ABOUT US

OUR STORY

ANVAM is Australia's national organisation for Veterans Arts and wellbeing. We are a national cultural institution, a registered Public Benevolent Institution and a veteran-led charity, and we are the only arts institution in Australia dedicated to the wellbeing of the Veteran Community.

We support the mental, physical and social wellbeing of the Veteran Community, current serving and former-serving ADF members and their families, through facilitated arts engagement programs, projects and collaborations.

A big vision from modest beginnings

ANVAM was founded in 2013 by Tanja Johnston, in response to a growing need for an innovative model of care in veterans' wellbeing. We began with a simple but powerful conviction: that the arts offer a genuine, non-clinical pathway to wellbeing, and that the declining state of veterans' wellbeing called for new thinking and real community engagement.

From the start, our approach has been strengths-based. Rather than framing veterans through deficit or diagnosis, we begin with what people can do, create, share and build together. We foster a culture of inclusion grounded in creative expression, and we hold to social connectedness as the key to wellbeing.

Incorporated on ANZAC Day 2015

ANVAM was incorporated on ANZAC Day, 25 April 2015, as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, and registered as a charity and Public Benevolent Institution. Our founding Board brought together veterans, artists and cultural leaders: Founder Tanja Johnston, Chairman Mark Johnston, Treasurer Dominik Kul, Non-Executive Directors Prof Su Baker AM and Sharyne Meade, and Secretary Mike Godfrey.

Mark Johnston and Dominik Kul remain on our Board today, providing continuity from those founding days.

A home in the heart of the arts precinct

Since 2019, ANVAM has operated its Gallery and home at 312 St Kilda Road, Southbank, in Melbourne's arts precinct. St Kilda Road has long been associated with veteran care and commemoration, and our neighbourhood includes the Shrine of Remembrance. Our Gallery is a non-clinical, inclusive space: a place to make and show work, gather, and connect.

How we think about wellbeing

Our focus is whole-of-life. We engage veterans early in their careers and in transition, equipping them with tools that promote validation, identity and purpose, and we welcome members of the Veteran Community at any time they discover ANVAM for themselves.

We understand the Veteran Community through five Dimensions: Community and Connection; Culture and Identity; Creativity and Innovation; History and Heritage; and Health and Wellbeing. Leveraging these Dimensions and the arts, we take a Systems Approach to whole-of-life wellbeing, built on the core systems of arts, place and community. World Health Organization evidence recognises the role of the arts in preventing poor mental health and supporting recovery, and our work puts that evidence into practice.

What we do

We deliver person-centred arts programs; our flagship Festival of Veterans Arts (FOVA); exhibitions of Veteran Artists' work; collaborations supporting Veteran Artists' own projects; community connection and engagement; the VALUES program, which commissions Veteran Artists; and compensation advocacy support for veterans. We welcome the whole Veteran Community, with no memberships and no barriers to participation.

We prioritise community before competition, and we actively seek partnerships across the veteran, arts and health sectors to develop thought leadership, research and opportunities for the Veteran Community to thrive.

Our purpose and vision

Our purpose is to support the wellbeing of the Veteran Community through the Arts.

Our vision is to create an environment where the Veteran Community flourishes through the Arts, Culture, Place and Community, and to establish a permanent national home for Veterans Arts in the former Repatriation Commission Outpatient Clinic at 310 St Kilda Road, Southbank. Opposite the Shrine of Remembrance and at the southern gateway to the Melbourne Arts Precinct, it is a place synonymous with veterans' wellbeing. We intend it to become an inclusive hub for wellness and wellbeing, the home of Veterans Arts in Australia.

With thanks

We acknowledge the directors who have shaped ANVAM over the years, including Founder Tanja Johnston (2015 to 2025), Prof Su Baker AM (2015 to 2018), Sharyne Meade (2015 to 2018) and Jacqueline Pascarl OAM (2018 to 2019). Our Patron is the Governor-General.