Portraits of Recovery Announces Recoverist Month 2026: A Bold Programme of Art, Nature, and Healing Across Greater Manchester
As summer begins to fade, a different kind of cultural movement is preparing to take centre stage across Greater Manchester. Portraits of Recovery, the UK’s only visual arts charity dedicated to supporting people affected by and in recovery from substance use, has announced its annual Recoverist Month will return this September with its most ambitious programme to date.
Now in its fourth year, Recoverist Month is the UK’s only arts-based awareness event that places individuals and communities in recovery from addiction at the heart of the conversation. Coinciding with International Recovery Month, the initiative aims to establish itself as a permanent fixture in the region’s cultural calendar, alongside events such as Pride and Black History Month. This year’s programme will feature a dynamic mix of walking trails, film screenings, gallery exhibitions, and interactive workshops, all designed to challenge public perceptions of addiction and empower recovering individuals to rewrite their own narratives through the lens of contemporary art.
If You Could Speak to the World: An Audio Trail at Northern Roots
A cornerstone of this year’s activities is the project If You Could Speak to the World, a creative health and wellbeing initiative set within the expansive green space of Northern Roots in Oldham. The UK’s largest urban farm and eco-park, Northern Roots spans 180 acres of stunning green landscape, providing a serene backdrop for healing and reflection.
Facilitated by poet Phil Davenport, the project invites members of the recovery community to co-create a permanent audio walking trail. Over a series of workshops, participants will walk, write, and record poetry and song inspired by nature and their own lived experiences. The resulting soundtrack, which will guide visitors through the eco-park, is intended to embed a culture of walking as a supportive practice to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for those in recovery. Funded by Transport for Greater Manchester’s Wheels and Walks programme, the permanent trail is scheduled to launch to the public during Recoverist Month, allowing visitors to download the audio guide directly to their smartphones as they explore the lush meadows and woodland paths.
Walk in My Shoes: A Journey of Collective Recovery
Elsewhere, the project Walk in My Shoes will explore the journey of recovery as a non-linear process. Facilitated by Salford-based artist Maisie Pritchard, and co-created with people in recovery, the initiative combines playful art-making with activities designed to nurture connection and community.
Running in partnership with Salford Museum & Art Gallery, Paradise Works, Bridgewater Community Garden, and Thee Lowry, the project invites family and friends to metaphorically “walk in the shoes” of their loved ones, highlighting that recovery is not just an individual pursuit but a collective, community-centred activity.
Expanding the Conversation: Horror, Film, and Queer Perspectives
The 2026 programme also explores some of the more unconventional avenues of healing. Making Friends with Your Monsters, a talk by researcher Alex Herod. In her presentation, accompanied by film clips and readings, Herod will share her research on how the horror genre possesses a unique therapeutic potential to support recovery from addiction and trauma.
For cinephiles, a short film screening at Stockport Plaza will feature three artist films including Small Hours and Milk, followed by a panel discussion exploring the intersection between recovery, mental health and the moving image, facilitated by Oscar Wyndham Lewis, artist behind the short film, Small Hours.
The programme will also touch upon themes of identity and belonging. Events including Queering the Recoverist Manifesto, led by artists Jez Dolan and Alana Lake at the Whitworth, alongside Artefacts of Interaction at HOME Arches, will examine how lived experience informs creativity, from queerness to the ways different bodies move through the world.
Cultural Activism
Since its launch, Recoverist Month has grown into a significant form of cultural activism. “Recoverism is an ideology which can help support society to better look at itself, to shift radically how we all work, think, live, love, connect and creatively express ourselves,” states Mark Prest, Founding Director of Portraits of Recovery, framing the arts as a powerful tool for positive social change and re-framing cultural identities around substance use.
We’ll be announcing dates for Recoverist Month events soon. Keep an eye on our social media channels, or sign up to our newsletter to be the first in the know.