Portraits of Recovery
Categories of Work: Arts & Culture and Heritage
Who do you work with?: Substance misusers (drugs/alcohol)
Organisation description: Portraits of Recovery (PORe) is a pioneering, award-winning contemporary visual arts charity in Manchester, founded in 2012 on the lived experience (man himself in recovery) and professional arts career of our Director, Mark Prest. We advance the health and wellbeing of people affected by addiction primarily including drugs or alcohol, mainly through the contemporary visual arts which includes performance, craft, and lens-based activities.
Our participants and beneficiaries are people in recovery from addiction, & their communities who engage with us to create high quality inspirational art, as a critical part of their recovery journey. Our work is inclusive, activist and process-based, and develops new modes of participant-led social arts practice. https://portraitsofrecovery.org.uk/projects.
PORe’s vision and intent are to improve the lives of recovering people by increased access to cultural opportunity that can lead to new life opportunities. Our work explores alternative recovery approaches that invest in social, physical, human, and cultural “recovery capital” development. This supports social reintegration by developing motivational attitudes towards volunteering, education, and employment opportunities. This approach can also support long term recovery by acting as relapse prevention.
We are the only visual arts charity in an emergent lived-experience cultural strand, unique to the UK recovery movement, Recoverism. Our partners are professional arts venues such as Manchester Art Gallery, The Whitworth and Castlefield Gallery, and charities working with people in recovery such as Change Grow Live and Inspiring Change/Shelter and academic partners including UCLAN and Manchester Metropolitan University. Working in partnership is critical to our delivery as it embodies recovery as a collective process and broadens out the recovery agenda through sharing new knowledge and our working together.
Previously working on a project-by-project basis, in 2019/20 PORe received Arts Council England (ACE) Elevate and Elevate Extension funding leading to a new 4-year Business Plan for change, growth, and stability to reach more people. PORe then successfully applied for Arts Council England National Portfolio funding. This provides £450K over 3 years from April 2023. Uniquely we are the only arts, addiction, and recovery organisation within the new ACE national portfolio. This provides national recognition of our innovative approach and contributions to this work area.
Our participants and beneficiaries are people in recovery from addiction, & their communities who engage with us to create high quality inspirational art, as a critical part of their recovery journey. Our work is inclusive, activist and process-based, and develops new modes of participant-led social arts practice. https://portraitsofrecovery.org.uk/projects.
PORe’s vision and intent are to improve the lives of recovering people by increased access to cultural opportunity that can lead to new life opportunities. Our work explores alternative recovery approaches that invest in social, physical, human, and cultural “recovery capital” development. This supports social reintegration by developing motivational attitudes towards volunteering, education, and employment opportunities. This approach can also support long term recovery by acting as relapse prevention.
We are the only visual arts charity in an emergent lived-experience cultural strand, unique to the UK recovery movement, Recoverism. Our partners are professional arts venues such as Manchester Art Gallery, The Whitworth and Castlefield Gallery, and charities working with people in recovery such as Change Grow Live and Inspiring Change/Shelter and academic partners including UCLAN and Manchester Metropolitan University. Working in partnership is critical to our delivery as it embodies recovery as a collective process and broadens out the recovery agenda through sharing new knowledge and our working together.
Previously working on a project-by-project basis, in 2019/20 PORe received Arts Council England (ACE) Elevate and Elevate Extension funding leading to a new 4-year Business Plan for change, growth, and stability to reach more people. PORe then successfully applied for Arts Council England National Portfolio funding. This provides £450K over 3 years from April 2023. Uniquely we are the only arts, addiction, and recovery organisation within the new ACE national portfolio. This provides national recognition of our innovative approach and contributions to this work area.
Contact details
Beehive Lofts, Beehive Mill, Manchester, M4 6JN