Interview with Health Partners CEO, Bill George
workplace installation of our children’s artwork
Bill, what does having Fresh Artists artwork in your workplace
mean to you personally?
Every morning I get off the elevator, and instead of starting
to mull over all the issues I need to wrestle with that day, I’m
greeted by these colorful reminders of what life is all about…
our future and our children. The Fresh Artists artwork makes
our workplace and our community healthier, and both are
business priorities for us.
How does the artwork affect others in your workplace?
Staff at all levels have thanked us for transforming the work
environment into a colorful visual of what we stand for -
service to the community. And, it contributes to building
positive attitudes. It’s hard to be grumpy when you’re walking
past great contributions by young artists who personally
donated their artwork for a worthy cause.
Why do you feel Fresh Artists is an innovative program?
Who doesn’t want to help improve public education in our city?
The problem is most of us don’t have a clue on how to
contribute. Fresh Artists allows us to do that and meet an
important business need at the same time. It’s a good
business decision and a good community decision to participate.
Would you be interested in supporting Fresh Artists in
the future?
We’d like to introduce other businesses to this great opportunity.
We were lucky to have found out about Fresh Artists just when
we were debating what to put on the mostly blank walls of our
new offices. There are probably lots of other companies who
would support this effort if they knew about it and saw how
great the artwork looks in our hallways and conference rooms.
How do you see that supporting artmaking for kids can
help stem violence in our cities and promote emotional and
physical health among our city’s children?
Dorothy Law Nolte’s poem tells us “If children live with
acceptance and friendship, they learn to find love in the
world”. Fresh Artists not only provides corporations
with a way to give back to the community and support
schools, they also develop a personal relationship with
their contributing students, encouraging them and helping
them to realize the value of their efforts. Positive mentoring
like this is vital for a child’s sense of self-worth and potential
to become a successful adult”
