The Louisiana Military & Veterans Arts & Humanities Summit, first in the series, was hosted by Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser at the New Orleans Jazz Museum on October 8, 2019. The Summit brought key stakeholders together to learn about programs and services offered by military/veteran agencies, as well as programs offered through arts and humanities organizations in Louisiana.

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies profiled the Louisiana Veterans Songwriting Workshops in their November newsletter. NASAA is the professional association of the nation's 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Special thanks to Feby Varghese and NASAA for their support.

The military makes up one of the largest portions of the under served arts communities in our state. In response to this need, we have initiated a songwriting program for veterans with the assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts. To date, there have been four workshops across Louisiana in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Alexandria, and Shreveport. 

Songs of Survivors (SOS) Veterans Workshops are designed to provide Veterans the opportunity to learn the craft of songwriting. These free workshops allow participants to tell service-related stories through lyrics and music in a safe, supportive and empowering environment. The workshops are led by the BR Music Studios Doug Gay and Sarah Burke and David St. Romain of Nashville Star.

The Youtube link below will take you to a playlist of songs written and sung by Veterans attending one of the workshops and produced by BR Music Studios and David St. Romain. The news link below will take you to a segment aired on Baton Rouge television station WAFB shot by Rick Portier.

For more information contact Leea Russell, Director of Arts Education and Accessibility at lrussell@crt.la.gov.