The Rebirth Initiative: A Project By Dr. Mark Jesinoski for the Exploring Engagement Artist in Residence Series through the Oceanside Museum of Art. Launched October 2014.
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The Rebirth Initiative (TRI) is, at it's core, about connecting, healing, and educating through the medium of art. It is about giving our veterans a voice by creating arts for healing programs in our communities. It is about building in-depth understanding of the emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact of war and in-turn, the art of change post-deployment. It is about creating empathy within the communities our veterans call home and ultimately understanding how war and human suffering affect us all. The Rebirth Initiative is a project created by Dr. Mark Jesinoski as a means to use art as a form of engagement, healing, and change not just with our veterans, but rather for supporting and understanding our veterans within the context of the communities they call home. Through this project Dr. Jesinoski offers an experiential workshop series using basic artistic and mindfulness practices to build a personal understanding of the concept of trauma, how combat affects veterans, and the challenges of change post-deployment. This workshop series is intended as a bridge to the community and a means to support local organizations in creating their own programs using art as a medium for healing and change with our veterans, their families, and their communities. The Rebirth Initiative helps us understand how trauma deeply affects not just veterans, but by extension our culture as a whole, AND how we can learn to empathize with our collective wounds in the service of acceptance, love, and equality. ***As a result of TRI I had the privilege of partnering with a great organization called The Veterans Art Project (VetArt.org). I have now been working with VetArt for almost two years supporting art-making, educational, and healing initiatives for Veterans through the arts. Learn more about VetArt.org. |
