What a week we had on the East Coast! At the end of May, I made the annual trip to Washington DC with Victoria of VenturaVie (aka Matka, my mom/aunt). Victoria and I are involved with the Bay Area Council for Vital Voices, a non-profit organization that invests in women globally who are leaders their communities. This May, they held the 3rd Annual Vital Voices Festival at the Head Quarters in DC where attendees could sit in on panels and discussions featuring incredible women including a closing panel with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Diane Von Furstenberg, creator of the wrap-dress. For the second year in a row, I was able to not only offer a glass art workshop at the festival, but also have lunch with Sec. Clinton! (I was 3 seats away and STRESSED about spilling on myself)

Last year (2023), I hosted a workshop in which participants made glass tiles to represent their “Driving Force” in their life. The workshop is in collaboration with VenturaVie and part of our Vital Self Care partnership in which we find ways of encouraging self care through different modalities. As a founding donor to the Vital Voices HQ, Victoria and her husband Richard sponsored two wellness rooms in the building. The wellness rooms are a place for staff to take a moment of silence, take a power nap, practice yoga, read a book, have a comfortable space for moms to pump or whatever the staff needs it to be to prioritize their personal wellness. . This year (2024), we brought those Driving Force tiles back to DC and installed them in the VenturaVie Wellness Room as the first iteration of the evolving “Art as Advocacy” community installation. The tiles participants made this year represented how participanBefore we could host the 2024 workshop, we had to install the 2023 tiles.ts are “Leading the Rise” in their communities, and they will be added to the installation. Each year, the installation will grow with the Vital Voices network and be a visual representation of the growth, connection and concepts that drive their work across the globe.

Before we could host the 2024 workshop, we had to install the 2023 tiles. To say installation was hectic is an understatement. We took the red-eye Tuesday night and hit the ground running Wendesday morning. After a quick refresh in the hotel room, Matka and I resisted the urge to lay down “for a minute” and headed straight to Vital Voices HQ. We saw the freshly mounted hardware in the VenturaVie Wellness Room for the first time and got to work. There had been a couple obstacles getting the hardware figured out so I wasn’t exactly sure what everything looked like until I got there. Luckily, back in SF I made a last minute decision to bring wire rope I had at the studio and ended up using that to hang the tiles. Considering this was coordinated across the country, I’m just happy we were able to hang them successfully. When we return for the next install, we’ll tackle making the support across the top more aesthetically pleasing.

The next morning, FUZED hosted the workshop and (not to toot my own horn) everyone was talking about it between the panel presentations so I’d say it was a hit. This years theme was “Leading the Rise” and it was incredible to witness the power of art in the participants. Everyone from Emanuel, the building operations engineer who hung the hardware, to opening panelist Hanin Ahmed, Sudanese activist and founder of Old Omdurman Emergency Response Room, created representations of how they are leading their communities. While giving her piece one last look and taking a “before” picture, Hanin Ahmed was tearing up thinking about the people she champions and coordinates aid for in Sudan. As an attendee to her panel, I was inspired by Hanin’s resilience and leadership she seemed to be born knowing how to harness. As an workshop host and artist, I was inspired by the depth of her love and concern for her fellow Sundanese people.

While there was great diversity in the workshop participants, I found one thing they all had in common; each person in that room had an impact in their world. Maybe it was setting up Emergency Response Rooms for a country in crisis. Maybe it was simply showing up to the festival to learn from other leaders. Either way, everyone in that room had something to “say” when asked to show how they are Leading the Rise.

I can’t wait to see the new tiles installed alongside last year’s Driving Force tiles!