UPDATE: If you enjoyed Whispers & Roars 2017 or want to experience what you missed, learn more about Whispers & Roars 2018, opening Oct. 12, 2018. FREE ADMISSION: RSVPs are appreciated, but not required!

Crisis Center North and North Hills Art Center sponsored the “Hearing the Whispers and Roars” art event, October 13-29, as a part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Hearing the Whispers and Roars tells the stories of domestic violence survivors through the arts. The evening opened with live performances, followed by comments addressing violence from Officer Matthew Pavlecic of the West View Borough Police Department and Janene Szpak, Associate Professor of Nursing at Robert Morris University. The interactive art exhibit Following the Purple Brick Road also allowed community members to contribute their feelings and experiences during the opening night by decorating pairs of shoes to symbolize the steps on a victim’s path to a survivor. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success!

“Domestic violence is all around us in the North Hills,” said Kim Freithaler, president of the North Hills Art Center board of directors. “The show highlights the problems we face and brings them into the open.”

“Whispers and Roars serves as a platform for survivors, as well as community members, to collaborate through creativity. Some share their process through a quiet whisper, while others roar in the face of experienced injustices,” said Brooke Kaminski, CCN’s adult counselor. “Either way, the show is a fantastic way to honor the victims and extend gratitude to the collaborative community response.”

“Whispers and Roars demonstrates how artistic expression can bring together so many in our community,” said Grace Coleman, executive director of Crisis Center North. “It shows how so many seemingly disparate strands of our community are interconnected, and it reveals just how deeply domestic violence affects us all.”

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