Last week the NYC alumni committee hosted an event for GHC alums, fellows and community members at the wonderful and inspiring Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. We were able to tour parts of the museum with a guide, reflect on the Nelson A. Rockefeller special exhibit, and enjoy lunch together. We were honored to host many coming from out of town – and were delighted to reunite with friends from Boston, DC, Providence, and even as far as Uganda and South Africa!
One of our goals as an alumni committee is to continue expanding horizons well after the fellowship year. The end of the fellowship year is not, and should not be, the end. It is merely the beginning – of the friendships born, the work we contribute to in the movement for health equity, and the journey of professional and personal growth we all chose with the fellowship. We look forward to an alumni network that is vibrant and active for the long term, and will continue pushing boundaries, both in our work and ourselves. My hope is that some of this will be accomplished through our continued commitment as alumni to growing in perspectives and appreciation for all facets of work, culture and life represented by our diverse and ever expanding community. I’d like to think this event at the Met was a successful example of such, and I’m looking forward to what’s to come!
Take home points from this event:
1. Taking a break from the more stressful side of the work we do – tackling profound challenges in global health – to enjoy beauty and art together is a great idea and should be done often. Still Harbor would be proud.
2. Reuniting with fellowship friends after a long time apart is always spectacular. If you haven’t been attending alumni events, you’re missing out!
3. The history of art is profoundly intertwined with the quest for equity and social justice. Just ask Rockefeller. His tremendous achievement of eventually convincing the Metropolitan Museum to establish a permanent collection of art works from Africa, Oceania and the Americas in 1969 after nearly forty years of effort carried with it the (at the time still novel) message that “artists from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas are equal in every respect to those of their peers across the globe and throughout history.”
4. Someday, we’ll have enough GHC group photos in the collection that there will be one taken in every country on the planet. I’m sure there’s already at least one shot on every continent (who has covered Antarctica?). In fact, I think we should put up a map at headquarters to pin them on, and start keeping track. 🙂
