The Magic 25: 1999, Creative Differences
CREATIVE DIFFERENCES
A Collaboration between IFCC and Portland General Electric
1999–2001
When the Corporate Communications and Community Affairs Department of Portland General Electric wanted to develop a creative way to look at diversity and cultural inclusivity, Carole Morse turned to the IFCC for guidance. Judith Yeckel, managing director of IFCC in 1999, accepted the challenge and together the nonprofit and the big company worked to create an interactive creative workshop that would expose businesspeople to “the other.”
The day-long workshop which eventually became known as Creative Differences premiered on July 30, 1999 at IFCC. PGE’s Corp. Comm. and Community Affairs staff spent the day working w/drummers, dancers, visual artists, actors and story tellers in an experiential day that took participants through sessions focused on ethnic, cultural, gender and physical differences.
The “team day” which was meant as a one-day-only program was such a resounding success that the IFCC/PGE collaboration continued and grew. PGE awarded IFCC several grants to continue to refine the program; PGE also provided in-kind marketing support by inserting excerpts of the program into PGE’s citywide Diversity Conference, Grantmakers and NW Business for Culture and the Arts events and other venues.
In its marketing materials, PGE and IFCC said:
“Creative Differences: addressing issues of inclusivity in a changing workplace…
PGE and IFCC share a belief that fostering a diverse workplace is good for business. Efforts to bring together differing perspectives, cultures and ideas build teamwork and enrich our strategic business initiatives. Artists and business leaders, partners in the common goal of building unity through diversity, we are proud to offer…
Creative Differences, an experiential, artist-driven workshop that combines participatory exercises and facilitated discussion designed to support your group’s commitment to celebrate difference, break down assumptions that create barriers among co-workers and grapple with pressing questions of color and culture in a safe environment.”
Over the course of the two years that the program was active, several PGE departments (and the CEO and her officer team) went to IFCC for Creative Differences workshops. Other entities used the workshop for teambuilding and cultural diversity training including: X-PAC, Wells Fargo, NWBCA, North Portland Neighborhood Services. The creative team from IFCC also presented the program at Kaiser Permanente’s national diversity conference.
Creative Differences received many accolades for its inventive style of taking participants on an interactive journey of experiencing other cultures – and “culture” went beyond ethnicity to sexual orientation, disabilities, gender, power, environmental justice. There were many testimonials from participants, and articles in the Oregonian (6/20/2000), Business Journal (12/15/2000), the Skanner (1/16/2001) praised the program. Creative Differences also was a featured segment on OPB’s Art Beat TV show.
The program won two prestigious arts-in-business awards in 2001: PGE received the Governor’s Arts Award for its support of the arts, in particular the Creative Differences program; and Forbes magazine and the National Business Committee for the Arts gave PGE its Innovation Award for the program.
A number of IFCC-affiliated artists participated as Creative Differences presenters, including Ping Khaw-Sutherland, Bobby Fouther, Rebecca Martinez, Obo Addy, Xedex Olivas, Ixel Olivas, Julie Osborne, Chisao Hata, Ithica Tell, Hakim Muhammad, Brenda Phillips, Tony James, Roberta Wong, Vicente Guzman Orozco.
by Carole Morse, President, PGE Foundation
To view other moments return to The Magic 25 home page
