A Texan-French Alliance for the Arts Community Art Program
in collaboration with many partners including:
The City of San Antonio, The French Consulate in Houston, Southwest School of Art, McNay Art Museum, AMEDD Museum/JBSA Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio Foundation, Café Commerce, Blue Star Contemporary, Jerry’s Artarama and Art to the Third Power.
- After its tremendous success in Houston, the citywide public art program “Open the Door” is coming to San Antonio.
- San Antonio was selected for the Open the Door Veterans’ pilot program due to its long history of veteran support as “Military City USA.”
- Each year, San Antonio hosts more than 130,000 students and their families for military training. Altogether, veterans represent over 10% of San Antonio’s population.
- The door is a strong, universal symbol of transition and progression. Our veterans experience significant transitions as they return from combat operations, as they resume the role of parent and spouse following a prolonged absence, and as they leave military service to return to a civilian lifestyle.
- The Open the Door Veterans’ program uses art as a visual dialogue between veterans, local artists, and members of the community. Installing the doors in public spaces enables the creation of a supportive network for veterans and expands their dialogue throughout San Antonio and its communities.
- This citywide public art program will provide a platform for veterans to express themselves and begin the healing process. Painted on one side of the doors will be artistic interpretations of the experiences that the veterans want to share with their community, while the other side of the doors will depict the community’s visual responses to the veterans’ messages.
- These painted doors will be the end product of a deliberate creative process, including therapeutic workshops, an exhibition documenting the veterans’ journey, and a public art installation that will activate interaction between veterans and their community.
Cody Vance, veteran: “Our pilot program had one mandate and question to answer; can art provide healing to PTSD sufferers? Yes! There is not a single person in the program that hasn’t been strongly affected by the experience. By circumstance, we’ve positively and permanently affected the lives of those who thought their futures were dim and possibly very short.“
Want to Join the Movement?
If you or your company is interested in being a sponsor of the “Open the Door” Veterans’ program, please contact our Texan-French Alliance for the Arts Executive and Program Director, Karine Parker, at info@texanfrenchalliance.org or our San Antonio project manager, Nick Smith, at nicksmithfineart@gmail.com. Check out the Open the Door Veterans Program website at: www.openthedoorsatx.org