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Date: 8/8/2022
WARE – The Ware Recovery Center of Hope and Artworks 13 are teaming up for the second annual “Bringing aWAREness to Recovery” event. This event is supported by a grant from the Ware Cultural Council.
The Ware Recovery Center of Hope is a peer recovery center dedicated to people who are in recovery from any substance or situation.
“We welcome anybody who supports recovery. They don’t have to be a person who is in recovery, you could be a family member, you could be a person who is just a member of our community and is concerned about this as a health issue that affects all of us, really,” said Abaigeal Duda, peer recovery coordinator.
The center is a social support place that offers meetings and activities to support a sober lifestyle.
The opening ceremony for the exhibit is on Aug. 31, which is also Overdose Awareness Day. It will go from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Duda said that anybody is welcome to attend this free event, but they are asking for people to RSVP.
For this exhibition, artists can submit pieces with a theme of recovery.
“Recovery affects a lot of us in our communities and it is a really positive thing that people are trying to do. People in recovery are creating goals for themselves to live better lives and those better lives affect those around them,” said Duda.
The exhibition will celebrate a positive view of recovery to reduce stigma, a serious obstacle in the way of people seeking treatment or help.
“What we are asking is anybody who is a creator of any type of art that they can explain to us how it relates to recovery. We are taking a positive look at recovery, but I understand that for some people their relationship to addiction and recovery has been very difficult. Maybe you were a family member, maybe you have lost someone… We are not looking to restrict you on your interpretation of what recovery means, but we do ask that you have a statement about how it relates to your art,” said Duda.
Submissions for art will be accepted until Aug. 18. Those interested in submitting are able to do so at https://formfaca.de/sm/hbmAzNzh3.
All art will then be on display at the Artworks Gallery from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 3, 4, 10 and 11.
Duda said that they are extremely grateful to Workshop 13, the Ware Cultural Council, the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium and the Quaboag Hills Substance Use Alliance for their support of this exhibition.
“We are very grateful. It really speaks to me about how much this is a community event when we work with these great organizations and we work together,” she said.
Duda encouraged anyone interested to come to the opening event and see the pieces.
“I think it’s going to be a really fun event,” she said.
She said that they will also be honoring one of last year’s artists whom they lost only days after the exhibit.
“We will be honoring her at our opening,” said Duda.
Those interested in attending are able to RSVP at https://forms.gle/xBsM6Rccz4m95jer7.