This partner highlight was provided by Path With Art to their community on November 27, 2019

PARTNER HIGHLIGHT: VETERAN RITES

Path with Art is thrilled to partner with Veteran Rites as we launch our new veteran-specific programming. Veteran Rites' mission is to provide circles of return where prior service members are initiated back to their whole selves in the presence of authentic and affirming community. Circles can be any ceremony, ritual, performance, activity, or practice that empowers veterans to enjoy and deploy the unique gifts they have to share with the world.

Veteran Rites Executive Director, Ryan Mielcarek, shared, “Somatic Experiencing through art, theater, and rites of passage bring to the surface the shadows in us that are calling to be seen and danced with compassionately so we can heal with our whole selves. Trauma is not something to be suppressed and managed, it is the pathway to coming in to the fullness of our being through post traumatic growth. This natural process to wholeness is a right of every human and especially every veteran. Path with Art and Veteran Rites create paths for veterans to become fully embodied and the container for that beauty to be witnessed by community… Our Veterans and their Families have deep wisdom and so many other gifts that are needed to bridge the divide within and between all of us. We just need to affirm and hold space for them so we can truly sing together.”

Ryan participated as a Creative Mentor in the recent all-veteran Path with Art choir for The Falling & The Rising, operatic story of service, sacrifice, and connection that recently took the stage at Seattle Opera. You can catch an interview with Ryan, alongside Path with Art Student Artist Melodie Clarke, and learn more about the project here.