Bingo! Episode 5: The Myrna Loy and the Hayti Heritage Center

In the six-part series “Bingo! How Lived Experience Informs Learning”, LANE cohort organizations come together to interview each other and share reflections on using their lived experiences to move through learning.

In Episode 5, Krys Holmes of the Myrna Loy, an arts center in Helena, Montana, sits down with Angela Lee of the Hayti Cultural Center in Durham, North Carolina. They discuss:

• the relationship between personal self-care and institutional equity work,
• the power of telling a cultural organization’s story in authentic and personal ways,
• and the transformational potential in overcoming narratives of scarcity and poverty.

Speakers

From the Myrna Loy
Krys Holmes, Executive Director

From the Hayti Heritage Center
Angela Lee, Executive Director

I can be present and full and give all the treasures that I have to give if I have slept and eaten and taken care of myself. We cannot go out and inspire the rest of the community if we’re not inspired ourselves. . . . We can’t go out and build social equity if we are practicing oppression and treading on our employees, overworking and underpaying and excluding people in our daily work. So how do you build equity inside your organization to strengthen our own capacity to do the work we’re already doing? . . . We’re learning how to feed the organization in a way that builds sustainability from within.

–Krys Holmes, the Myrna Loy

One of the very positive feedbacks that I got was: ‘You need to tell your story in your words; don’t use other people’s words. Talk about Hayti as you feel it and as you know it.’ That sounded really simple, but to really think about that, it required a lot. It stretched me a whole lot. That was very transformational for me, personally and as the ED of the organization.

–Angela Lee, Hayti Heritage Center

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For more episodes and to learn more, visit the series home page.