A Collaboration of Boulder County Community Services, the Substance Use Advisory Group, and Streetwise Arts

Boulder County, Colo.- Boulder County Community Services, in partnership with the Boulder County Substance Use Advisory Group, is participating in an event to honor those who have been lost to overdose and inspire those still struggling with addiction. The International Overdose Awareness Day event is being hosted by Streetwise Arts, a local nonprofit with a goal to amplify social advocacy and dialogue with the artistic enhancement of our urban spaces. Streetwise has paired Boulder County Community Services with two local artists to paint a mural dedicated to the vision of the County’s Substance Use Advisory Group: a community wide shared leadership group with the overarching goals to reduce stigma around Substance Use Disorders, reduce overdoses and fatalities and support resiliency in recovery.

Event Details:

• The mural will be painted at 2525 13th Street, Boulder, CO.
• The Streetwise Mural Art Festival will be on Sunday, September 12, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00P p.m.
• Boulder County will also host resource and remembrance tables in front of the mural. This includes;
  • Naloxone kits for overdose prevention
  • Posters and candles to commemorate the names of those lost to overdose
  • Accu-detox for attendees' participation

Featured artists will be Jason Graves, and Kailia Spencer. Jason has spent the last 15 years creating public art across Denver, Boulder, Vail, Miami, New Orleans, and California. He is also a three-time featured artist for Denver’s Crush Walls mural festival. Kaila is a Boulder native who has been painting in Australia, Northern CA, Boulder, and Denver for the past 12 years and focuses on nature, wildlife, and mystical expression in her murals. Kaila’s lived experience with the loss of three friends to overdose gives her the empathy and compassion to the mission of ending stigma and overdose loss.

This event is part of the International Overdose Awareness Day registry, the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind. Every year, the Boulder County Substance use Advisory Group supports a local event of this campaign.

The mural festival is also graciously supported through sponsorship by the Denver Recovery Group, The Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse, Behavioral Health Group, and the Pillar Program at Boulder Community Health. Additional partners in the mural project include Clínica Family Health and The Works Program, a Boulder County Public Health program offering harm reduction supplies to keep people safe.