THIS Bridge and USF Opera collaborate on the development of a new opera - the first opera ever 

written about the U.S. Iraq war - created by Iraqi American playwrite/librettist Heater Raffo, based on 

the true story of a U.S. Marine. 



Art2Action, in partnership with the University of South Florida (USF), is one of 6 grantees in the nation 

awarded a "Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement" grant from the Association of 

Performing Arts Presenters (APAP). 



The "Building Bridges" program will introduce students, partners and audiences to the great diversity 

of Muslim and Arab identities, cultures and aesthetics, by presenting a series of (mostly) women 

performers and artists in multiple disciplines, over a two-year period. Our title, THIS Bridge: Arab, 

Middle Eastern & Muslim Artists, references seminal writings in women of color feminism (This Bridge 

Called My Back and later This Bridge We Call Home, as well as Colonize THIS! Young Women of 

Color on Today s Feminism), and locates the self-representation of contemporary Arab and Muslim 

women artists within that historical discourse.  Guest artists in the presenting series will each spend a 

full week in Tampa, on campus and in the community. Artist residencies will include performances, 

film screenings, exhibits, class visits and workshops, Festival appearances, facilitated dialogues, 

academic lectures and panels to engage students across an array of departments, institutes, and 

student associations.