Our Mission & Vision
Mission: to provide arts, humanities, and recreation programming to veterans and the military-connected community for the purpose of improving healing and reintegration outcomes. We engage our community in arts, humanities, and recreation experiences through arts, crafts, and writing programs that often serve to begin one’s journey to wellness and arts, humanities, and recreation experiences through arts, crafts, and writing programs connectedness.
Vision: Service Through Art
Our Core Values
- Service Through Art providing support for veterans, extending that support to the community through the arts.
- Empowerment and healing through personal storytelling and art disciplines
- Arts Access and Education: DJD Foundation demonstrates the value of arts to our community, and works to provide access to veterans and other underrepresented communities, welcoming all individuals, inclusive of the BIPOC, Disabled, and LGBTQIA+.
- Stewardship to the Land acknowledging and honoring its original inhabitants, exemplifying art processes that reuse, recycle, and reduce waste.
Our History
Since 2008, DJD Foundation has developed and grown to include the humanities and recreation in its mission, serving veterans and the military-connected community.
Our original vision statement: Our original vision statement remains true: Art Heals War Wounds. Because we know this to be true, we see our service is through the arts and have updated our statement to reflect this: SERVICE THROUGH ART.
Our Story
This Foundation, its Board and participants is made of neighbors, educators, chefs, Burning Man participants, entrepreneurs, motorcyclists on Odyssean journeys, fighters, writers, and spoken-word artists whose cars have disco balls in them.
Imagine that you are a twenty-three year old abstract artist from Reno, NV. You’re a mountain climber, kayaker, poet, and you smoke a pipe. You don’t feel like you quite fit in anywhere, but you can talk to anyone. You have served in Iraq once and Afghanistan twice. Your name is David.
You are, in a word, relatable. Your imperfections were a mirror for the rest of us to see our own silly quirks. And that reflection was honest, precise, and humbling. Honest because you took yourself and us, as is. Precise because you were wise. And humbling for the way that you modeled deference in a world of ego.
We identified with you because you were at once familiar and unique. You embodied what we idealized in our youth—moving towards the unknown with bold curiosity. Your posture before high-ranking officers and war-weary Afghan farmers was the same—indispensable to both. You were what we knew and what we wanted to be.
And that, David is the essence of the DJD Art Foundation. Were you here, you’d identify with us too. This Foundation, its Board and participants is made of neighbors, educators, chefs, Burning Man participants, entrepreneurs, motorcyclists on Odyssean journeys, fighters, writers, and spoken-word artists whose cars have disco balls in them. Multi-tour Airborne Rangers, West Point graduates, and all manner of decorated survivors think of you daily as well. Whenever someone asks them about the KIA bracelet on their wrists, they probably, like me, wrap their hand around your name on it—as if to guard you or touch you while talking about you.
It took all of us to see you through various lenses. Like any work of art. You were and are what we know—the inspiration that follows, to express what we want to be is your legacy. Like you, we want to serve others. Art is our language, yet everything that we’ve written, painted, sculpted, spoken, choreographed, danced, composed, or created under the name of this Foundation is mute compared to the moments of connection made possible by the canvas of your absence. This is what you must know about David Joseph Drakulich. Join us at the paper mill, at the drafting table, the bench, the kitchen, the potter’s wheel, the stage, mic, or library. I guarantee that you’ll see yourself, and parts of what you want to be, that you haven’t before. This is David’s gift to you, and our privilege to convey it on his behalf.
~by Noel Lipana,
Our Founders
Joe and Tina Drakulich know that veterans should have free access to the arts and humanities for many reasons: Those who serve are often required to sacrifice those rights to their military discipline, being charged to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States. In so doing, they protect our precious democracy-preserving rights. With that appreciation, Joe and Tina raised their family in Northern Nevada, enjoying the arts, and the high desert environment. They wish to thank veterans and the military-connected community for their sacrifices through the gift of the arts and humanities.
Board of Directors Election
Our Board of Directors
Tina Drakulich – Founder
Tina Drakulich is the founder of David J Drakulich Arts Foundation. With a Master’s Degree in Creative Arts in Education, she retired from the Washoe County School District. In retirement, she volunteers to lead DJDAF, acting as interim director, and has stepped in to serve as secretary of the board of directors to answer the shortage of human resources that resulted from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Anthony Gene Hughs – President
Anthony "Gene" Hughes currently serves as President of the DJD Foundation Board of Directors, having dedicated himself to the organization as both a member and advisor since 2009. A US Army veteran of the Vietnam era, Gene is deeply passionate about working with the veteran community. He has actively taught visual art through the Veterans Art Project and currently serves with the Northern Nevada Veterans Writing Project. Professionally, Mr. Hughes is an accomplished artist with an extensive career in portraiture, renowned for developing unique linear techniques to create his distinctive work.
Chris Gardella
A third-generation Nevadan and seasoned entrepreneur, Chris Gardella brings a wealth of business acumen and a deep commitment to community service to the DJD Foundation. Chris discovered his entrepreneurial spirit early in his career, successfully founding and selling three local businesses before becoming the owner of Nevada’s oldest Allstate Agency. He is passionate about combining his commercial expertise with the Foundation’s mission, firmly believing in the transformative power of creativity to heal and improve the lives of our nation’s veterans.
Barbara Welsh
Barbara Welsh has been an integral part of the DJD Foundation since its founding, officially managing the organization's bookkeeping since 2019. An expert in financial systems, she spearheaded the Foundation’s transition to QuickBooks Online and, in 2024, implemented advanced grant-tracking reporting to ensure financial transparency for grantors. Barbara holds a B.S. in Business Education and possesses extensive experience in both the private and public education sectors. In addition to her work with the Foundation, she is an entrepreneur who operates her own bookkeeping and pet/house sitting businesses.
Scott Maryott
I am a retired Army officer whose previous assignments have included teaching history at West Point, serving in the 1/160 SOAR, and leading the Wolf Pack Battalion as the Professor of Military Science at the University of Nevada. After retiring I was a JROTC instructor at Reno High School and later served as the District Director of JROTC for the WCSD. I am passionate about supporting our community as a Board Member for our local AUSA Chapter, volunteering at the VA, teaching a Military History class at UNR, and volunteering as a coach at Reno HS for the "We the People" program. I have a wonderful wife and three beautiful children.
Julie Dudley
Julie Dudley is a nonprofit communications strategist and Veteran‑focused leader with more than two decades of experience supporting mission‑driven organizations. A former State Home Liaison Officer with the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, she has worked extensively across Veteran advocacy, community partnerships, and government relations. Julie has partnered with numerous Veteran service organizations and their boards, while also serving the residents of the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home, contributing expertise in stakeholder engagement, organizational storytelling, and community alignment. She brings a collaborative, team‑centered approach to achieving organizational goals, grounded in a deep commitment to strengthening communities and expanding support for those who have served. Her work is rooted in the belief that strong partnerships and shared purpose create lasting impact, and she brings a mission‑driven, relationship‑centered perspective to board service focused on advancing organizational effectiveness, elevating community voices, and advancing programs that support Veterans and their families.
Chai Glenn-Cook
Chai Glenn-Cook currently serves as the Director of Veteran Services at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), where she has led veteran student programming since 2012. In this capacity, Chai oversees institutional compliance with VA education benefits and manages over $3 million in annual VA funding. Beyond financial oversight, she directs critical strategic initiatives focused on student veteran retention, campus integration, and suicide prevention. Holding an M.P.A. in Public Administration and Policy from UNR and a B.A. in International and Regional Studies from the University of the Pacific, Chai leverages her extensive experience in federal grants and program management to support the DJD Foundation’s mission through expert advice and collaboration.
Luana Ritch
Dr. Luana Ritch, retired, US Army veteran, 1976-2019, including a tour in Korea. Luana cut her Field Jacket into small bits in 2011 and put it into the paper mill and made paper upon which she wrote poems, stories, and letters; she made art, she made friends, and she found solace. She wove herself into the culture of DJD Foundation and began supporting the organization with volunteer hours, financial resources, and service to the board of directors. Luana Ritch served DJD Foundation’s Board of Directors from 2017-2024 in the capacities of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Adviser. Luana’s legacy of service, loyalty, generosity and compassion are unmatched. Her friendship and service are truly missed.
Our Land and Labor Acknowledgement
DJD Foundation participates in the national effort to create a more perfect union. Therefore, we acknowledge that All of DJDAF’s programs and activities occur on land where the Shoshoni, Paiutes, Washo, and other indigenous populations once thrived. These beautiful, fertile and life-sustaining lands were sacred, and these inhabitants cared for them accordingly. We are grateful for their stewardship and honored to be here. We prioritize honoring these predecessors and their intentions for these lands.
Furthermore, we acknowledge that America’s infrastructure was produced largely, through the hands of enslaved Africans and their descendants, in forced, unpaid labor, built. These hands produced vast proportions of the physical and economic infrastructure of the United States of America. These resources provide the structure upon which we enjoy the capacity to create our organization. Controlled narratives and omissions of historical reference in public education and public media normalized these practices and perpetuated inequality, cruelty, persistent racism, and unfair labor practices, enabling forms of enslavement that still exist today, and also play a role in our relationship to the land. With these resources of land and infrastructure, DJDAF will work toward equality and respect for all.
We establish that DJDAF is committed to presenting the voices of veterans, military-connected individuals, and other underserved communities because they tell stories of personal truths. These narratives begin to shed light on American history and herstory. Knowing these stories is critical to capably upholding civic responsibilities to the United States Constitution.
Our Partners
