REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF RADE’S SHOWCASE RECOVERY THROUGH ART, DRAMA AND ED
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF RADE’S SHOWCASE RECOVERY THROUGH ART, DRAMA AND EDUCATION THE PROJECT ARTS CENTR
Dia Dhiabh a chairde.
Good evening, everybody.
We meet here in celebration of achievements in the struggle against addiction, and in gratitude for the service of those who work to support Recovery through Art, Drama and Education. I would like to thank Michael Egan, Manager of RADE, for his invitation to speak at this year’s annual showcase of artistic achievement. My thanks also to each of you for that warm welcome.
Neither addiction nor art are easy taskmasters. Both make harsh demands but whereas art helps reveal hidden strengths and skill, builds up pride and self-confidence, addiction masks and sometimes even obliterates the true nature and potential of the person, demolishes personality, relationships and pride in self. The artists on display here have all struggled with addiction but they have chosen art and in choosing art they have set their faces on whole lives, wholesome lives, fulfilled lives, good decisions and good relationships with themselves and with others. They have chosen wisely and in that choice and in the manifestation of it through their work they have earned our respect and our admiration.
It takes guts to take on the monster within that is addiction, and the works showcased here speak movingly of the courage and the commitment it has taken each artist to get here. When they took the first steps towards this day they were in an altogether different place – they were in many ways different people. Today they are stronger and wiser. They are men and women of achievement, people of substance not substance abusers. There is a saying that the pain lasts for a short while but the pride lasts forever and I hope that whatever pain was involved in the individual journeys to this showcase, that the pride of being here will indeed last a lifetime and sustain for a lifetime.
RADE’s innovative programme of combating substance abuse through art introduces addicts to their own genius, their own best selves, it focuses on the buzz that living a positive life can bring, a buzz that is genuine and life enhancing and not one that is fabricated by life-destroying drugs.
RADE has established clearly that every person can be a special kind of artist with a unique story that can only be told fully through art. It has established that there is a very effective and happy link between artistic creativity and recovery from addiction, a pathway to health and healing. RADE created this opportunity and they deserve huge thanks and praise but of course the heroes are the addicts who trusted RADE’s judgment, responded to RADE’s faith in them and took the chance this project offered to construct a life to be proud of, a life worth living.
Civic society is generally impatient with addicts, frustrated at the waste of life, angry at the damage inflicted on the self and others. Families, friends and partners often reach exhaustion point too, so it is all the more important that there is an organisation like RADE that doesn’t walk away defeated or overwhelmed by the enormity of the job. Because RADE faced into to solving problems, others turn their backs on many individuals and families have cause to be grateful for the treatment, support and hope brought to lives skewed out of kilter by addiction. And sad to say your services are needed more than ever as levels of drug abuse and of addiction in every age group have sharply increased, a cruel downside that mocks today’s affluence. We also need to know that addiction can be overcome, that peace of heart and mind can be restored, that drugs do not hold all the aces. That is the clear message from this evening. We see here the triumph of the human spirit and it gives us all great heart, great hope.
I would like to thank all the statutory, voluntary and community organisations, the professional artists which have supported RADE’s vision whether with funding or other crucial resources. I congratulate the staff and the Board of Management of RADE and hope they feel very vindicated in their faith in the artists. And I especially thank the artists, whose showcase this is, for inviting us to share in the journey they have gone into themselves and back to the light of life again. I wish each of them, their families and the project every success. Every person you help back to strength and self-belief is a person helped to become a problem solver rather than a problem and so the investment in that one person is a huge investment in family, street, community and in our country. You deserve our warmest gratitude.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siul agaibh anseo. Gurb fada buan sibh. Comhghairdeas libh arís ‘s go raibh míle maith agaibh.