Q&A
Personal experiences and success stories in arts programs for veterans
0:57:55
·
4 min
Council Member Holden asks Curtis Dorval to share success stories from his experience working with veterans in arts programs. Both Dorval and Holden share personal anecdotes about the transformative power of arts education and mentorship.
- Dorval emphasizes the joy of seeing veterans find passion and purpose through arts programs
- Holden shares his experience as a college professor, witnessing students transform through arts education
- Both highlight the importance of mentorship and encouragement in nurturing artistic talents
- Dorval recounts how a professor at Fordham University encouraged him to pursue his artistic abilities after leaving the military
Robert Holden
0:57:55
Certainly, Curtis, you have you've seen some amazing things with with working with veterans.
0:58:00
Right?
0:58:01
And when they find a career or find a possible career or find a love, what have you seen in success stories in your experience?
0:58:10
Like one individual that picked himself up or herself up and changed their lives.
Curtis Dorval
0:58:17
Jared, to find a specific example on the spot right now
Robert Holden
0:58:21
I'm putting you on the spot.
Curtis Dorval
0:58:22
Struggling.
0:58:22
However, I it does happen.
Gene De Francis
0:58:24
Yeah.
Curtis Dorval
0:58:25
And it honestly, when you see the connection and you see the turnaround, it it's like the greatest thing in the world because you've introduced a passion to somebody that has either lost it previously or were really struggling to find it.
0:58:39
To see a a great joy of mine is to see an impassioned person doing the things that they love in life and really just going to town on it, just, like, having a great time.
0:58:53
And that's that that's all I gotta say.
0:58:56
It's it's it's
Robert Holden
0:58:57
it's interesting.
0:58:58
My experience, I taught college for 40 years, like I said earlier, and in the arts.
0:59:04
And I would watch students when they first came into the college and then by their senior year had transformed themselves.
0:59:12
And they felt, like I said, they felt they had a talent, something to offer.
0:59:15
They had something waiting for them when they graduated, and, an exciting career.
0:59:22
And anything in the arts, by the way, to me, is so interesting because you're creating out of something in your head, and you're making it just like you make your films.
0:59:33
You're editing, and it's a very creative way to do it.
0:59:35
And then you see the impact it has on the audience.
0:59:37
You get instant feedback.
0:59:40
Instant feedback is so important in galleries and museums that artists show.
0:59:45
We feel the best when our work is shown to somebody, because we live with it constantly.
0:59:51
And when it gets shown, you change.
0:59:53
You say, Wow.
0:59:54
And you get the feedback.
0:59:56
So it pushes you.
0:59:59
And so that that's why you when you get to be my age, you always start remembering those students that you had that came back and said, you know, they would say, professor Holden, you you really saved my life.
1:00:09
You really helped me.
1:00:11
You really gave me a career.
1:00:12
I have now 3 kids, and I I have a wonderful house, you know, and I bought and I I'm a working graphic designer, and you inspired me.
1:00:21
And that to me is is worth $1,000,000 because you that feedback is so important.
1:00:27
And so that that means anything in the that's why this hearing is happening because I know what it can do for a person, arts.
1:00:34
And we we underestimate that sometimes, at least many times.
Curtis Dorval
1:00:39
I I will add, just because, you've given me the time to think here.
1:00:42
It you know, personally, I wasn't necessarily gonna go back into the arts after I left the military.
1:00:47
And it was, to your point, it was a specific professor, I and I'll call her out here.
1:00:51
She's amazing.
1:00:52
Monique Fortinet, at Fordham University is where I attended for my undergraduate.
1:00:57
And, she it came to a point where I was going about doing my thing.
1:01:02
And I brought to her, a poem and she's like, are you, like, are you an artist?
1:01:07
Have you considered this?
1:01:08
And I was like, you know, I've I have this background, and I just I don't think it's right.
1:01:14
I don't I think I'm a little too late to the game having been in the military for so long, and now I'm a father and I have to provide for my family.
1:01:22
And she pushed me.
1:01:24
She pushed me and she said, I think you should pursue there.
1:01:26
I think there's something there.
1:01:27
You have a message.
1:01:28
You have something valuable to add to the conversation.
1:01:32
And that's that's really deeply personal to me.
1:01:34
And I I value her very much for that because it set me on the career that I have now, and I I absolutely thank her
Robert Holden
1:01:41
for And and I think most successful people will tell you that especially in the arts that there's somebody that motivated them and went the extra mile to to really take them under their wing.
1:01:51
And I had that you you had that you just mentioned, but that's so important in the arts that the mentorship and then somebody telling you, hey, you have talent.
1:02:00
You should really work on it.
1:02:02
And then here's how to do it.
1:02:03
And here's how I can help you.
1:02:05
That's important.
1:02:06
And that's always happened, I think, with, the people that I speak to who are successful and especially in the in the in the arts.
1:02:12
But the there's no great there's no city like us that in New York City that we have so many museums and galleries, the center of arts in the world.
1:02:21
So this is where it's proven to serve, to help people, and like I said, mentioned, change their lives.
1:02:29
Do you have any questions?
1:02:31
No, you
Ellen Greeley
1:02:32
asked all my questions.
Robert Holden
1:02:33
I asked all your questions.
James Hendon
1:02:34
Mr.
1:02:35
Chairman, may
Robert Holden
1:02:35
I add
James Hendon
1:02:35
something to what Ellen was just saying, too, and Chuck?
