Greater Hartford Arts Council Awards $10,000 in Grants to Support Arts Programs for Local Veterans

The council’s 2015 “Arts and Wellness” grant program, funded by
UnitedHealthcare, supports organizations that enrich the lives and
well-being of veterans and their families through art

HARTFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Greater Hartford Arts Council has announced the recipients of its
2016 Arts + Wellness Grants. These grants, supported by
UnitedHealthcare, were given to four local arts organizations to produce
programs that use creativity to enrich lives and enhance the health and
well-being of veterans and their families.

The recipients – Ballet Theater Company, Hospital for Special Care, the
University of Saint Joseph’s Autorino Center for the Arts and
Humanities, and the Veteran’s Art Foundation – were chosen by a panel of
community volunteers and were honored today at the 100 Pearl Street
Gallery in Hartford.

“The Arts Council is proud to award ‘Arts and Wellness’ grants to these
four outstanding organizations that are doing so much to enrich the
lives of veterans and their families,” said Cathy Malloy, CEO, Greater
Hartford Arts Council. “These programs will help veterans cope with
their experiences and connect with their communities through art. We
thank UnitedHealthcare for its support of this important grant program
and for its commitment to our nation’s veterans.”

2016 Arts + Wellness Grant Recipients

Ballet Theater Company’s Veteran’s Project
Ballet
Theater Company – led by Roman Baca, Marine, Iraq War veteran and
artistic director of the company – will compose a ballet thematically
derived from the military experience. Connecticut-area veterans will
have input into music, costuming, staging and choreography for the
culminating ballet in autumn 2016.

Hospital for Special Care’s Joy of Art!: The
Art of Honor
Hospital for Special Care’s (HSC) The Joy
of Art! (JOA) program operates on the basic premise that making art
has healing properties. The Art of Honor will provide workshops for
veterans and their families to explore their experiences through the
arts, concluding in a community showcase of the artwork in fall 2016.

University of Saint Joseph Autorino Center for the
Arts and Humanities’ The Odyssey
The University of
Saint Joseph will bring the country’s only all-veteran dance company to
Connecticut to perform Homer’s The Odyssey. In conjunction with
the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Mental Health &
Addiction Services, the university will use this special presentation to
bring together communities of veterans, their families and caregivers to
create opportunities for connection, advocacy and care, and to begin a
process of reducing stigma around depression, addiction and violence.

Veteran Arts Foundation’s Mask-making Workshops
for Veterans
In 2016, the Veteran Arts Foundation will
hold four mask-making workshops specifically designed for veterans and
led by art therapist Rachel Sclare. The art of mask-making in therapy
has shown to be an effective therapeutic tool for veterans who are
having difficulty transitioning from combat to domestic life and can
help individuals process and cope with a variety of invisible
war-related injuries.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to support the Arts Council’s ‘Arts
& Wellness’ grant initiative, which helps fund arts-related programs to
help the physical, mental and emotional rehabilitation of the men and
women who sacrificed their health in the service of our country,” said
Elizabeth Winsor, CEO of UnitedHealthcare National Accounts. “This
year’s grant recipients and their works will make a difference in the
lives of veterans and their families.”

For more information on the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s Arts +
Wellness grants, visit www.LetsGoArts.org/wellness.

About the Greater Hartford Arts Council
The
Greater Hartford Arts Council is the central voice for the cultural
sector in our region. We secure community resources and responsibly
reinvest those dollars through a stringent grant-making process into a
wide array of organizations and programs that keep our community strong.
We promote the arts as a regional asset and connect citizens to the
arts. To learn more about Arts Council programs and services, as well as
our United Arts Campaign, visit www.LetsGoArts.org
or follow us @letsgoarts_org on Twitter.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare
is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by
simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and
wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care
providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit
programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees
and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and
contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.
UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:
UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more
information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com
or follow @myUHC on Twitter.

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Contacts

Greater Hartford Arts Council
Kate McOmber, 860-525-8629, ext. 249
kmcomber@LetsGoArts.org
or
UnitedHealthcare
Maria
Gordon Shydlo, 914-977-4613
maria_g_shydlo@uhc.com