About Face Veterans Action Camp

Join us for a five day action training just for veterans and our closest collaborators. May 26-30th at Highlander Center in New Market, TN.

We will train 50 veterans and our closest collaborators in 4 distinct track's on Nonviolent Direct Action* (NVDA):

• Strategy and Action Planning
• Artistic and Creative Action
• Blockades and Taking Space
• Community Defense 

*Tracks subject to changes based on participant interests.

Strategy and Action Planning: Goals and outcomes: This track covers the theory and functions of direct action, developing strategy and tactics, and how to apply direct action techniques strategically to escalate and/or achieve a goal. Participants will gain skills in designing and planning an action for an ongoing campaign or in reaction to an emergent situation, scouting, understanding action logic and action roles, research, messaging, points of intervention, and developing the different components of an action plan. 

Artistic and Creative Action: Goals and outcomes: This track will work on skill sharing and skill building for bringing art and creativity into our actions through imagery, performance, and coordinated messaging. Participants will learn new skills and practice artistic and creative ways to engage in nonviolent direct action including assessing what kind of visuals are best for an action, messaging and how to convey meaning, developing skills around banner and sign making, wearable art, experimenting with stencils, printmaking, street theater etc, and creating art for future movement use.

Blockades and Holding Space: Goals and outcomes: This track will investigate different ways of taking and holding space, strategies for using our bodies to achieve action goals, considerations for scouting and action planning, and practicing different types and techniques of blockades. Participants will learn and practice skills on how to think about how blockades can be used to both shut spaces down and opening up spaces for movement. Participants will experiment through role-playing different interactions with the police, vigilantes, and other disruptive forces.

Community Defense: This track will dig into concepts of community defense as a form of coordinated collective action. We’ll focus on building our collective knowledge and skills to keep our movements and communities as safe as possible from state violence, vigilantes, and other danger associated with taking public action and/or being a part of a targeted community. This track is an opportunity for us to translate our skills into service and solidarity with the movements we are trying to build with.

We will spend time during the camp learning about and discussing the role of veterans in people's movements and how we can bring our skills from the military to support movements in this moment.

Registration includes food and lodging and is a sliding scale from $100-$300, a limited number of scholarships are available as well as travel stipends for those who need support attending.