Washington: Veterans' Arts Programming Grants

From left: Bryan Bales (Wellness Arts, and the Military Program Manager, ArtsWA), Karen Hanan (Executive Director, ArtsWA), Dan Murray (State Homes Operations Director, Washington Department of Veterans Affairs), David Puente (Director, Washington Department of Veterans Affairs). Photo courtesy Washington Department of Veterans Affairs

The arts offer tools that support the health and well-being of veterans. The Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA) is providing resources and support to meet the unique needs of veterans and active-duty military personnel. With a long-standing commitment to serving Washington’s military communities, ArtsWA and the Washington Department of Veteran Affairs (WDVA) recently partnered to create a new, unique program aimed at supporting veterans through the arts. The Wellness, Arts and the Military program within ArtsWA is providing $250,000 in grant funding to WDVA to facilitate arts based programming in four state veterans’ homes and the Transitional Housing Program in Washington state.

The initiative aims to support veterans and their families by providing creative art activities and resources that will help reconnect them with their communities. The recent COVID-19 pandemic related challenges limited WDVA’s ability to offer in-person programming to residents of the state veterans’ homes and individuals receiving services in WDVA’s Transitional Housing Program. The new partnership with ArtsWA will provide vulnerable veterans and their families with access to arts activities and resources, including opportunities for painting, live music from community groups, and local theater events.

The grant will be managed by ArtsWA’s Wellness, Arts and the Military (WAM) program, first established in 2017 to support the health and well-being of military service members, veterans and their families through engagement with the arts. In 2022, The Washington State Legislature fully funded the WAM program, and the grant with WDVA is one of many new grant opportunities for military-connected groups and individuals in Washington state, with the goal of building out a statewide military-connected arts program.

WAM is also part of the Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Defense. To learn more about the program, contact ArtsWA Wellness, Arts and the Military Program Manager Bryan Bales.