NORTH CHICAGO – The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center’s annual Veterans Creative Arts Festival will return Sept. 22 to highlight the artwork, creative writing and musical talents of area veterans.
Performances are at 11 a.m. under a tent outside Building 4, the Education Center of Excellence, on the hospital’s North Chicago campus.
Visual art entries can be viewed inside Building 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 21 and Sept. 22. Masks and social distancing will be required for the art show.
Veterans enrolled for care at any of Lovell FHCC’s facilities were able to enter work in the art, music, dance and writing categories. Art categories were painting; sculpture; drawing; photography; wood, leather and model kits; and pottery.
Performance categories are dance (including wheelchair dance), drama (including comedy), solo and group vocal and instrumental acts and vocal original compositions.
Veterans also entered creative writing, including essays, poetry and short stories.
While this is a competition, many of the artists and performers receive therapeutic services at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers across the country.
Lovell FHCC has strong recreation and creative arts therapy programs led by trained health care professionals in a clinical setting, using art as an avenue toward achievement and maintenance of restorative goals, according to a news release.
Top finishers may be eligible to advance to the national level, where they will compete against veterans from other facilities around the country.
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