Last Thursday, our team took our monthly DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) discussions out of the office and into the community with a visit to the Michigan State University Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. We were fortunate to receive a guided experience of Mekong Voices: Transnational River Justice in Mainland Southeast Asia, a powerful exhibition that brought our group together in reflection, learning, and conversation.
The Mekong River—often called the “Mother River” across Mainland Southeast Asia—flows through the lives, cultures, and traditions of tens of millions of people. This exhibition offered our staff the opportunity to explore the region through contemporary art, storytelling, and lived experiences. As the MSU Broad Art Museum beautifully states:
“Mekong Voices celebrates the necessary and innovative work of traditional craft and art in translating the river’s voices, both human and more-than-human, across national and linguistic boundaries. The work of Southeast Asian artists from throughout the region and the global diaspora echoes themes of environmentalism, Indigeneity, identity, community, knowledge, and culture. In learning to listen to the world’s rivers both near and far, we will also learn how to better care for them, ourselves, and future generations.”
Walking through the exhibit together encouraged us to slow down, listen more deeply, and consider perspectives beyond our own. The wonderful thing about art is that each piece invites personal interpretation—how it makes you feel, what it makes you think about, what it calls you to notice. That openness sparked meaningful dialogue among our team, reminding us why our DEI discussions matter so much.
At Rathbun Insurance, we host monthly DEI conversations because we believe that understanding one another—our experiences, our stories, our identities—translates directly into how we serve our clients and our community. When we grow in empathy, cultural understanding, and curiosity, we grow in our ability to support people with care, respect, and trust. These field trips strengthen our team, deepen our connections, and help us better reflect the diverse region we live and work in.
A heartfelt thank-you to the MSU Broad Art Museum staff and to the many artists whose work made this experience possible. We are so grateful for the opportunity to learn, reflect, and grow together.