KATHERINE

• François Henrot has also informed the Board of his resignation from his directorship following the April 30th, 2024 Annual General Meeting.
• Agnès Touraine, Chairwoman of Rexel's Board of Directors, said: "François Henrot has played a key role on Rexel's Board of Directors, notably as Senior Independent Director.
• I would like to thank him warmly for his advice, his loyalty and his many contributions over the years.
• The Board of Directors had recently identified complementary needs in terms of expertise, which guided our choices.

• DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla., March 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- All Star Healthcare Solutions®, a full-service healthcare staffing firm specializing in locum tenens and direct-hire job opportunities for physicians and advanced practitioners, announced the promotions of Robert Jones to Chief Sales Officer and Catherine LeBourveau to Divisional Vice President, Sales today.
• Since joining All Star in 2017, Jones has held a variety of roles within the organization, including Senior Director of Learning and Leadership, and most recently, Divisional Vice President, Sales.
• As the new Chief Sales Officer, Jones utilizes his extensive knowledge and experience within healthcare staffing, training, and leadership development to oversee All Star's Locums and Direct Hire Divisions.
• In her new role of Divisional Vice President, Sales, LeBourveau will continue cultivating relationships with providers and clients as well as coaching recruiters to build successful careers.

• Many people picture cornfields: the Great Plains of the American heartland.
• Together with colleague Amy Weismann, we aim to build connections with this population and learn from African immigrants’ experiences as they resettle in Iowa.
• Despite their contributions to the region’s labor force, African immigrants across the Midwest are often overlooked and sometimes struggle to access resettlement services.

From Africa to Iowa

• As of 2019, around 2 million Black immigrants from Africa were living in the United States – a number that has tripled since 2000.
• The number of African migrants and asylum-seekers apprehended at the southern border of the United States has also increased as people look for alternatives to Europe.

• According to the Migration Policy Institute, around 30,000 of the 3.2 million people in Iowa were born in Africa.
• Some newcomers are attracted to the region because of economic opportunities, especially in meatpacking plants.
• Some of the refugees first arrived in other states, including California and Michigan, before making their way to Iowa.
• Refugees and immigrants are eligible for short-term aid with groceries, cash assistance, medical care and English classes.

Safe − and sacred − places

In interviews, most immigrants are grateful for friends, family, colleagues and the staff of the secular nonprofit and government agencies who help try to make their stay in Iowa comfortable. However, religious organizations also fill gaps in many arrivals’ new lives – not only with goods and services, but spiritually and socially.

• Religious groups also organize food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• One interviewee recalled, “It was snowing, and this elderly woman saw me and my baby around the church.
• She helped me so much.” Religious places are also used as safe spaces for African migrants’ stories, highlighting the problems they are facing as individuals and as a community, and thinking of ways to proffer solutions.
• A few congregations also open up their spaces for African attendees to hold cultural events and get-togethers with familiar music and food.

Change ahead

• Many of our interviewees complain about lack of assistance from the government during the assimilation process and advocate for additional support such as more citizenship education for newly resettled immigrants.
• Yet, they are confident that with time, Iowa will diversify, making it feel more like home: a state where they can put down roots, worship among friends and even access African foods such as “ugali” cornmeal, pilau and jollof rice.

Osamamen Oba Eduviere is affiliated with Refugee Alliance of Johnson County. Brady G'Sell is affiliated with the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County, IC Compassion and the Refugee Alliance of Johnson County.

• As reports of military machinations and diplomatic efforts have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war.
• For example, controversy and calls for transparency and accountability followed the departure of Anishinaabe-kwe curator Wanda Nanibush from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
• After the Royal Ontario Museum tried to change a Palestinian American artist’s work, Jenin Yaseen staged a sit-in and others protested.

Endeavouring to speak truthfully, meaningfully

• Rights, limits, regulation and the purpose of artists’ work are what is at stake in this discussion.
• An investigation is underway to see how the gallery’s policies may have impacted the board’s decision-making.

People trying to create and speak truth

• Some might suggest that artists should entertain and enlighten us but stay away from contentious issues.
• I believe artists have a unique role, different than that of journalists, political leaders or even documentary filmmakers.

Art and our lives

• Thinking about “art worlds” as “patterns of collective activity,” as Becker does, helps us to think about art in relationship to our social and political lives, and the conditions under which artists create.
• Art schools, professional organizations, galleries and performance spaces all play a part in enabling some artists and their messages to shine, whether through financial support, attention or time — while constraining or even silencing others.

• At the same time, they prescribe behaviours and actions that constrain both artists and the public perception of their work.
• In this way, the support systems around artistic work have political implications, just as much as the art itself may have.

Discipline via funding

• As I examined in my doctoral research, the Summerworks Theatre Festival briefly lost funding from Canadian Heritage in 2011 after staging playwright Catherine Frid’s controversial play Homegrown.
• This was after a high-profile 2006 RCMP investigation saw 18 Muslim individuals accused of terrorism.
• (Charges against seven people were stayed or dropped, while four people were convicted).

What do we want from our artists?

• People around the world face what some scholars and activists have called a “polycrisis.” Artists represent and reflect this social and political upheaval.
• Theatres across the world stage performances or screenings — like The Gaza Monologues — to try to represent Palestinian voices.
• And we should be mindful of desires to discipline the art world at a time when its voices are so deeply needed.

Lowell Gasoi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.