15PM to 2:30PM: Traditional Land Acknowledgement with Ivan Sam

  • 2:30PM to 3:15PM: Concurrent Artist Interview Sessions

    • Collin Hoffman, Visual Artist/Author, Artist Interview

    • Fanny Garcia, Artist Interview

    • Gregory Rick, Painter, Artist Interview

    • Reginald Green, Sculptor, Artist Interview

    • Adolfo Hernandez, Tattoo Artist, Artist Interview

  • 3:15PM to 4:00PM: Music Therapy: How to honor those who serve through rhythm, with Cory Woodrow from the Semper Sound Drum Circle and Resounding Joy, Inc.

  • 3:45PM to 4:30PM: Concurrent Artist Interview Sessions

    • W.A. Ehren Tool is Not for Sale, Artist Interview

    • Advocacy in Action with Gloria Kunder, Interview with USMC Veteran and UC Berkeley Student

    • Tonya Savice: Your Best is Yet to Come!, Artist Interview

    • Amanda Saint Claire, Painter, Artist Interview

  • 4:30PM to 5:30PM: Moderated Listening Session, with Darron DeVillez and Ivan Sam

  • 5:30PM to 5:35PM: Closing Remarks

FEATURED ARTISTS AND SPEAKERS

Amanda Saint Claire
Tonya Savice
Gregory Rick
Adolfo Hernandez
Cory Woodrow
Gloria Kunder
Colin Hoffman
Reginald Green
Fanny Garcia
Ehren Tool
Ivan Sam
Darron VeVillez

In collaborating with local communities across the state of California to produce the Pop-Up Cafés, VETART and a series of local partners will introduce both professional artists and the mental health resources available to our Veteran community. Event attendees will hear directly from the artists about the process of art-making and the ways the arts have directly improved their health, sense of community and belonging, restored a connection to having hope and purpose, and to find a means of expression as part of their healing journey. Genres of art include ceramics, traditional beadwork, spoken word, music, painting, and photography. Resources to holistic mental health services will be shared. 

Local Veteran artists presenting at the event include Gregory Rick, Fanny Garcia, Adolfo Hernandez, W.A. Ehren Tool, as well as Veteran and advocate Gloria Kunder. Veteran artists from California contributing to this very special Memorial Day Pop-Up include Amanda Saint Claire, Reginald Green, Tonya Savice, Ivan Sam, Darron DeVillez, and Cory Woodrow of Resounding Joy. 

With each local event, local agencies, service providers, nonprofits and Veterans groups are encouraged to connect with one another and to explore how the arts can be promoted within their immediate communities. The Pop-Up Cafés are designed to engage dialogue, foster networking and to speak directly to the unique experiences and mental health challenges of the extended Veteran community in these challenging times.

VETART’s Pop-Up Cafés are part of a statewide campaign, sponsored by and in collaboration with California’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC), with the overarching arts advocacy goal of generating awareness of the critical role the arts play in benefitting the mental wellness of Veterans, family members, caregivers & community members, and Active Duty personnel. The results of the Pop-Up Cafés will be delivered to the Behavioral Health Services of the county where the event takes place as well as to Boards of Supervisors, State and Federal Representatives and Senators, the Governor, Art Boards, the Press, and others including post secondary educational entities, Veteran service agencies, Veteran service officers, and Certifying officials.