Phoenix VA Health Care System Encourages Patients to Display Their Creative Talents; Deadline for Entries in Art Competition is Jan. 23
PHOENIX - The Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System wants to showcase the creative talents of
VA patients in the Phoenix area who have been involved in recreational therapy to participate in the annual local Creative Arts Festival "Put Your Heart Into Art".
This annual competition recognizes the progress and recovery made through recreation therapy, and raises the visibility of the creative achievements of our nation’s veterans after disease, disability or life crisis. Many of these patients have benefited from recreational therapy from activities such as painting, pottery making, leather craft, creative writing and dance.
For Phoenix VA patients the deadline to enter the local competition is Friday, Jan. 23.
a) Poetry – Humorous, Inspirational, Patriotic and other
b) Essay - Humorous, Inspirational, Patriotic and other
c) Personal Experience - Humorous, Inspirational, Patriotic and other
d) Short, Short Story - Humorous, Inspirational, Patriotic and other
e) Monologue/Duologue
f) Group Creative Writing
3) Dance Division
a) Wheelchair Dance Categories
b) Dance Special Recognition Category
c) Ambulatory Dance Categories
d) Senior Dance Categories
4) Drama Division – Solo and Group
a) Prose Solo – Dramatic, Patriotic, Religious and Comedy
b) Prose Group - Dramatic, Patriotic, Religious and Comedy
c) Poetry Solo - Dramatic, Patriotic, Religious and Comedy
d) Group Poetry
e) Interpretive Performance Solo – Dramatic and Comedy
f) Interpretive Performance Group – Dramatic and Comedy
g) Mime
h) Juggling
i) Magic
j) Puppetry/Ventriloquism
5) Music Division
a) Vocal Entries
b) Instrumental Entries
Applications need to include the entry form for the respective division, a VA consent form for picture and or/voice and if the entry is in the dance, drama or music division a tape must be included. VA’s medical media department can assist veterans with their tapes, provided the request is submitted through the VA Recreation Therapists. Patients in the Mental Health Program can contact Mental Health Recreation Therapist Lynn Hambel at (602) 277-5551 ext. 7650. Patients in the Community Living Center can contact Recreation Therapist Brenda Walker-Mehlert at (602) 277-5551 ext. 7645.
Entries will be judged for creativity, originality, skill and total presentation. Winners will go on to regional competitions. If the patients win at both the local and regional competition, their entry will be a part of VA’s National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in San Antonio in October. In 2008, more than 3,000 veterans from 113 VA facilities entered the contest nationwide, with nearly 150 veterans invited to participate in the national festival.
Local judging for the entries will take place on February 11th. All submitted entries will be on display at the "Put Your Heart Into Art" show set for February 12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the CTHVAMC in Phoenix. Winners will be announced at noon.
Both the local and national event are sponsored in large part by the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) http://www.legion-aux.org/ In Phoenix local ALA members are part of the committee that puts on the festival and they assist with numerous components from preparation and planning, set up, photography, judging, and much more.
VA medical facilities utilize a variety of creative arts in their recreation therapy programs. The creation of artwork by these veterans — many with physical and mental disabilities resulting from service to our country — helps them heal and maintain more of their functional abilities, such as motor skills and vision.
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