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.