The District House (Wed. 05/13 with Bernadette Brierley + Elizabeth Jones)

The District House is a weekly gathering and core benefit of District216. Guests are welcome to arrive for part or all of the evening to meet community members, connect with visiting speakers, and engage in thoughtful conversations across psychedelics, wellness, creativity, and conscious culture. 💜

Topic: "Drug Addiction - Real Stories, Real People"

Description: What happens when art meets grief, and grief becomes a movement? The INTO LIGHT Project is a national non-profit transforming how we talk about addiction — one portrait, one story, one life at a time. Their powerful public exhibitions share the faces and personal narratives of individuals lost to drug addiction, turning statistics into human beings and silence into dialogue.

This District House event brings two voices at the heart of this work to our community. A mother who lost her daughter to Fentanyl poisoning and channeled her grief into advocacy. An artist in recovery who painted 40 portraits for the California Exhibition, believing that humanizing those we've lost extends compassion to everyone on the margins.

Drug addiction touches every family, every community, every zip code. This conversation is for all of us.

When: Wednesday, May 13, 2026 from 5pm to 9pm (Speaker at 6:30pm)

Where: LoDo Studios, 216 E. Gutierrez Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(Please only park across the street on the Office Max side of the lot.)

Members are Free to attend The District House evenings, and are prioritized when we reach capacity.

Guests Welcome to purchase $25 tickets to The District House evenings.

Note: We will be filming the speaker for the District216 Change Your Lens Series. Refreshments provided.

Speakers: Bernadette Brierley + Elizabeth Jones, The INTO LIGHT Project

Bernadette came to California from Ireland for a career at Apple and stayed for a life: 36 years, a marriage, three children, and deep roots in her community. In November 2020, her middle daughter Jessica was taken by Fentanyl poisoning. Grief could have stopped there. Instead, it opened a door. Bernadette discovered the INTO LIGHT Project, participated in their 2022 California Exhibition, and became one of the organization's most committed advocates. She has personally rallied her extended network to raise enough funds to support three exhibitions, turning private loss into public purpose. She carries Jessica's story forward with love, and with the quiet certainty that her daughter would be proud.

Elizabeth's work has always been rooted in the belief that art and community can change how we see the world. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Art, they have spent over a decade bridging creative practice with social justice, working with farms, gardens, and food access organizations before joining the INTO LIGHT Project in 2022. For the California Exhibition, Elizabeth created 40 original portraits, each one a act of witness for a life lost to drug overdose. The process deepened their own recovery and sharpened a conviction: that when we extend humanity to those who have died from addiction, we make more room for compassion everywhere, for people living unhoused, struggling with mental illness, or navigating a system that too often forgets them. Elizabeth's art is an open door. This conversation is the threshold.

Info: Meet District216 members and guests while enjoying snacks and beverages.

Info: Featuring Bernadette Brierley & Elizabeth Jones

Info: Chat about what you just experienced and integrate a bit.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher District216