Creative Spaces NetworkA new coffee cup initiative is bringing together environmental sustainability and art to support people with experience of addiction, homelessness, isolation and mental distress in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Glopac New Zealand, a plastic-free packaging company, has partnered with Drug ARM and its therapeutic art programme Art-East to create the Glopac × Drug ARM Art Cup Initiative.
The project features compostable takeaway coffee cups printed with artwork created by artists at the Art-East creative space. A percentage of sales from the cups will go back to Drug ARM to help fund its services and programmes.
The initiative was launched alongside Drug ARM’s 30th anniversary of working in the Ōtautahi Christchurch community.
The first seven cup designs were created collaboratively by artists at Art-East, which operates from Aranui in east Christchurch. The cups will be distributed nationally through Glopac.
Art-East founder and facilitator Lis Rate-Smith said the project gives participants an opportunity to have their work seen publicly while helping support others in recovery.
A sense of pride and worth
“Participants from our Creative Connection and Friday Open Studio groups have contributed in some way to the initial seven artworks featured on the cups,” she says. “This initiative gives our artists a platform to see their work in public view, which engenders a sense of pride and worth.”
Drug ARM began working in Christchurch 30 years ago and provides support through counselling, outreach, prisons and community programmes.
The initiative reflects growing interest in projects that combine environmental goals with social outcomes. The cups are certified compostable and plastic-free, while also serving as a source of funding and visibility for community programmes.
Glopac founder Chris Thomson says the partnership was built around shared values rather than sponsorship or marketing.
Using art to find people's strengths
Art-East was established in 2014 as a therapeutic art initiative after Lis became concerned that addiction treatment often focused on what was “wrong” with a person. She wanted to find people’s undiscovered or existing strengths, and used art as the vehicle to do so.
“Our partnership with Glopac is a genuine partnership grounded in shared values: environmental integrity, dignity, and unconditional love and support – launched alongside Drug ARM’s 30-year milestone,” Lis says.
“It’s turning a disposable cup into a national canvas for stories of recovery and resilience.”
For some of its artists, public art projects have become an important milestone in rebuilding confidence and reconnecting with the wider community.
Art-East received the Arts Access Holdsworth Creative Space Award, presented at Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2021. It’s a member of the Creative Spaces Network. For more information about creative spaces in the Canterbury region, visit the creative spaces directory.
