Nolen V. Bivens, Brigadier General, US Army (Ret.), Americans for the Arts Board Member and Chairman of the National Leadership Advisory Council of the National Initiative for Arts and Health in the Military, was honored on Veterans Day in his hometown of Chesterfield, VA. He was presented the keys to the town, and was guest speaker for the event. He credited his mother with his success in life, saying she taught him the words he has tried to live by: ‘Stand up to speak. Speak up to be heard. And sit down to be loved.’

He said of this generation of military members that we are able to see courage in action as they return from war and adapt to more and more advanced prosthetics. It is the largest population of veterans that this country has seen since Vietnam, and Bivens enforced that watching them gives him hope for the future.

Nolen Bivens has been instrumental in Americans for the Arts National Initative for Arts and Health in the Military, and co-penned an op ed to the Huffington Post with our President and CEO, Robert Lynch on Veterans Day about the role of the arts in helping to heal our military members and veterans. Read the Op Ed here.