S4 EP4: Arts & Culture & Belonging

We Belong Here

"Center community. And center the synthesizing of multiple viewpoints to create a better outcome. It's all sort of an act of civic and cultural deejaying. Like you're trying to take two sources and bring them together to create a better outcome." - Randy Engstrom This episode explores the intersection of Arts & Culture & Belonging. The US Surgeon General has deemed social isolation and loneliness as a public health epidemic that impacts all of us. He provides 6 pillars to combat this (link here) and the sixth one is Cultivating a Culture of Connection. So how can Arts & Culture provide an antidote to the loss of Belonging and the growing epidemic of isolation? To discuss this topic, we've brought together an amazing trio of guests: Joël Barraquiel Tan, Executive Director of Wing Luke Museum. Leilani Lewis, Associate Director for Diversity Communications & Outreach at the University of Washington Randy Engstrom, Co-Founder & Principal, Third Way Creative They share their origin stories which span across Manila, Hawaii, Detroit, and Chicago. They discussed their previous roles at places like Northwest African-American Museum, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team Health Centers. They range on topics from anti-fragility, community, and reimaging a new city for all of us. Thank you again to the Big Phony, a Korean-American singer/songwriter living in Seoul, South Korea for allowing us to use his music in our intro and outro, all royalty-free!