Cedar Rapids Welcoming Week art installations spread welcoming message to immigrants

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids is spreading its wings with temporary art installations designed to reinforce a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere to immigrants and diverse populations that call the City of Five Seasons home.

With input from the Catherine McAuley Center, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, and residents of diverse backgrounds, the seven sets of wings, each 7 feet wide and 4 feet tall, feature Czech, Lebanese, Indian, Latino and African themes.

“Wings are a symbol of hope and of freedom, and in this case — we see them as a symbol of inclusion,” said Quinn Pettifer, co-chair of the Inclusive ICR Coalition. “We welcome people of different backgrounds to Cedar Rapids … with open arms and welcoming wings.”

The wings are the first time Cedar Rapids has incorporated a visual and social public element into the national Welcoming Week it has participated in since 2018. The wings can be seen on display at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids Public Library and National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library through Sept. 17. On Sept. 18, the wings will be on display at the Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market.

“It’s a business imperative to have a community that’s inclusive because of how demographics are moving. It’s no longer just a social conversation.”

In addition to the new gesture, Welcoming Week in Cedar Rapids has incorporated annual celebrations at Festival Latino, BrewNost and AsianFest. The Gazette is a media sponsor of Welcoming Week 2021 and Pettifer is also manager of brand initiatives at The Gazette.

“It’s not a ‘nice to have,’ it’s a ‘need to have.’”

But behind the fun, educational pieces of art are a serious economic endeavor, said Jamie Toledo, economic development relationship manager for the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. She said highlighting open arms to diversity and inclusion is part of three-prong plan to position the city for a bright future.

“It’s a business imperative to have a community that’s inclusive because of how demographics are moving. It’s no longer just a social conversation,” said Toledo. “It’s not a ‘nice to have,’ it’s a ‘need to have.’”

With a broad swathe of immigrants at every educational level who have called Cedar Rapids home for years, it’s important to not only remember the diversity among us, but to celebrate it. Census figures show that immigration will only become a bigger cornerstone of economic success with time, she said.

“The immigration population is the one that is growing. Some of our other population numbers are either stagnant or growing backward,” Toledo said. “The top concern is workforce, workforce, workforce. Almost every day, every business says we need to find people.”

But more than filling positions across existing companies, the numbers show that immigrants are more likely to be entrepreneurs themselves. Data cited by the Economic Alliance shows that immigrants are 45 percent more likely to be entrepreneurs than U.S.-born residents. And though they only make up 4.4 percent of the population, they represent over 15 percent of workers in science, technology, math and engineering fields.

“Inclusive communities are more attractive to international companies looking to expand their businesses here,” said Doug Neumann, executive director of the Economic Alliance.

A glimpse of the future

After wrapping up the organization of Festival Latino’s 10th year in Cedar Rapids, organizer Monica Vallejo said Cedar Rapids has made progress over the last decade.

Scenes like these, she said, are a glimpse at the future — one already reflected to varying degrees in Cedar Rapids’ schools, restaurants and companies.

“We (Latinos) are feeling inclusion, we’re feeling like (the city has) recognized our efforts, our work,” Vallejo said.

The mayor’s proclamation recognizing Festival Latino in recent years has helped the festival’s impact as it’s grown from Greene Square to McGrath Amphitheatre. This is the first year that Festival Latino and AsianFest have been recognized as part of Welcoming Week.

“(Festival Latino is) a big thing, not only for Latinos. You see a lot of different colors,” she said. “It’s exciting to see how the new generations want to be involved. … We want them to be proud of where they come from.”

Sights like one she saw this year remind her of the festival’s importance: a Mexican father, Ecuadorian mother and their two American-born children taking family photos, each with a different flag in hand.

“How proud we can be to see this family,” said Vallejo, who also serves a president of the local League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) council. “When you see families come take a picture with the flags, we’re so emotional.”

Scenes like these, she said, are a glimpse at the future — one already reflected to varying degrees in Cedar Rapids’ schools, restaurants and companies.

“People feel like these events bring them together. That’s part of (living) in this place,” said Bhumika Nayak, an organizer of AsianFest who has been with the event since its inception eight years ago.

Building on a sense of inclusion, Nayak said organizers hope the festival will help people like where they live.

Room for improvement

While thankful for greater community participation, leaders of the cultural events reflected in Welcoming Week say there’s still room for improvement.

“We are happy to live in Cedar Rapids, but we need a little more inclusion in the government,” said Vallejo, who was the first Latina appointed to the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission in January. More inclusion in city government and outreach with the police department is needed for everyone’s benefit, she said.

“Inclusion is not only one race, one color. Inclusion is everybody,” Vallejo said.

She also would like to see more resources devoted to helping Latinos without health insurance secure medical care, and getting culturally appropriate food to those in need.

But just as importantly, she said the focus from the city and media — through funding and advertising avenues — should devote more attention to the wide variety of organizations effectively serving Latinos, rather than the one or two that receive frequent attention.

To Nayak, spreading awareness is one thing she thinks could be done better.

“If people are open to the idea of educating people and learning about different cultures, that will help (immigrants) feel more welcomed,” she said. “Be interested in learning something different from what you’re used to seeing every day.”

Though there are more services for immigrants now than there were a few years ago, one African program specialist at Young Parents Network said many immigrants have no frame of reference for how to use them properly.

“We need to understand their cultures. Always be patient,” said Minouche Bandubuila. “It takes time.”

While welcoming diverse populations brings immediate benefits, the realization of long-term benefits may depend on how quickly people embrace differences, Toledo said.

“You’ll lose people if you don’t,” she said.

Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com