Enjoy a night of creative arts while supporting survivors! On Saturday, June 18 HopeWorks will host the And We Breathe Again Showcase, a virtual creative-arts fundraiser. This special event will feature the work of local artists (survivors and supporters) through poetry, spoken word, and video art while raising awareness and critical funds for individuals and families impacted by sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Proceeds will support HopeWorks’ services including crisis shelter, counseling, advocacy, legal resources, prevention education, wellness programs and volunteer opportunities.

Tickets for the show are $30 per person with an opportunity to purchase entertainment packages, art and keepsakes.

Click Here to Order Tickets & Artwork!

Ways to Get Involved

• Attend the Showcase: Tickets begin at $30 per person with additional opportunities to purchase entertainment packages and unique keepsakes.
• Donate: Can’t attend the Showcase? You can still support our work by donating to the And We Breathe Again campaign! Click here to make an online donation.
• Become a Sponsor: We greatly appreciate the support of local businesses! Multiple sponsorship levels and benefits are available. Click here for a list of opportunities.

Questions? Contact Allison Adams, Development Manager at aadams@hopeworksofhc.org.

Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors!

Yolanda Bruno

In-Kind Program Sponsors

Cured  |  18th & 21st  |  The Food Market Columbia |  Iron Bridge Wine Company  |  LeeLynns’ Dining Room and Lounge  |  Roggenart European Bakery, Bistro & Cafe  |  Royal Taj

Trudy Babchak and Liz Henzey  |  MC Carey  |  Diane Dunn  |  Mary Justin  |  Sangeeta Kaul  |  Maceo Leatherwood

Judith Goedeke  |  Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg  |  Arlita Holland  |  Pramila Venkateswaran

About the Artists

Trudy Babchak
Trudy works in oil, acrylic, collage, and encaustic mediums, often combining two or three mediums in one painting. She has exhibited her artwork and won awards in solo, and group shows in Columbia, Maryland, Washington, D.C and Baltimore area galleries. She has been featured in articles in The Columbia Flyer, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and Jewish Times. Trudy is represented by HorseSpirit Arts Gallery in Savage, Maryland.

MC Carey
MC Carey (they/them) is a creative who has been using linoleum block print to showcase their art since 2017. MC has been a part of notable projects such as the international “Queer Ecology Hanky Exhibit”, “The Art of Self-Care” and “Blossoms of Hope” at the Columbia Arts Center and participated in numerous zine projects: “Bee Seen” zine and “Onlinocut Collective: Carving Out a Collective Future”. View MC’s process and purchase individual prints by following their Instagram page @FemmePrints or Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/FemmePrintsCreations

Diane Dunn
Diane Dunn has, over the years, worked in black and white photography, painting (watercolor, acrylic, oil and pastel), collage and mono prints. She has recently become enamored with the medium of collage and loves the tactile experience of cutting, tearing and assembly various hand-painted papers and fabrics, often combined with paint. Diane finds a serendipitous aspect to collage that is exciting and is never sure where a piece will lead when she starts. She also enjoys making mono prints, which allow for layering and masking that reveals hidden patterns and images.

Judith Goedeke
The enormous healing power of words compels Judith Goedeke to write. She strives to clarify, challenge, redirect, own up to and celebrate life. And do damage control. Judith is a retired acupuncturist and teacher, with a Writing degree from Towson University. Her poems appear in anthologies, literary journals, and River of Silver Sky. For twelve years, she has facilitated monthly Poem as Portal workshops that foster loving and courageous self-awareness, intentional living, and compassion. The Poem as Portal process is the confluence of her own persistent healing efforts, the wisdom of Eastern medicine, the SOPHIA program (developed by Dianne Connelly, Bob Duggan, and John Sullivan) and most especially, her love of words that launch us. Judith is currently collaborating in developing a program to train psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to utilize poetry in therapeutic settings.

Liz Henzey
Liz has been an arts administrator and arts advocate in Columbia, Maryland for more than 30 years, currently serving as the Director of Columbia Art Center, a facility of the Columbia Association. Liz loves surface marbling on canvas and fiber. She also enjoys photography. Liz’s art and photos have been shown in galleries including, Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC, Gallery 1448, Baltimore, MD, Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, MD, and Falls Church Art Center, Falls Church, VA.

Arlita Holland
Arlita Holland is a survivor who’s been blessed with the gift of poetry. She writes to inspire those who struggle to rise up out of the ashes of pain and suffering. She believes in the power of poetry and prays that her poems find their way into the hearts of those yearning to be free from the effects of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Mary Justin
Artist Mary Justin hails amongst the shimmering waters of the raging Atlantic Ocean and the tranquil waves of the Caribbean Sea. She has danced to the rhythm of the African drums of her ancestors under the coconut and mango trees and rubbed her satisfied tummy after feasting on succulent taste of green bananas under a salt fish stew garnished with avocados. She has smelled the aroma of freshly pounded coffee and cocoa beans. Her feet swirl to the tunes of reggae, soca, and calypso music. Her art is the breath of a St Lucia bred girl emulating the ocean waves, the steam from the volcanos and the rugged topography. Her colors radiate the oceans, earth, sky, and the blood of generation who fought for the survival of “Fair Helen.”

Sangeeta Kaul
Visual artist and graphic designer Sangeeta Kaul uses creativity as fuel for social change, mental health awareness, and community connections in her online studio Spicyseed Art & Design. Kaul enjoys organizing events designed to coach and encourage the personal creativity of the participants. She is currently studying Clinical Mental Health Counseling as a graduate student so that she may use her passion for art in a therapeutic way. She actively welcomes projects and partnerships with non-profit organizations, conference organizers, educators, writers, mental health counselors, and social justice advocates. Visit her at: spicyseed.org

Maceo Leatherwood
Maceo is a disciplined explorer of world cultures, myths, and art history. His work is poetic and steeped in symbolism. Maceo’s art career has spanned six decades, encompassing publications, design layout, sculpture, sketching, painting, cartoons, teaching and directing community arts projects. His formal study of art was at The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. A former sailor and artist with the U.S. Navy, Maceo is retired from his position as Art Director at NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center. His work entitled “Mo’ Pak” is part of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s permanent collection.

Pramila Venkateswaran
Pramila Venkateswaran, poet laureate of Suffolk County, Long Island (2013-15) and co-director of Matwaala: South Asian Diaspora Poetry Festival, is the author of many poetry volumes, the most recent being We are Not a Museum (Finishing Line Press, 2022). She teaches at Nassau Community College, leads writing workshops at Strength for Life for breast cancer patients, and is the President of NOW Suffolk.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, PHD, Honoree & Featured Speaker
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., is the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 24 books, including How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam’s Well, a novel; Needle in the Bone, a non-fiction book on the Holocaust; The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community, and Coming Home to the Body. Founder of Transformative Language Arts, she is a beloved writing workshop facilitator and writing and Right Livelihood coach. She loves life-giving collaborations: she offers YourRightLivelihood.com with Kathryn Lorenzen, Bravevoice.com with Kelley Hunt, and TheArtofFacilitation.net with Joy Roulier Sawyer. She offers weekly “Care Packages for a Creative Life” through her Patreon page. Find more about her, including her blog, “Everyday Magic” at CarynMirriamGoldberg.com.