When Nancy Margolis, retired executive director of the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County, discovered an exhibition celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusion in Sarasota, she recruited her friend Evie Lichter to bring Embracing Our Differences to Ann Arbor.
The exhibit “has been presented in Sarasota for nineteen years, so we had a model we knew would work,” says Margolis, who credits “the generosity of the Sarasota organization and their interest in offering their guidance, wisdom, and experience” with facilitating the migration.
Still, it “was quite a challenge, as you can imagine,” she says. “I talked with every single organization in town and then went to the county administrator, Gregory Dill, to tell him about the program. He said, ‘Nancy, I love it. Bring me a proposal, and we’ll make it happen.’ ”
Throughout the winter and spring, Margolis led the formation of a board of directors and team of diversity leaders. They convened more than forty community partners including Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti public schools, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti parks, Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, DTE Foundation, Old National Bank, CultureSource, and United Way. Rounding out the effort was securing many community sponsors and four major sponsors—the U-M, Michigan Medicine, Lucy and Larry Nisson, and Washtenaw County.
The result is a juried outdoor exhibit featuring sixty billboard-size images created by local, national, and international artists, including students, on the theme “enriching our lives through diversity.” It opened in May at Gallup Park and Leslie Science and Nature Center in Ann Arbor, and Riverside Park and Parkridge Community Center in Ypsilanti.
“Building a society in which all people—regardless of race, religion, gender, age, identity and experience—can feel equal, safe, admired, emulated, and affirmed takes communitywide education and ongoing support to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion,” says Margolis, now executive director of Embracing Our Differences SE Michigan. “Such an effort is rare but greatly needed.”
Before school got out, nearly 1,000 students from Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti toured the installation, led by docents from Eastern Michigan University. This summer, they’re focusing on summer camps. YpsiWrites is providing weekly prompts that encourage people to reflect and write about the art, and the Ann Arbor District Library has included it in its Summer Game scavenger hunt.
The exhibit will remain up through September. For those unable to visit in person, Ann Arbor–based nonprofit CultureVerse has created a virtual reality experience that can be accessed through a desktop or mobile device at cultureverse.org.
