According to recent statistics from the US Census, there are currently over 20 million veterans and active duty service members in the United States. Although arts play an important role in healing, the veteran community is often overlooked in programming. New Mexico Arts (NMA), a state arts agency, and Art Spark Texas, a nonprofit focused on inclusive arts, are two organizations emphasizing and creating programming for veterans and military families. 

Discovering the Gap

“In 2009, we realized there were a lot of veterans in our community and people who we were going to war and coming back, but not identifying as people with disabilities, which is the population we work with,” says Art Spark’s ArtWorks Director, April Sullivan. “The terminology didn’t relate to them.” 

In December, a group of prominent theater artists with disabilities announced the launch of a new professional company, employing only professionals with disabilities to create fully accessible theater. National Disability Theatre (NDT) says its mission is not only to create world-class theater productions, but also to “change social policy and the nation’s narrative about what people with disabilities can do and provide a guiding model in audience accessibility for the arts and culture sector.” Here, Co-Executive Directors and founders Talleri McRae and Mickey Rowe offer insight on how NDT came to be, as well as their plans for the future.