September 2023 saw the launch of Greater Manchester’s first annual Recoverist Month
Changing the conversation by honouring and celebrating people’s lives spent in addiction and recovery
A month-long series of new commissions, performances, and creative events including the premiere of Sue Devaney‘s (Coronation Street’s Debbie Webster) Didn’t You Used to Be Somebody?
SIX artists, FIVE new commissions across FIVE venues and ONE festival
To mark International Recovery Month, Portraits of Recovery (PORe) launched a new annual awareness event in September 2023 in Manchester.
Recoverist Month puts Greater Manchester’s thriving recovery communities centre stage by increasing visibility and directly supporting the voice of lived experience. Celebrating recovery from substance use through the arts and culture, the event promotes positive health messages and adds to the conversation that recovery is a viable lifestyle choice.
With inclusivity at is core, all Recoverist Month events are either free or Pay As You Feel.
‘Recoverist’ is a new portmanteau word blending recovery and activism and it includes those in recovery, their family, friends and significant others.
An innovative and timely new feature for Greater Manchester’s cultural calendar, Recoverist Month aims to establish itself as a yearly flagship event for recovery communities, as a parallel to Black History Month or Pride.
In the US, International Recovery Month has been celebrated every September since the 1980s, but this awareness initiative has not yet gained momentum in the UK on the same scale. Recoverist Month will change this.
Mark Prest, director, PORe, said: “PORe’s work is about increasing access and opportunity to the transformational power of the arts and culture.
“We only need to look at how the Queer, disabled, POC and women’s art movements have taken back control through their cultural production. We advocate, this approach for the recovery community.
“Recovery is a collective process, and why partnership working is critical to delivering our ambitions.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners including our commissioned artists as Recoverist Month would not be possible without them. Establishing an annual Recoverist Month has been a long-term ambition, now realised through our national portfolio funding from Arts Council England and support from the Greater Manchester Culture Fund, for which I wholeheartedly thank them and feel truly grateful.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “It is great to see the launch of Recoverist Month in Greater Manchester and I am a strong believer that by using the arts we can successfully send a strong message to our communities that recovery is an achievable goal, as well as combat the stigma attached to addiction to drugs and alcohol.
“In Greater Manchester, we help to support and coordinate local authority commissioners to ensure high-quality drug and alcohol treatment provision. Support is available to all our residents at all stages of their recovery journey. Projects such as Recoverist Month can play a massive part in helping people to maintain their recovery, as well as support others who are still on a journey towards recovery.”
Jen Cleary, director Combined Arts & North, Arts Council England, said: “Recoverist Month is a great opportunity to highlight the possibilities of recovery and the many ways in which arts and culture can change lives.
“It’s a welcome addition to the Greater Manchester cultural calendar and one which we’re proud to be supporting as part of our new National Portfolio. The work speaks strongly to our Let’s Create strategy and our aims that all communities can participate in culture and that the creativity of each of us is valued, celebrated, and given opportunities to flourish.”
Recoverist = recovery + activist
