Why Cultural Creations...

Cultural Creations: Building Environments of Belonging with Purpose, Patience and Practice

By: Jaden Gill

As a young Middle Eastern immigrant, Sandra Sarrouf remembers navigating two worlds. She would beg her mom to pack her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. She felt self-conscious when her mom would speak with her thick accent or pick her up in a traditional dress, Arab beats booming from the car. Now, as a mother of two daughters, a dedicated member of the Central Coast community, a cultural worker, and a traditional dancer, Sarrouf has founded Cultural Creations with the mission of building environments of belonging.

“Immigrants often feel like they have to give up or hide certain parts of their culture in order to be fully accepted,” Sarrouf said. “So how can we create an environment where there are actually intercultural communities supporting each other and building community together? Where can we create those places of belonging?”

Sarrouf was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an Egyptian mother and a Lebanese father at the height of the civil war. After a few years of bouncing around various countries, her family moved to the USA in search of stability and freedom. Growing up in Orange County, California, she was the only Middle Eastern student in her friend group. She learned to “code switch” depending on whether or not she sensed judgment, only sharing the Middle Eastern parts of herself when she felt safest.

After starting college, Sarrouf discovered the Middle East Ensemble for music and dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara where a deeper appreciation for her culture took root and blossomed. Witnessing the ensemble playing and dancing to music she had grown up with was a pivotal moment in her life. It allowed her to embrace and reflect on why people wanted to learn about her culture and how it can be celebrated.

About Cultural Creations

As a white-passing woman of color, passionate about the diverse ways communities participate in culture, she believes it is her responsibility to engage in cultural work rooted in identity and belonging. She is now applying her lived, professional, and artistic experience to provide opportunities for intercultural and cross-cultural connection. In 2018, she graduated from Goucher College with a Masters in Cultural Sustainability and in 2019, founded Cultural Creations. 

Cultural Creations aims to build environments of belonging within the workplace, schools, and organizations by providing a deeper dive into how diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging (DEIJB) show up in their respective spaces. Sarrouf does this by offering training and workshops that are specific to an organization's needs and tailored to meet people where they are within their process of DEIJB. Cultural Creations facilitates groups moving beyond the performative statements of support and solidarity, into a deeper process of consistent effort for cultural shifts that lead to justice and belonging.

Cultural Creations supports outreach and communication as well, to ensure processes and language are culturally responsive and responsible. This can include editing written materials to ensure inclusive and responsive language, supporting project development and implementation, and offering tools and guidance to include multiple perspectives. With her experience as a traditional artist and cultural worker, Sarrouf also assists groups in Multicultural and/or Intercultural event and project planning.

Committed to bringing events to the community, Cultural Creations is coordinating and fundraising for a project that documents the living histories of local immigrant, indigenous and ethnic communities. This project will capture the stories of cultural sustainability, resilience and belonging. The history of the Central Coast has predominantly been told through the lens of white males. More groups are coming together to capture the contributions of our diverse communities. Cultural Creations is collaborating with community leaders, organizations and professionals to begin to document these living stories through a variety of modalities. 

“Cultural Creations works at the intersection of art, culture and justice to build environments of belonging,” Sarrouf said. ”It’s not about being talked at or given definitions; it’s creating the experiences for the reflective and dynamic work to be done. It’s a process.”

The past two years have brought forth an increased awareness of racial inequities, and with it, leaders are expected to create safe spaces where there is a sense of cultural and racial belonging. Sarrouf and colleagues have been committed to racial and social justice for decades. They hope that with this needed wave of awareness, sustained actions to create meaningful change will take root and hold.

Businesses that have had the opportunity to learn from Sarrouf describe an experience of personal growth and realization that strengthened their company bond. Sarah York Rubin, Executive Director of Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture, shares that the programming allowed her staff to “envision new ways to hold space for empathetic and meaningful cultural connection” that will “continue to inform all of the work we do.”

Sarrouf emphasizes that seeing results requires a commitment by decision-makers to take time to delve into the work of unpacking DEIJB to truly create a space where everyone feels their voice counts and they belong. This starts with accepting that discrimination and inequities may exist within a given organization and beginning to understand how unintended bias and isms show up. Once the commitment is made to accept and intentionally work on inequities, the system begins to shift and everyone benefits. Studies show that a strong sense of belonging among employees increases productivity, eventually translating to increased profits, but the goal is to foster an environment where all are included, encouraged, and respected. 

“Diversity of thought, diversity of people, and multiple perspectives lead to more creative problem solving, innovation, connection, and efficacy,” Sarrouf said. “When people feel connected to something, there’s overall productivity and positivity. You want to be more involved, you’re more motivated, inspired and connected. When you truly believe your voice matters and you belong then, barriers begin to vanish.”