From Microgrant to Meaningful Impact Empowering Children Through Compassion

The Courage Tales team has always been deeply connected to the Canadian
arts community. As artists, we are creative and innovative, but also resilient.
As Michelle Chawla, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts,
reminds us:

“Amid instability and rapid change, the arts continue to inspire and connect
people, contributing to our strength as a country.”

The Story Behind Courage Tales

Courage Tales was founded by author and artist Dagmara Sitek, who began
creating children’s literary artworks in 2020 – a year many of us remember
clearly as the time we faced the global pandemic lockdowns.

It was during this period that Courage Tales focused on comfort: helping
young children feel safe, loved, and secure through storytelling. Stories like
Cam Creates a Hero explored courage and resilience, while Beefy Goes from
Bully to Buddy gently guided children from fear and hurt towards
understanding and healing.

From Storytelling to Real Impact

But as the world changed, so too did the need.

In September 2025, the Raising Canada Report by Children First Canada
highlighted a growing youth crisis: 71% of young people aged 12–17 reported
experiencing bullying, while only 25% felt supported.

This marked a turning point for Courage Tales as we
stepped into a broader role, not just as storytellers, but as part of the solution
to build resilience, through compassion and empathy, among young children
in our communities.

Before coming to Canada, Dagmara spent over a decade in Poland and China
designing emotional landscapes for video game characters, heroes, sidekicks,
villains, and shapeshifters. These archetypes, so familiar to children, revealed
something powerful: storytelling allows young minds to explore complex
emotions safely and intuitively.

Courage Tales takes that idea one step further; “what if children could
experience emotional growth through the same imaginative force that draws
them into stories?”

As an extension of Dagmara’s existing work as a literary artist, the idea for the
Compassion Lab now started to emerge. To take storytelling and creative
expression into an environment where children are inspired to explore
feelings, build empathy, and develop confidence and compassion. Using the
arts to transform imagination into a tool for real-world connection.

Addressing Challenges Through Compassion

Applying a practical lens to one of the greatest social challenges our children
have told us they face; bullying. Helping children develop the emotional
awareness and social skills needed to understand themselves and connect
with others. Through storytelling and creative reflection, they build confidence,
perspective, and empathy.

Recognition & Community Impact

Across the country, the Canada Council for the Arts is collaborating with artists
on programs, from music and theatre to visual storytelling, that are
increasingly recognised for their role in supporting communities. For health
and wellbeing, the conversation is shifting from “What’s the matter with you?”
to “What matters to you?”

Courage Tales and The Compassion Lab are proud to be part of this
movement and in 2026 our work has been recognised through funding from
the Canada Council for the Arts. The Compassion Lab was selected as a
grant recipient under the Supporting Artistic Practice category, investing in the
capacity for artists to further develop and share their work.

As part of the grant funding Courage Tales has embarked on a roadshow of
Compassion Lab workshops, supported by diverse host organisations of
libraries, schools, community associations, not-for-profit and children support
groups across the country. Our partners are selected based on our aligned
vision and values to use the arts to support our young people and help shape
stronger, more connected communities.

The most meaningful measure of our work is the response from the
classrooms we serve and it is always wonderful to receive positive feedback:

What Educators Are Saying

“Dagmara Sitek’s Compassion Lab workshop was
highly engaging for our students at Saint-Lambert Elementary. Through
storytelling and discussion, they explored empathy, emotional awareness, and
understanding others. The session sparked thoughtful conversations and left
a lasting impression. Students were fully engaged. We would welcome
Dagmara back without hesitation.”

Lisa Goodall, ELA Specialist, Saint-Lambert Elementary School – Feb . 2026

Measuring Impact & Looking Ahead

Measuring the impact of the Compassion Lab is a critical part of our work and also for
our partner, the Canada Council for the Arts. Both for the continuous development of the
program and to ensure we are creating meaningful experiences for children.

Courage Tales and The Compassion Lab incorporate a dedicated evaluation tool into
each workshop, mapped to a theory of change designed to assess engagement in the
context of our work with empathy and compassion.

Through a combination of facilitated questions, evaluator feedback, and structured
reflection, we track how children respond to storytelling and the creative arts as a
medium for emotional development.

This approach allows us to continuously refine our work while demonstrating clear,
evidence-based impact to partners and communities.

Final Thoughts

If you’d like to learn more about Courage Tales or bring The Compassion Lab to your
school or community, we’d love to hear from you. Together, we can create spaces
where children feel heard, valued, and empowered to grow.

We love our work and the impact we have. Courage Tales recognises that at a time
when many young people are struggling to feel seen, heard, and supported, initiatives
like Courage Tales and The Compassion Lab offer something both simple yet powerful.
It is our privilege to be part of the solution.