Surviving the Long Wars
2023 Veteran Art Summit
March 16 – 19, 2023 | Chicago
Newberry Library, Hyde Park Art Center, & the Chicago Cultural Center
COVID-19 & ADA Accessibility Statement // View programming by day: Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
In March 2023, the Veteran Art Summit hosted four days of exciting programming that emphasized building relationships and fostering community care.
From the “American Indian Wars” to the “Global War on Terror,” the SURVIVING THE LONG WARS (STLW) summit explored the multiple, overlapping histories that shape our understanding of warfare, as well as alternative visions of peace, healing, and justice generated by diverse communities impacted by war. The summit featured the STLW performance program and concluding discussion series of the yearlong NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War program. There were poetry readings, panels, artmaking and movement workshops, a portfolio review, exhibition tours, fifteen-minute Open Platform presentations, and more.
Please note the 2023 Veteran Art Summit has concluded. View the highlight reel below or on our YouTube page.
Summit: Day 1
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Hyde Park Art Center & Newberry Library
Coffee, Registration, and Check-in
Hyde Park Art Center • 10:00am – 3:00pm CST
Mental Health Breakout Room
Hyde Park Art Center - Studio • 10:00am – 3:00pm CST
Join featured artists and poets for the opening program of the Veteran Art Triennial and Summit at the Newberry Library exhibit, SURVIVING THE LONG WARS: Residues and Rebellions.
Eddie Falcón [US Air Force veteran] and Angela Waller [US Army veteran] invite Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community members to a writing workshop that will build on prompts from BIPOC writers and articles about pertinent topics.
Open Platform is an opportunity for veterans and war-impacted artists and community members to share and learn about the wide range of art practices and projects currently happening, through a series of short PowerPoint presentations and talks.
Hussein Smko leads a movement workshop exploring the themes of the Triennial through the body.
Gina Herrera (Costa Rican and Tesuque Pueblo) [Navy, Army, and Air Force veteran], a Chicago-born-and-raised artist residing in California, will lead this group discussion.
Eric Perez [US Marine Corps], a Chicago-based artist and educator, will lead this group discussion.
Lovella Calica will lead a community health workshop focused on TRE exercises (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises)—a simple series of exercises that assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma.
Eddie Falcón [US Air Force veteran] and Angela Waller [US Army veteran] invite Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community members to a writing workshop that will build on prompts from BIPOC writers and articles about pertinent topics.
Dorothy Burge will lead an all-levels quilting workshop that begins with an introduction to the history and cultural significance of quilting within the Black community.
Join Joseph Lefthand (Cheyenne-Arapaho, Taos, and Zuni tribes) for a grounding at the start of the day.
Summit: Day 2
Friday, March 17, 2023
Hyde Park Art Center
Coffee, Registration, and Check-in
Hyde Park Art Center • 10:00am – 4:00pm CST
Mental Health Breakout Room
Hyde Park Art Center - Studio • 10:00am – 4:00pm CST
The Hyde Park Art Center’s Triennial exhibit SURVIVING THE LONG WARS: Unlikely Entanglements opens with a collaborative performance from Hussein Smko, Hipólito Arriaga III, and GOODW.Y.N.
Join Frontline Paper in an introductory participatory demonstration of the transformative process of creating paper from US military uniforms.
Open Platform is an opportunity for veterans and war-impacted artists and community members to share and learn about the wide range of art practices and projects currently happening, through a series of short PowerPoint presentations and talks.
Joseph Lefthand will lead a movement and breathing workshop exploring the embodiment of resiliency and reconciliation.
Dunya Mikhail will lead a poetry workshop based on responses to works featured in the SURVIVING THE LONG WARS: Unlikely Entanglements exhibition.
Anthony Torres [US Army veteran], a writer, performer, and the Executive Director of Combat Hippies, will lead this group discussion.
Yvette Pino, founder of the Veteran Print Project, will lead an exploratory printmaking workshop.
Contribute to artist Sabba S. Elahi’s embroidery project to memorialize the names of civilians—women and children—who were killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan.
Join Joseph Lefthand (Cheyenne-Arapaho, Taos, and Zuni tribes) for a grounding at the start of the day.
Summit: Day 3
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Chicago Cultural Center
Coffee, Registration, Reception, and Coat Check/Green Room
Chicago Cultural Center - Grand Army of the Republic Hall • 10:00am – 3:30pm CST
Mental Health Breakout Room
Chicago Cultural Center - Room TBD • All Day
Forging Hope is the opening program for Reckon and Reimagine. The program will begin with an exhibition walkthrough with featured artists and concludes with a music performance by Elexa Dawson (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Joseph Running Crane (Blackfeet), Brittney Chantele, and James Pakootas (Confederate Tribes of Colville).
Join us for the second of two guided tours of SURVIVING THE LONG WARS: Reckon and Reimagine led by UIC students.
![Sada [regroup]: Film Showing and Discussion with Bassim Al Shaker and Ali Eyal Hosted by Michael Rakowitz](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/630d2ea6eaadb722d8c08796/1676220123556-D4X9XM8MFPILHYH5QB7D/Al-Shaker-Eyal.jpg)
Sada [regroup] is a complex visualization of individual and collective art practices in a protracted era of international warfare. Commissioned by documenta fifteen.
DRONE is a new play by Andrea Assaf and a transdisciplinary performance project integrating theater, live music, emerging technologies, and artistic containers for public dialogue.
Monty Little (Diné) [Marine Corps veteran], an artist from Tuba City, Arizona, will lead this group discussion.
Join us for the first of two guided tours of SURVIVING THE LONG WARS: Reckon and Reimagine led by UIC students.
Gerald Sheffield [US Army veteran], a Los Angeles-based artist and educator, will lead this group discussion.
Join Dr. Meranda Roberts and artists Gina Herrera, Jason Wesaw, Ernest M Whiteman III, and Joseph Lefthand as they discuss the motivations behind their practices and the many ways their art is found in conversation with others.
The welcoming performance will feature a discussion and grounding by Joseph Lefthand (Cheyenne-Arapaho, Taos, and Zuni tribes).
Summit: Day 4
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Chicago Cultural Center
Coffee, Registration, Reception, and Coat Check/Green Room
Chicago Cultural Center - Grand Army of the Republic Hall Rotunda • 10:00am – 12:00pm CST
The emerging Veteran Art Movement, in collaboration with Veterans for Peace and About Face: Veterans Against the War, will host a vigil and silent walk to mark the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
At the closing event of the Summit, Starla Thompson (Potawatami)—Indigenous educator, scholar, and advocate—will perform and share her story about the significance of the traditional Native American ceremony called the “Jingle Dress Dance,” or the “Healing Dance.”
Join NEH Veteran Fellow Anthony Torres and performer and writer Andrea Torres for a closing circle.
Join Joseph Lefthand (Cheyenne-Arapaho, Taos, and Zuni tribes) for a grounding at the start of the day.