This May, Opera Mariposa is rallying the community to support people with chronic and post-viral illnesses. From May 1 to June 1, 2024, the disability-led indie arts company is presenting their 2024 Benefit + Awareness Month: an all-digital charity extravaganza featuring music, art, prizes, and special events benefiting the ME | FM Society of BC.

The initiative honours the International Awareness Month for chronic neuro-immune diseases, and it showcases disabled and chronically ill artists from around the world. Proceeds aid people and families affected by myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, and long COVID – a group of complex chronic illnesses that are surging due to long-term health impacts from COVID-19.

While Opera Mariposa has hosted Benefit + Awareness events since their inception, general manager Stephanie Ko emphasizes that the cause is more urgent than ever. “Prior to the pandemic, over a million Canadians already lived with ME/CFS and fibromyalgia – many housebound or bedbound, often without adequate support or medical care. Now, 1 in 9 Canadian adults have developed long COVID so far, and many meet ME criteria as well. We’re seeing the impacts firsthand in our own community – it’s clear the need for support is greater than ever before.”

Opera Mariposa’s Benefit + Awareness Month spotlights the issue while creating a platform for artists impacted by these illnesses. Toronto artist and ME advocate Christina Baltais says, “Awareness events that spotlight creatives in the community are vital because art can be a powerful tool to help engage and educate the outside world about our cause. Sharing our personal experiences through art also connects us as a community, contributing to a stronger foundation for our advocacy efforts around heavily stigmatized diseases like ME/CFS, long COVID, and fibromyalgia.”

Mariposa’s 2024 Benefit + Awareness Month showcases Baltais’ collage art, alongside work from other chronically ill creatives including Saskatoon’s Lia Pas; New York State’s Rana; international art-activist collective Berlin Buyers Club; and the late Vancouver artist and ME advocate Eileen Theresa Stephens (1947-2023). The benefit also includes an online performance by acclaimed baritone Riley McMitchell, and features a prize draw with nearly $4,000 in prizes. 100% of proceeds support the ME | FM Society of BC, and contributions up to $3,500 will be tripled by matching donations.

Join the event:

Opera Mariposa’s 2024 Benefit + Awareness Month – May 1 – June 1, 2024 online at Benefit.OperaMariposa.com

Event summary:

Join Opera Mariposa for a month of digital programming featuring music, art, merch, nearly $4,000 in prizes and more in support of the chronic illness community and the ME | FM Society of BC.

Access:

Digital, available worldwide. Free and by-donation options. Self-paced. Includes captions, lyrics and translations, artwork alt text and image descriptions.

About Opera Mariposa:

Opera Mariposa is Canada’s first fully disability-led and run company, dedicated to #MakingOperaAccessible and recognized as “[one of] Canada’s key indie players” (Opera Canada Magazine). They work to create inclusive opportunities for emerging and underrepresented artists, and their internationally-recognized Benefit + Awareness programming has raised over $128,000 to date for chronic illness charities and healthcare programs. operamariposa.com

About the ME | FM Society of BC:

The ME | FM Society of BC is a registered Canadian charity working to support and advocate for people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), long COVID and/or fibromyalgia (FM). They work to educate the healthcare community, government and public; provide information and resources for patients and their families; champion issues that impact the ME, long COVID and FM communities; and promote state-of-the-art medical research, testing, diagnosis and treatments. www.mefm.bc.ca