Center for Health Optimization & Implementation Research
CHOIR staff express identity in new art club
Some CHOIR Creatives Club members gathered to paint and sculpt together, some at the Bedford VA Medical Center and others at the Boston location (shown digitally joining their Bedford colleagues through a laptop).
Staff use art to learn more about their peers
VA CHOIR researchers and staff are working with the center’s DEI Change Team to put together something extraordinary! As part of ongoing efforts to make CHOIR a more inclusive work environment and improve employee wellbeing, staff across both of the center's campuses (Bedford and Boston) are using art as a vehicle to learn more about one another’s identities. Group members gather in person and digitally, linking colleagues between offices and remote workspaces.
The inspiration
The ‘CHOIR Creatives Club’ was inspired by the idea of having a space where colleagues could talk organically and candidly while creating artwork alongside one another—regardless of experience or ability. The club’s first theme, Identity, aims to allow members to create artwork that reflects their life stories and experiences while creating stronger relationships between staff and expanding awareness of the different identities represented in the CHOIR community.
The impact
Blessing Egbuogu, one of the club’s organizers and Co-Lead of the DEI Change Team, reflected on her experiences in the club since it started in March: "This has been a therapeutic experience and has helped create a space where I can share who I am through my art. I’ve had wonderful conversations with my colleagues about our cultures and how [they have] shaped us into who we are."
Individual art pieces will be displayed this summer at an annual center-wide picnic gathering. This CHOIR Creatives Club ‘Identity’ showcase was sponsored by funding from the research center and supported by CHOIR’s DEI Change Team, which aims to cultivate a work environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion become strengths through conversations, events, and education and advocacy efforts. The group is organized by DEI Change Team members Makayla Dones and Jacqueline Boudreau with DEI Change Team Co-Lead Blessing Egbuogu.
