Happy Veterans Day! As we honor and celebrate the service of our Veterans and their families, we also look back at the past year and the amazing community we have sustained virtually through the Hylton Center's Veterans and the Arts Initiative. Through countless music and art workshops, we have played guitar and ukulele, taken smartphone photos and videos, and created mixed media. We have not only reflected on our own community's service through the arts, but also inspired others by sharing our work at the Virginia Women Veterans Summit and through the release of an innovative Tele-Arts Engagement Guide. The implementation guide shares how the Initiative created a virtual Ukulele Workshop Series that is inclusive and accessible to our diverse, intergenerational, military-connected community, and provides a template for others to create similar programming in their communities.
As we return to the Hylton Center for hybrid workshops this fall and into 2022, we draw upon our resilience as individuals and especially as a community. As Program Director of the Veterans and the Arts Initiative, I look forward to reflecting on this resilience joyfully through the music of husband-and-wife duo, Michael Trotter and Tanya Trotter of The War and Treaty on Sunday, November 14. The couple first met in 2010 at the aptly titled Spirit of Love festival in Maryland, where their artistic-romantic partnership began. Today, the couple continues to bring their very relatable struggles to their music including Trotter’s battle with PTSD as an Army Veteran. Their music speaks truthfully about their journey, including challenges encountered and the hope that they have sustained.
If you haven't heard about The War and Treaty yet, please read more about them and grab your tickets now! Tickets are free for Veterans and Servicemembers with ID (up to 2 tickets each, must be claimed in-person at the Hylton Center Ticket Office).
I look forward to seeing you at the Hylton Center!
Dr. Niyati Dhokai
Program Director, Veterans and the Arts Initiative, Hylton Performing Arts Center, and Research Associate Professor, College of Visual and Performing Arts