Talking about chemsex, sober socialising and food issues are on the agenda during a new Greater Manchester annual awareness month with a creative take on recovery.
Recoverist Month puts Greater Manchester’s communities in recovery from substance use centre stage by increasing visibility and directly supporting the voice of lived experience.
A month-long series of events includes the premiere of a one-woman talking heads style performance at HOME, featuring Coronation Street’s Sue Devaney (Saturday 9 September). Whilst Manchester Pride sees Let’s Talk about Chemsex, a radio show themed art installation by artist Harold Offeh in the Gay Village (Saturday 26 August) and at Manchester Art Gallery (Saturday 27 August).
Music producer Quieting has been working with a group of people in recovery from addiction, some with experience of homelessness, to record their thoughts and stories.
Using these, a one-off Recoverist Month event at The Stoller Hall will weave experimental electronic and dancefloor orientated sounds to explore time, reflection, ageing and embodiment. And an event at The Whitworth called A Moveable Feast? (Thursday 21 September) by artist Jez Dolan explores the future of sober LGBTQ+ socialising.
With inclusivity at its core, all Recoverist Month events are either free or pay what you can.
‘Recoverist’ is a new portmanteau word blending recovery and activism to include those in recovery, their family, friends, and significant others.
A new annual feature for the region’s cultural calendar, Recoverist Month is the brainchild of Manchester visual arts organisation Portraits of Recovery (PORe).
Recoverist Month aims to establish itself as a yearly flagship cultural event for recovery communities, as a parallel to Black History Month and Pride.
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. “
