Community Funds

Military Creative Arts Fund

True Patriot Love’s Military Creative Arts Fund invests in community-based programs that provide Veterans with accessible opportunities for connection, self-expression and community belonging through the arts.

About the Military Creative Arts Fund

Each year, approximately 8,000 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members release from their service and transition to civilian life. Upon their release, which can be lengthy and complex, a significant proportion of Veterans suffer from various forms of service-related injury and disability, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Therapeutic creative arts programs have been shown to assist with physical and mental rehabilitation, especially for those living with PTSD. Creative arts have a meaningful impact on Veterans by creating opportunities for connection, self-expression, and community belonging through the arts. These programs can help reduce isolation, support emotional well-being, and provide Veterans with safe spaces to share their stories, build confidence, and engage with peers who understand their experiences.

How to Apply

Application window is currently CLOSED.

Grant Term

Approved applicants will receive one year of funding to support their initiatives.

Successful applicants will participate in a verbal interim impact meeting (approximately six months after disbursement) and submit a written final impact report outlining activities, outcomes, and financial expenditures.

Grant recipients may also be contacted periodically for updates outside of these formal reporting periods.

Eligibility

Canadian Registered Charities, or a non-profit organization partnering with a Canadian registered charity, offering arts-based programs for Veterans, service people and their families.
Organization and programs with appropriate and relevant safeguarding processes, including background and reference checks on staff and volunteers and policies to ensure the safety and security of all participants.
Arts organizations in the civilian or military charitable sector.
Preference will be given to organizations that:
- Demonstrate a successful program with a proven track record.
- Collaborate with established mental health organizations or experts who are actively engaged as consultants.
- Offer programs with a regional scope, spanning across multiple provinces with the potential for national expansion.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the Fund, please email funding@truepatriotlove.com.

Community Partners

Some programs that received funding from the Military Creative Arts Fund in 2025-26 include:

Central Saskatchewan Military Family Resource Centre

Artful Paths to Wellness supports serving Canadian Armed Forces members, Veterans, and their families in Central Saskatchewan through therapeutic art classes and wellness workshops that promote mental wellbeing and community connection.

Military families in the region are geographically dispersed, often posted to rural or semi-isolated areas, and frequently report feeling disconnected from both military and civilian communities. Frequent relocations further disrupt social networks and access to familiar support, contributing to isolation.

The program was created to address this gap by offering accessible, community-building workshops in safe, welcoming environments. These sessions help families form meaningful connections, discover local amenities and resources, and strengthen their sense of belonging. Outreach-based programming also ensures support reaches rural and remote families who face additional barriers to accessing services.

Overall, the initiative reduces isolation, strengthens community ties, and helps military and Veteran families feel more at home.

Veterans Artist Collective

This program delivers facilitated, arts-based workshops for veterans across Canada, using creative practice as a non-clinical pathway to support well-being, self-expression, identity, and social connection. Programming includes painting, metal forging, and ceramics workshops, with a specific focus this year on the Veterans Portrait Painting Project (V3P). The programs will be offered in Ontario, BC, Alberta, and Nova Scotia.

New Brunswick Youth Orchestra

Launched in April 2025 at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, Sistema NB Oromocto is a first-of-its-kind Canadian program designed specifically for children of military families. Delivered in partnership with the Gagetown MFRC and local Anglophone and Francophone schools, the intensive daily after-school orchestral music program, featuring woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments inspired by military band traditions.

Sistema NB uses ensemble music-making as a vehicle for positive social change, helping children build focus, discipline, teamwork, empathy, confidence, and a strong sense of belonging. Through structured daily engagement and mentorship, participants experience the connection between effort and achievement, fostering resilience, and long-term personal growth.

The Oromocto Centre was created to address the unique challenges faced by military children, including frequent relocations, parental deployments, stress-related impacts, and social isolation.