Seventh Annual Building Bridges Showcase Event Set for April 2

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More than 75 UMass staff members representing over 40 different offices on campus will present a variety of creative work, including 16^th century garment design, stained glass, pencil drawings, poetry, photography, compilations of worker writing projects and more, at the seventh annual Building Bridges Showcase Event Tuesday, April 2, from noon–7 p.m at the Bromery Center for the Arts.

Building Bridges – a collaborative effort among the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Partnership for Worker Education, Office of Human Resources and Civic Engagement and Service-Learning – draws on the power of solidarity and creative expression to bring people together and create a bridge across difference. Now in its seventh year, the Showcase Event has become an annual gathering where staff and their creative talents take center stage. The campus community is encouraged to show support for UMass staff members and join in the event, which marks the culmination of a Building Bridges class that plays a pivotal role in its planning.

In the class, creative expression serves as a vehicle for dialogue and building new relationships and, in doing so, creates a supportive cross-campus network and empathetic community. The inspiration for the class draws on work done by the Partnership for Worker Education during the 1990s through a program called “We are More Than You See.” The program brought together workers and supported the development of worker artist exhibitions, publications of worker writing, and a radio show hosted by UMass workers.

The Showcasing Worker Artists at UMass class extends that legacy and aims to especially recognize essential workers — those who clean the restrooms, serve food in dining commons, tend the grounds and engage in clerical and administrative tasks—and celebrate their artistic talents in a way that enriches the UMass community.

In addition to an exhibition of worker art, the Showcase Event also includes projects created by immigrant workers, oral history projects about UMass frontline workers, food, art demonstrations, workshops, live music, poetry readings and performance.

For more information about the event, visit the Building Bridges Showcase Event website. To sign up for a class or to learn more about Building Bridges, contact Nyaradzai Changamire, project director at the Partnership for Worker Education, at nchangamire@umass.edu.